Evaluation of the Substance Abuse Prevention Services (SAPS) Program at the United States Air Force Academy’s Peak Performance Center (PPC)

This doctoral project is an evaluation of the Substance Abuse Prevention Services (SAPS) Program at the United States Air Force Academy’s (USAFA) Peak Performance Center (PPC). Data were collected from cadets (N=24) who were referred to the SAPS program from December 2015 to June 2016 and completed alcohol brief counseling. None of them were diagnosed with a substance use disorder. Participants completed the Attitudes Towards Drinking Interview survey as part of the program’s pre-test and post-test assessment. A Repeated Measures ANOVA was conducted to test the difference between the pre-test and post-test scores of the Attitudes Towards Drinking Interview survey. The results revealed the alcohol brief counseling intervention in the SAPS program is associated with lowered scores regarding risky attitudes related to alcohol use. As such, alcohol brief counseling, combined with offensespecific interventions offered through the SAPS program, appears to be promising for reducing risky attitudes in cadets who complete the program, as evidenced by the lower post-test mean scores on the Attitudes Towards Drinking Interview survey