COUNTRY: UNITED STATES
REGION: AMERICAS
Implementer: Mississippi State University
Partners:
Program Overview: The Mississippi Alcohol Safety Education Program (MASEP) is a court-mandated intervention program for all first-time DUI offenders in Mississippi. MASEP began in 1972 as a purely educational program but was revised in 1989 and again in 2000 to enhance motivational enhancement elements.
Program Design: The program consists of four weekly sessions for a total of 12 hours. In addition to providing information on the effects of alcohol and/or other drugs on driving ability and health, participants are given feedback on the severity of their alcohol-related problems and are introduced to the concept of developing a written driving under the influence (DUI) avoidance plan.
-The intervention included elements designed to enhance motivation to change behavior. The Motivational Enhancement Therapy (MET) principles followed by trained facilitators include expressing empathy, developing discrepancy, avoiding arguments, rolling with resistance, and supporting self-efficacy.
Evaluation: Subsequent DUI arrests among offenders who completed MASEP (n=24,102) were compared with those who did not complete or who failed to enroll in the program (n=26,780). Data came from three interrelated sources: state driving citation records, MASEP administrative records, and data on hazardous use of alcohol collected at the first MASEP session.
Key findings: The hazard of repeat DUI offenses was lower for individuals who completed the program than for individuals who did not complete it and those who did not enroll.
-Offenders who completed MASEP have lower DUI recidivism over a 3-year period (21.14%) than people who did not enroll (29.46%) and non-completers (35.82%).
-The hazard of recidivism was 34% lower for MASEP completers than for non-enrollers, while the hazard of recidivism was 26% higher for lower non-completers than for non-enrollers.
-Recidivism rates were most reduced following curriculum revisions in 2000 which emphasizeddeveloping a realistic written DUI avoidance plan.
Program Website: http://www.masep.org/
Additional evaluations of the program can be found at: http://masep.org/about-us/reports-and-publications/
References:
Robertson, A.A., Gardner, S., Xu, X., & Costello, H. (2009). The impact of remedial intervention on 3-year recidivism among first-time DUI offenders in Mississippi. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 41(5), 1080-1086.
Target Audience: Drink driving offenders
Issues: Drinking and Driving
Setting: Remedial Drink Driving Programs
Approach: Motivational Interviewing, Motivation Enhancement
