Effects of the Knowledge and Refusing Skill Promoting Program on Alcohol Drinking Consumption among Undergraduate Students in the Semi-Urban Area of Thailand: A Quasi-Experimental Study

In many parts of the world, drinking alcoholic beverages is a common feature of social gatherings, but the consumption of alcohol carries a risk of adverse health and social consequences related to its intoxicating, toxic and dependence-producing properties. The aim of this study was to compare the knowledge and the refusing skill of alcohol drinking consumption, and the AUDIT score before and after the 1-month intervention program of undergraduate students in the semi-urban area of Thailand. They were divided into 2 groups, intervention group, and control group by using the purposive sampling. The undergraduate 70 students who were participated in this study. Both groups were assessed by structural interview consisted of 4 parts as follows: 1.) the sociodemographic questionnaire, 2.) the knowledge of alcohol consumption assessment, 3.) the refusing skill evaluating form, 4.) the alcohol consumption behavior form and 5.) the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT). The Shapiro–Wilk test was used to test of normality in all of variables and the Independent t-test and paired sample t-test were used for comparison before and after a 1-month intervention program between and within the group, respectively. The results showed that the knowledge, the refusing skill and the behavior of alcohol drinking consumption were increased significantly in the intervention group more than the control group after a 1-month intervention program (p<0.05). Beyond, there was no significant difference in the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) scores between the intervention group and the control group after a 1-month intervention program (p>0.05). The finding suggests that the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) may not be able to reflect the alcohol consumption behaviors, and alcohol-related problems. Moreover, the university administrators could integrate the program to reduce the alcohol consumption among undergraduate students in the future