Browsing by Author "Fournier, Angela Krom"
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- An Incentive/Reward Intervention to Decrease Alcohol Abuse at Fraternity Parties: Differential Reinforcement of Blood Alcohol ConcentrationFournier, Angela Krom (Virginia Tech, 2001-12-11)This quasi-experimental field study examined the efficacy of an intervention to decrease alcohol abuse by college students. The harm reduction approach states that the ultimate goal when dealing with an unsafe behavior should be abstinence, but any change in behavior in the direction of less harm is supported. This approach was used as the basis of the current research, in combination with differential reinforcement in order to reduce alcohol consumption and its behavioral outcome, blood alcohol concentration (BAC). A total of 409 male and female college students participated while in the applied setting of four fraternity parties. The study took place at two separate fraternity houses, a control fraternity and an experimental fraternity. During the intervention phase, participants with a BAC below .05 were entered into a raffle to win a cash prize. Upon entry to the intervention party, participants were given flyers announcing the raffle and contingency, and gender-specific nomograms to aid in BAC self-monitoring. Dependent measures were blood alcohol concentration measured by hand-held breathalyzers, percentage of participants below criterion BAC levels (i.e., .05 and .08), accuracy of BAC self-estimation, number of negative outcomes due to excessive alcohol consumption, number of positive outcomes due to abstinence or moderate alcohol consumption, and amount of reported fun experienced at the party. Results showed the intervention did not significantly reduce the intoxication of participants or increase the percentage of participants below criterion BAC levels. These results are best explained by a floor effect, as the experimental fraternity had a relatively low baseline BAC. The use of nomograms at the intervention party increased the accuracy of students' BAC self-estimations. Implications for nomogram use and improvements for future implementation of the incentive/reward intervention are discussed.
- An Investigation of the Psychosocial Impact of Human-Animal Interaction on a Forensic PopulationFournier, Angela Krom (Virginia Tech, 2005-04-21)This quasi-experimental field study tested the psychosocial effects of a forensic human-animal interaction (HAI) program on prison inmates. The study assessed the impact of the HAI program using both between-subject and within-subject methods and analyses. A total of 54 male inmates participated in the research by completing self-report measures, keeping journals, and allowing researchers access to their institutional files. In general, it was hypothesized the HAI program would result in positive psychosocial outcomes for inmates. Dependent measures included inmate self-reported treatment level within the prison's therapeutic community, frequency of institutional infractions, and scores from self-report measures assessing social skills, inmate perception of the prison environment, optimism, mood disturbance, and HAI. Between-subject analyses compared a sample of the participants (n = 48) in a pretest-posttest repeated-measures design, comparing a Treatment group of participants in the HAI program with a Control group of participants on the waiting list for the program. Results indicated that the HAI program was associated with increased treatment progress in the therapeutic community, improvement or maintenance of social sensitivity, and improved scores on a measure of transient depressed mood. Hypotheses regarding institutional infractions, perceptions of the prison environment, and optimism were not supported. The within-subject portion of the research consisted of evaluating the relationship between daily HAI and mood with a smaller group of participants (n = 6) who completed journals in a single-subject repeated-measures fashion. Results suggested mood was differentially related to HAI for Treatment and Control group participants. Findings are discussed in relation to proximal versus distal outcomes of HAI and suggestions are made for future research.