Testing CrashSite: A Computer Mediated Intervention for Prevention of Impaired Driving in Teens
Simon H. Budman, Emil Chiuzzi, Shalini Tendulkar, Erica Rosenthal, Inflexxion, Inc.

Impaired driving (alcohol and/or drugs) is a major cause of death and injury in teenagers. Currently available materials tend to be non-interactive and much of it is outdated (e.g., video "Mechanized Death.") Crash Site is an interactive CD-ROM program that is tailored to the risk factors presented by a particular youngster. In Crash Site the program user "experiences" an impaired driving crash and then using clues, information and virtual interviews must learn how the crash occurred.

In our project, supported by National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) we developed Crash Site and then tested it in comparison to four high quality videos focused on impaired driving and abuse of alcohol. Over 200 high school students from six schools were randomized to either the Crash Site or the video condition.

Our findings indicated that both conditions positively affected knowledge and behaviors to a significant degree. However, there was much higher satisfaction and engagement in the Crash Site condition. Further, when a sub-sample of teens "crossed over" and was given the treatment that they had not received in the study, between two-thirds and three quarters strongly preferred Crash Site to the videos.

Thus, although the multimedia condition did not lead to greater improvement in knowledge and safe behaviors than the videos, teens were much more enthusiastic about its use and potential for engaging young audiences.

Learning Objectives:

• Learn about the design and implementation of a large clinical trial comparing interactive (computer-based) and non-interactive media (video).
• Learn how, where and why such interventions may lead to similar or differential outcomes.
• Learn how future research can be designed so that these differences might be enhanced.