STARS (Start Taking Alcohol Risks Seriously) for Families

STARS (Start Taking Alcohol Risks Seriously) for Families is a health promotion program for preventing alcohol use among at-risk middle and junior high school youths. The program has three phases:

(1) Health Care Consultation. A nurse or other health care provider delivers a brief (20-minute) annual health consultation concerning how to avoid alcohol use. The intervention is designed to reach youths at specific stages of alcohol initiation and readiness for change and provides a range of prevention messages.
(2) Key Facts Postcards. Ten Key Facts postcards are mailed to parents or guardians in sets of one or two a week for 5 to 10 weeks. The cards tell parents what they can say to their children to help them avoid alcohol. Parents can return a detachable postage-paid portion of the card to provide information about their interaction with their children and its usefulness.
(3) Family Take-Home Lessons. Parents and guardians are provided with four weekly take-home prevention activities they can complete with their children and return. The lessons include an alcohol avoidance contract for the child to sign and a feedback sheet to collect satisfaction and usage data from parents.

The goal of this program is for youths to postpone alcohol use until adulthood.

An evaluation of the program involved 650 sixth grade students in an experimental design with pretest and posttest. Posttest results from the sixth grade students showed:

- Fewer intervention youths (7 percent) were in more advanced stages of alcohol initiation
- Intervention students had significantly fewer intentions to drink
- The program significantly reduced alcohol consumption.