Background: Addressing alcohol abuse on campus presents significant challenges for institutions of higher education. The lack of effective alcohol use prevention programmes has rendered students, particularly postgraduates facing heavy social pressures, more vulnerable to alcohol abuse risks. This study aims to establish a novel, multidisciplinary alcohol use prevention programme (MDAUPP) integrating various subspecialties of clinical and forensic medicine (e.g., Biology and Toxicology). The goal is to enhance postgraduate students' ability to recognise, prevent, and manage alcohol-related problems both on campus and in their future professional careers.
Methods:The study is designed with three work streams. Workstream 1 involves evaluating risk factors for alcohol abuse using participants' demographic information and the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) questionnaire. Demographic data will be analysed to describe the overall participant profile, and AUDIT scores will identify drinkers and assess the severity of alcohol use disorders. Uni-variate Logistic regression and Multivariate conditional Logistic regression will analyse factors related to alcohol abuse among medical students based on demographic information and questionnaire assessments.
Workstream 2, the MDAUPP, comprises three phases: (1) propagating and popularising knowledge about alcohol-related diseases, (2) conducting on-site observations for blood alcohol concentration (BAC) testing, and (3) interpreting human alcohol metabolism capacity through genetic testing.
Lastly, Workstream 3 involves a 10-item survey questionnaire to collect responses from participants. Likert scale-based assessments before and after the programme will be analysed using Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-rank testing to measure changes in responses across participants.
Discussion: Establishing a proactive approach towards preventing alcohol abuse among postgraduate students and addressing inappropriate social behaviours are key objectives of this prevention programme. The study findings may offer insights into the effectiveness of MDAUPP among postgraduates at Fujian Medical University and its potential application in similar or comprehensive universities.
Clinical trial number: Not applicable.