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Abstract
We analyzed individual and program characteristics associated with participation in an Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)-based substance use preventive intervention in Uruguay, South America. The intervention was directed at ninth- and tenth-grade students in 10 private schools in Montevideo. Participation in the program was non-mandatory and effective participation rates were low. We found that individual characteristics, such as prior heavy engagement with alcohol and opportunity costs of time, were associated with the decision to participate. We also found that sending the participants periodic reminders via e-mail and short message service (SMS) text messages had a positive impact on participation. The lessons from this intervention suggest that participation in non-mandatory Web-based programs aimed at preventing substance use among adolescents could be substantially improved with a more structured, mandatory, and longer intervention.
Notes
*significant at 10%; **significant at 5%; ***significant at 1%.
Note. Clustered standard errors in parentheses.
*significant at 10%; **significant at 5%; ***significant at 1%.
Note. Clustered standard errors in parentheses. L stands for lag operator.
*significant at 10%; **significant at 5%; ***significant at 1%.
Note. Clustered standard errors in parentheses. L stands for lag operator.
*significant at 10%; **significant at 5%; ***significant at 1%.
The study underwent review by an ethics committee of Universidad ORT Uruguay in July 2009.
The short period elapsed between the baseline and follow-up evaluations (less than 6 months) could have also played a role in the failure to detect significant effects.
Of the 359 students in our original sample, only 303 are included because of missing information in at least one of the explanatory variables.
This version of the CES-D was validated for Spanish speakers by Rueda-Jaimes, Camacho López, and Rangel-Martínez-Villalba (Citation2009) using a sample of Colombian adolescents.
Balsa, Gandelman, and Porzecanski (Citation2010) used these questions to address the impact of the program and found a small impact.
El Cuarteto de Nos.
We estimated these models in Stata using the commands xtreg.
We tried further lags, but these were non-significant.
Generalized Estimating Equations estimator in the statistics literature.
