National Alcohol Screening Day (NASD) is the nation's largest and in the greatest degree visible community-based intervention targeting alcohol misuse.

National Alcohol Screening Day (NASD) is the nation's largest and in the greatest degree visible community-based intervention targeting alcohol misuse. Established in 1999 within a partnership between the National Institute in succession Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), and with support from numerous other public and private organizations, NASD has three primary objectives:

* To administer released and anonymous alcohol screening in settings accessible to the general public

* To provide referrals for treatment to those whom the cloak identifies as drinking at unhealthy levels

* To educate the public upon the impact of alcohol upon general health.

Drawing upon program data from 2001, 2002 and 2003 this sidebar tenders a brief overview of the feasibility, sustainability, and efficacy of NASD.

National Alcohol Screening Day: Background and Implementation

NASD takes place in April of each year. In preparation for the affair colleges, health care facilities, and community organizations across the native land are recruited to take part in the program. Participating organizations receive materials that help them guard the program, such as detailed instructions for setting up a site; educational handouts, hand-bills and videos; publicity materials so as news releases and prewritten op- pieces to submit to local media; and screening forms with specific instructions forward how to administer and score them (see Greenfield et al. 1999 2003 for program details). The NASD office, which is located in Wellesley Hills, Massachusetts, directs a national publicity campaign and armed forces a Web site that tenders further details.

in succession National Alcohol Screening Day, nation stopping by the college and community sites are encouraged to completed the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification criterion (AUDIT), a 10-question screening scale unfolded to identify those who lavish alcohol at hazardous or harmful flushs (see the description of public screening instruments on page 28 in this issue). A qualified health professional is available at greatest in quantity sites to score the answers and people who score 8 or higher upon the AUDIT are referred for further evaluation or treatment (Babor et al. 2001) Those taking the cloak also may request to appropriate with a health specialist to discuss additional information in succession local resources (e.g., treatment center substance abuse counseling, and Alcoholics Anonymous meeting locations). Following the fact participating sites return the complet screening forms to NASD organizers thus they can be encoded for statistical analysis.

NASD Participation: directions Over Time

The past 3 years have seen dramatic increases the pair in the number of sites registering for the program and the number of participants who visit each site. As table 1 indicates, 567 sites registered in 2001 1589 in 2002 and 2621 in 2003 an almost fivefold increase. Based forward data from the screening forms, the average number of participants riddleed per site increased from approximately 36 in 2001 to almost 52 in 2003 a 45-percent increase. Despite a notable germination in the program at literary institution [i]or[/i] seminary of learning sites, the largest increases in participation occurr at sites similar as hospitals, shopping malls, substance abuse clinics, and community center which saw an average increase of 156 percent in the number of participants by site from 2001 to 2003

Table 1 data also indicate that increases in attendance at the typical NASD site have been accompanied by means of a greater clinician presence. From 2001 to 2003 the percentage of screening forms administered or reviewed at a health care professional at community sites (eg psychologist, psychiatrist, clinical social worker) increased by dint of more than 52 percent, which means that more than 81 percent of screener had clinical oversight in 2003 compared with 65 percent in 2001 Similar increases were observ at literary institution [i]or[/i] seminary of learning sites, with 73 percent of screening forms reviewed by means of a clinician in 2003 compared with 60 percent of screening forms in 2001

Results

clan who visit college screening sites and those visiting community sites differ markedly in near demographic variables, as table 2 demonstrates.

society Findings. The profile of association attendees remained relatively stable between 2001 and 2003 despite the bourgeoning of the program. Slightly more than half of community participants were women (ranging from 547 to 562 percent) and as look forward toed well over 80 percent of participants were between the ages of 18 and 24 Approximately 67 percent of the total number of society participants for 2001 through 2003 were White, 16 percent were Black, and another 7 percent were categorized as Hispanic/Latino.

corporation participants' AUDIT scores in each year, also currented in table 2, indicate that NASD identified a fairly substantial number of puzzle drinkers. Between 2001 and 2003 approximately 28 percent to 34 percent of all corporation participants' AUDIT scores fell in the "hazardous" range (between 8 and 19) or the "harmful" range (20 and higher). The vast majority of those scoring from one side of to the other 8 on the AUDIT did not exce the 20+ cutoff point that can indicate possible alcohol supporter Rather, heavy episodic drinking, or "bingeing," is the typical pattern for alcohol misuse among body students, a finding that has been substantiated in the literature (Wechsler et al. 1994)