Similarities and Differences in a Series of Longitudinal Studies of the Effectiveness of a School Based Drink Driving Education Program

Abstract

In 1988 a comprehensive school based education program to reduce drink driving was introduced statewide. The program was implemented through all schools using a staged entry methodology to enable schools to be randomly allocated over two years to either a control or intervention group. In all over 60,000 grade 10 students [aged 14.5 yrs] were involved in the program during the trial period.
The impact of the program has been evaluated on three occasions and differing levels and types of information sought. The first, at the implementation stage, was of a small sample of the control and intervention schools and compared self reported drink driving attitudes, knowledge, behaviour and experiences. The second was undertaken three years later when students had left school and again was concerned with self reported responses to the program. At this evaluation additional data related to licensing and driving experiences and convictions could be added. The third evaluation completed in 1999 is an outcome study that examined the impact of the program on the officially recorded traffic histories of the control and intervention cohorts.
This presentation will compare and contrast the methodological characteristics of these three stages and types of evaluation and discuss the different contributions that each make to our understanding of the impact of educational interventions.