Appendix A
Statement of Task
The Board on Children, Youth, and Families of the National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine will form a new committee to review existing federal, state and nongovernmental programs, including media-based programs, designed to change the attitudes and health behaviors of youth. The review will include programs that focus directly on behavior change as well as those designed to change underage drinking behavior through reduction of adolescent access to alcohol (such as through increased excise taxation, aggressive enforcement of age and identification checks, and restriction of alcohol on college campuses). The committee shall produce a consensus panel report based on this review. The report will provide a cost-effective strategy to prevent and reduce underage drinking, including: an outline and implementation plan, message points that will be effective in changing the attitudes and health behaviors of youth concerning underage drinking, target audience identification, goals and objectives, and the estimated costs of development and implementation.
The committee will meet several times during the course of this study. It will begin by developing a general approach to conducting this project, including the identification of criteria for selection of appropriate programs for review. The committee will plan and oversee a public forum to obtain input from all relevant stakeholders and will hear presentations from a variety of experts regarding various aspects of substance abuse prevention and youth behavior change. These presentations may be accompanied by additional independent analyses or commissioned work that addresses various components of the overall committee charge.
The committee will produce a consensus report that will be widely disseminated to interested stakeholders.