Development of a Web-Based Alcohol Prevention Program Linking School-Child-Family for Intermediate Elementary Students

Abstract

Family strongly influences student health behavior. However, alcohol-preventive education programs that link parents and school for intermediate-elementary school students remain scarce. Although online educational programs constitute effective interventions to intentionally improve health behaviors, traditional methods are used to implement alcohol- prevention programs for students. In this study, we aimed to (1) develop an online school–child–family alcohol-prevention program based on the theory of planned behavior and (2) examine the preliminary effects of the program on intention to consume alcohol among intermediate-elementary school students. This single-group, pre- and posttest study enrolled 46 Grade 3 students from a public elementary school in a metropolitan South Korea city and ascertained the preliminary effects of a 5-week online alcohol-prevention program by using the alcohol drinking prevention behavior scale. Attitudes, perceived behavioral control, and intention of alcohol-preventive behaviors significantly improved (p < .05) whereas subjective norms did not. The online alcohol-prevention program based on the theory of planned behavior and school–child–family linkage beneficially influenced intention, attitude, and perceived behavioral control for alcohol-prevention behavior, and the effectiveness and convenience of this program underscores its potential application as an educational intervention to improve health behaviors of intermediate-elementary school students.

Acknowledgments

The authors sincerely appreciate all the students, their families, and teachers who participated in this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethical considerations

Ethical approval for this study was obtained from the Ethics Committee of Chonnam National University (IRB No. 1040198–171120-HR-082-02).

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (grant number: 2016R1D1A3B03934392).