Program Profile: Teams-Games-Tournaments (TGT) Alcohol Prevention

This is an alcohol prevention program for adolescents (typically high school students) that combines peer support with group reward structures. The program is rated Effective. Treatment group participants demonstrated statistically significant improvements in drinking behaviors, impulsive behaviors, attitudes toward drinking and driving, and alcohol knowledge, compared with control group participants.

An Effective rating implies that implementing the program is likely to result in the intended outcome(s).

This program's rating is based on evidence that includes at least one high-quality randomized controlled trial.

This program's rating is based on evidence that includes either 1) one study conducted in multiple sites; or 2) two or three studies, each conducted at a different site. Learn about how we make the multisite determination.

An Effective rating implies that implementing the program is likely to result in the intended outcome(s).

This program's rating is based on evidence that includes at least one high-quality randomized controlled trial.

This program's rating is based on evidence that includes either 1) one study conducted in multiple sites; or 2) two or three studies, each conducted at a different site. Learn about how we make the multisite determination.

Program Goal/Target Population

The Teams–Games–Tournaments (TGT) program is an approach to alcohol prevention that combines peer support with group reward structures. It is typically delivered to high school students.

Program Components

Within each participating school, students take part in a 4-week educational program providing alcohol information and encouraging the application of these concepts in the youths’ lives. All activities emphasize the use of peer support to enhance learning and the acceptance of responsible attitudes toward drinking.

The program begins with a 50-question pretest of alcohol knowledge. Based on their test results, students are classified as high achievers (those with high levels of knowledge about alcohol), middle achievers (those with moderate knowledge), and low achievers (those most lacking). The students are then grouped into eight-member teams containing two high achievers, four middle achievers, and two low achievers.

The alcohol education units are presented for 50 minutes each day for 4 weeks. During the first 3 days of each week, discussions and participatory activities cover alcohol-related concepts. On the fourth day, students work in their TGT teams to complete worksheets in preparation for the tournament. The tournament is held on the fifth day.

The tournament games are designed to assess and reinforce class lessons through short-answer questions. The structure ensures that competitors rotate through the tables regularly so that competition is not skewed in favor of any group of achievers. Scores are kept for each individual during the tournament games, as well as for teams. Individual and team scores are posted after the tournament.

Program Theory

The program was developed using a behavioral group work perspective and consequently emphasizes group rather than individual achievement. It builds on research on games as a teaching device, small groups as classroom work units, and the task-and-reward structures used in the traditional classroom (Wodarski 1987a).

The curriculum covers the biological, psychological, and sociocultural determinants of alcoholism. Students learn how to make realistic judgments about their own present or possible future use; they also learn about the progression from responsible consumption to problem usage to alcoholism.

During the program, basic principles of social learning theory illustrate the concept that all drinking behaviors are learned. For example, an individual with a drinking problem can learn to drink differently, and the drinker who currently has no problem can control circumstances so that drinking remains within acceptable bounds. With this knowledge, students then learn self-management tools: assertiveness, refusal skills, and how to change their internal and external environment (Wodarski 1987a).

Key Personnel

The program is implemented and led by regular classroom teachers who receive training about the use of the TGT curriculum and behavioral techniques.

Study

Wodarski (1987a) used an experimental design to assess the impact of the Teams–Games–Tournaments (TGT) program on attitudes toward drinking and driving, knowledge about alcohol, drinking behavior, and impulsive behavior. Five school systems in Georgia participated in the study (one metropolitan, two semi-metropolitan, and two rural school systems).

Classes were randomly assigned to one of the three conditions: 1) those that received TGT instruction (n = 526 students at 1-year follow up, 389 students at 2-year follow up), 2) those that received traditional instruction (n = 361 students at 1-year follow up, 267 at 2-year follow up), and 3) those that made up the no-treatment control group (n = 384 students at 1-year follow up, 284 at 2-year follow up). For the 1-year follow up, 21 percent were seniors, 49 percent were juniors, and 27 percent were sophomores. At the 2-year follow up, 29 percent were juniors, and 49 percent were seniors (the percentages do not equal 100 percent due to such factors as students moving out of the district and graduation). The study author did not provide any other demographic information besides age/grade level. The CrimeSolutions review examined the differences between the TGT treatment group and the no-treatment control group at the 2-year follow up.

A 200-item pool of test questions was developed according to the content contained within the curriculum. Fifty of these questions were randomly selected for use on the pretest and posttest. The first follow-up of the program participants was conducted 1 year after completion of the educational programs. The second follow-up was conducted 2 years after completion of the educational program. All research subjects completed surveys assessing four sets of variables for baseline, posttest, and follow-up data:

• Alcohol-related knowledge (Engs Scale)
• Attitudes toward alcohol use and abuse (Stumphauzers’s Behavioral Analysis Questionnaire for Adolescent Drinkers, Glickson’s Adolescent Alcohol Questionnaire, and the Index of Family Relations)
• Current patterns of alcohol use (Index of Self-Esteem and the Generalized Contentment Scale)
• Impulsive behavior

The study author conducted analyses to examine the differences between the treatment group participants and participants in the traditional-instruction control group.

Comparative Research

Wodarski (1987a) also conducted analyses to compare the Teams-Games-Tournaments treatment group participants with traditional-instruction control group participants. Treatment group participants demonstrated improved alcohol knowledge, drinking behaviors, attitudes toward drinking and driving, and impulsive behaviors, compared with participants who received traditional instruction, at the 2-year follow up. These differences were statistically significant.

CrimeSolutions doe not consider comparative research learn more about how CrimeSolutions treats comparative effectiveness research.

These sources were used in the development of the program profile:

These sources were used in the development of the program profile:

Wodarski, John S. 1987b. “A Social Learning Approach to Teaching Adolescents About Alcohol and Driving: A Multiple-Variable Follow-Up Evaluation.” Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry 18(1):51–60.

Wodarski, John S., and Marvin D. Feit. 1995. Adolescent Substance Abuse: An Empirically Based Group Preventive Health Paradigm. New York, N.Y.: Haworth Press.

Wodarski, John S., and Lois A. Wodarski. 1993. Curriculums and Practical Aspects of Implementation: Prevention Health Services for Adolescents. Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, Inc.

Wodarski, John S., and Lois A. Wodarski. 1998. Adolescent Violence: An Empirically Based School/Family Paradigm. New York, N.Y.: Springer.

Wodarski, John S., Lois A. Wodarski, and Catherine N. Dulmus. 2002. Adolescent Depression and Suicide: A Comprehensive Empirical Intervention for Prevention and Treatment. Springfield, Ill.: Charles C. Thomas.

Wodarski, Lois A., and John S. Wodarski. 1995. Adolescent Sexuality: A Peer/Family Curriculum. Springfield, Ill.: Charles C. Thomas.

Wodarski, John S., Lois A. Wodarski, and Heather Parris. 2004. “Teams–Games–Tournaments: Four Decades of Research.” Journal of Evidence-Based Social Work: Advances in Practice, Programming, Research and Policy 1(1):23–43.