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Communities mobilizing for change on alcohol (CMCA): secondary analyses of a randomized controlled trial showing effects of community organizing on alcohol acquisition by youth in the Cherokee nation
Author(s) -
Wagenaar Alexander C.,
Livingston Melvin D.,
Pettigrew Dallas W.,
Kominsky Terrence K.,
Komro Kelli A.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
addiction
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.424
H-Index - 193
eISSN - 1360-0443
pISSN - 0965-2140
DOI - 10.1111/add.14113
Subject(s) - intervention (counseling) , alcohol , psychology , confidence interval , enforcement , suicide prevention , poison control , demography , social psychology , medicine , environmental health , psychiatry , sociology , political science , law , biochemistry , chemistry
Aims We evaluated the effects of a community organizing intervention, Communities Mobilizing for Change on Alcohol (CMCA), on the propensity of retail alcohol outlets to sell alcohol to young buyers without age identification and on alcohol acquisition behaviors of underage youth. Design Random assignment of community to treatment ( n = 3) or control ( n = 2). Student surveys were conducted four times per year for 3 years; the cohort was in 9th and 10th grades in the 2012–13 academic year. Alcohol purchase attempts were conducted every 4 weeks at alcohol retailers in each community (31 repeated waves). Setting The Cherokee Nation, located in northeastern Oklahoma, USA. Participants A total of 1399 high school students (50% male; 45% American Indian) and 113 stores licensed to sell alcohol across five study communities. Intervention Local community organizers formed independent citizen action teams to advance policies, procedures and practices of local institutions in ways to reduce youth access to alcohol and foster community norms opposed to teen drinking. Measurements Perceptions regarding police enforcement and perceived difficulty of and self‐reported actual acquisition of alcohol from parents, adults, peers and stores. Findings Alcohol purchases by young‐appearing buyers declined significantly, an 18 [95% confidence interval (CI) = 3, 33] percentage‐point reduction over the intervention period. Student survey results show statistically significant differences in the trajectory of perceived police enforcement, increasing 7 (4, 10) percentage points, alcohol acquisition from parents, decreasing 4 (0.1, 8) percentage points, acquisition from 21+ adults, decreasing 6 (0.04, 11) percentage points, from < 21 peers decreasing 8 (3, 13) percentage points and acquisition from stores decreasing 5 (1, 9) percentage points. Conclusions A community organizing intervention, Communities Mobilizing for Change on Alcohol (CMCA), is effective in reducing the availability of alcohol to underage youth in the United states. Furthermore, results indicate that the previously reported significant effects of CMCA on teen drinking operate, at least in part, through effects on alcohol access.