David L Wyrick

University of North Carolina at Greensboro | UNCG · Department of Public Health Education

SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) caused disruptions and challenges across the globe, and many public health interventions focused on addressing immediate and emergent needs directly related to COVID-19. At the same time, other community health needs persisted, and intervention collaborators faced new challenges with reaching their communities. One such interv...

Background Extremism continues to raise concerns about conflict and violent attacks that can lead to deaths, injuries, trauma, and stress. Adolescents are especially vulnerable to radicalization by extremists. Given its location in a region that often experiences extremism, Bahrain developed 4 peaceful coexistence lessons and 4 antiextremism lesson...

Background Determining the prevalence of doping within an elite athlete population is challenging due to the extreme sensitivity of the topic; however, understanding true doping prevalence is important when designing anti-doping programs and measuring their effectiveness. The objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of doping among Ol...

Objective: To describe common components of medical amnesty (MA) policies and examine how MA policies differ across institutions. Participants: 50 U.S. colleges and universities with current MA policies. Methods: A checklist was developed to compare and assess the campus MA policies of 50 institutions. Descriptive statistics, chi-square, and regres...

BACKGROUND Extremism continues to raise concerns about conflict and violent attacks. Adolescents are especially vulnerable to radicalization by extremist groups. Given its location in a region that often experiences extremism, the Kingdom of Bahrain developed four peaceful coexistence lessons and four anti-extremism lessons that could be implemente...

Importance Concern about interpersonal violence (IV) in sport is increasing, yet its implications remain poorly understood, particularly among currently competing college athletes. Objective To document the self-reported prevalence of IV in college sports; identify associated risk factors; examine potential consequences associated with athletes’ p...

Background: Determining the prevalence of doping within an elite athlete population is challenging due to the extreme sensitivity of the topic, however understanding true doping prevalence is important when designing anti-doping programs and measuring their effectiveness. The objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of doping among Ol...

Objective: Workers in industries with high rates of opioid dispensing as well as those with high rates of non-fatal work-related injuries are at greater risk for opioid misuse, which can lead to addiction, overdose, or death. Methods: Using secondary cross-sectional data collected from 856 healthcare workers, this pilot study examines a conceptu...

The goal of the current study is to examine the degree to which measures of quality of implementation and student engagement moderate pretest-posttest changes in mediating variables that are targeted by DARE "keepin' it REAL." DARE officers (10 elementary school, five middle school) taught DARE "keepin' it REAL lessons to 1,017 elementary students...

Participation in sports can increase young adults’ risk for heavy alcohol use and related consequences. Among student-athletes, more men report heavy drinking than women. These gender differences may reflect men’s expression of masculinity which can encompass excessive consumption. While a growing body of research indicates that general masculine n...

In response to a need to implement an evidence-based prevention program, D.A.R.E. America adopted keepin’ it REAL. The program was previously developed and tested in middle school settings. As part of its adoption, an elementary version of the program was developed. This study tests the effectiveness of keepin’ it REAL when delivered to fifth grade...

Mental health care providers’ cultural responsiveness related to athletics is crucial to their clinical care provision for student-athletes on college campuses. However, little research has been conducted in applying a theoretical framework to explore providers’ intentions to provide culturally responsive clinical care to this specific student popu...

This study analyzed measures aggregated at the school level to identify key predictors of drinking alcohol, binge drinking, smoking cigarettes, and using marijuana. Using data collected from 6th through 12th grade students between 2011 and 2015, we identify school-level variables that predict school-level prevalence in the subsequent year. Data inc...

The mental health crisis across college campuses is accelerating, with anxiety listed as the top mental health issue for undergraduate college students. Although evidence suggests the COVID-19 pandemic escalated the mental health crisis on college campuses, pre-COVID-19 anxiety among college students was on the rise. Research supports Mindfulness B...

Objective: Decreasing participation in intervention research among college students has implications for the external validity of behavioral intervention research. We describe recruitment and retention strategies used to promote participation in intervention research across a series of four randomized experiments. Method: We report the recruitment...

Objective: Research indicates that college student-athletes report more alcohol use and negative drinking consequences than non-student-athletes. One drinking practice that has been linked to heavy alcohol use and related consequences is playing drinking games. In the present study, we investigated which segment of the student-athlete population i...

The InSideOut Initiative (ISO) is a systems-level intervention that is delivered to stakeholders both directly and indirectly. It provides a blueprint to transform the current “win-at-all-costs” high school sports culture into one that defines and promotes sports as a human growth experience. It is operationalized through developing an understandin...

Although prior studies have indicated athletic identity plays a role in alcohol use among college athletes, this research has largely drawn on a unidimensional conceptualization. Addressing this gap, the current study utilized a sample of 8,550 university athletes (Mage = 19.70 years, SD = 1.33, 50.8% men) from 203 U.S. post-secondary institutions...

Background: Rates of drug use among collegiate athletes are high, yet there are few evidence-based interventions for this population. myPlaybook, an online intervention for collegiate athletes, targets multiple predictors of drug use (i.e., norms, positive and negative expectancies about use, and harm prevention intentions). Purpose: We aimed to...

Objective: Athletic involvement is linked to increased risk for heavy alcohol use among college students. We examined whether student-athletes from diverse racial/ethnic backgrounds differ with respect to heavy drinking and related consequences. Method: Participants were 15,135 student-athlete drinkers (50.7% female) from 170 NCAA member instituti...

Purpose The coach−athlete relationship mediates the relationship between sports participation and student-athlete character, health and well-being outcomes. High school athletic administrators (AAs) can provide critical leadership, mentorship and direction for coaches to optimize student-athlete performance and human development. Social and emotion...

Student athletes' demands increase their risk for experiencing mental health concerns (Ryan et al., 2018). Risk factors for student athletes include coping with athletic success and failure; balancing dual roles; dealing with identity confusion; and experiencing isolation, injury, career termination, and burnout (Beauchemin, 2012; G. T. Brown, 2014...

Background Using the multiphase optimization strategy (MOST), we previously developed and optimized an online behavioral intervention, itMatters, aimed at reducing the risk of sexually transmitted infections (STI) among first-year college students by targeting the intersection of alcohol use and sexual behaviors. Purpose We had two goals: (a) to e...

Context: Collegiate student-athletes continue competing after experiencing symptoms of a concussion. Self-report of concussion symptoms is a critical element of the recovery process. Identifying factors related to concussion disclosure can aid in encouraging self-reporting. Objective: To use latent profile analysis to categorize and describe ath...

We examined the intersection of alcohol use and hookups among transgender college students to identify sexual behaviors that may reduce negative hookup experiences. Our analytic sample included US college students who identified as transgender (n=36; 11 trans men and 25 trans women). Descriptive analyses were performed using the Online College Soci...

Objective To describe an iterative approach to developing an online intervention targeting the intersection of alcohol use and sexual behaviors among first year college students. Methods and Participants: Using the multiphase optimization strategy (MOST), we conducted two iterative optimization trials to: (1) identify candidate intervention compone...

Objective Examine students' awareness of medical amnesty policies and the influence of policy awareness on the expected consequences of bystander help seeking in alcohol-related emergencies among student-athletes and non-athletes. Participants: 1,012 college students. Methods: Spearman's correlation and chi-square tests were used to examine accurac...

Purpose A significant proportion of sport-related concussions goes unreported among adolescents, which can result in irreversible brain damage. It is critical to identify and intervene on factors that significantly impact concussion reporting. Methods This study tests factors associated with collegiate athletes' intentions to (1) self-report concu...

Background: Alcohol outcome expectancies (AOEs) are associated with college students' varied alcohol consumption. Existing research on AOEs focuses primarily on heterosexual White students. Thus, it is important to explore how the intersection of multiple identities such as race, gender, and sexual orientation influence the endorsement of specific...

Objective: To explore sexual sensation seeking (SSS) among an ethnically-diverse sample of first-year college students and their hookup behaviors. Participants: 1,480 first-year college students who hooked up in the last 30 days were recruited from four universities in 2016. Methods: Students completed an online survey before completing an online...

This study used a sexual scripting framework to analyse data from the Online College Social Life Survey to examine the role of individual, (e.g. gender, race and alcohol use), relational (partner type, condom use behaviours), and contextual factors (sex ratios and fraternity/sorority affiliation) influencing 4,292 first-year college students’ hooku...

Background Between 1.6 and 3.8 million sports- and recreation-related concussions occur in the United States annually. Reports indicate that a significant number of athletes who have experienced symptoms of a potential sport-related concussion did not disclose their symptoms. Aims The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of coach co...

An estimated 2 in 3 college students report consuming alcohol in the past month and 44% of students report engaging in high risk or heavy episodic drinking at least once in the previous 2 weeks. Despite evidence suggesting that participation in sports may be a protective factor for the use of alcohol, recent data from the National Collegiate Athlet...

Purpose: Alcohol, tobacco, marijuana and other drugs use typically increases in prevalence and frequency during middle and late adolescence. School health instruction often focusses on providing facts and rarely provides tools for addressing the psychosocial risk factors needed to prevent substance use. The purpose of this paper is to report about...

Sleep is an important determinant of collegiate athlete health, well-being and performance. However, collegiate athlete social and physical environments are often not conducive to obtaining restorative sleep. Traditionally, sleep has not been a primary focus of collegiate athletic training and is neglected due to competing academic, athletic and so...

To determine how parents dispose of unused prescription medications and correlates of disposal, we recruited 3,043 parents of adolescents to complete a survey. Multivariate and multinomial logistic regression was conducted to examine correlates of disposal of prescription medication. Only 17.8% of parents in a household prescribed a controlled medi...

This study sought to determine whether completion of the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s “Supporting Student-Athlete Mental Wellness” online module for coaches increased mental health literacy, reduced stigma and increased intentions to: 1) communicate proactively with team members about the importance of mental health care seeking, and...

Rationale: Student-athletes are at risk for engaging in drinking games and pregaming. Research suggests that brief motivational and alcohol education intervention approaches designed to reduce harmful drinking behaviors may not be effective in lowering students' participation in drinking games or pregaming. Method: We evaluated the effects of my...

This study evaluates the Step UP! Bystander Intervention Program and explores whether training that addresses numerous problematic situations is warranted for both collegiate student-athletes and non-athletes. Data were collected from 731 students who participated in 49 trainings. Significantly more student-athletes compared to non-athletes reporte...

Relations among gender, ethnicity, athlete seasonal status, alcohol consumption, and protective behavioral strategies were examined among student-athletes. The national sample (N = 670, Mage = 18.90) included Black (n = 199), Hispanic (n = 236), and White (n = 235) college student-athletes who use alcohol. There were significant gender and ethnic d...

This chapter describes some aspects of an application of the multiphase optimization strategy (MOST) to optimize and evaluate itMatters, an online intervention that targets the intersection of alcohol use and sexual behaviors to reduce sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among college students. The chapter emphasizes two aspects of this applicat...

Between 2001 and 2015, 3.4 million traumatic brain injury (TBI) occurrences in the U.S. were accounted for by sport participation. It is estimated between 12% and 60% of athletes delay seeking care after sustaining a concussion. Differences in sport-related concussion (SRC) reporting have been attributed to several different factors. Whereas prior...

The purpose of this article is to investigate polysubstance use among college student-athletes and determine whether use is independent of gender, race, season status, and athletic division. College student-athletes responded to questions related to their past-30-day use of alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, and prescription drugs. Findings suggest that...

Introduction: A permanent drug donation box ("drop-box") is one strategy implemented in communities across the United States to reduce the availability of excess controlled medications, including prescription opioids, for diversion. The objective of this study was to examine correlates of the diffusion and implementation of drop-boxes in North Car...

OBJECTIVES/SPECIFIC AIMS: The goal of this study is to develop an effective and efficient STI preventive intervention among college students following the principles and phases of MOST. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION As part of the preparation phase, an explicit conceptual model, drawing heavily on theory and prior research, was used to translate the exi...

An ongoing evaluation is investigating the implementation and impact of a national coaching education initiative intended to reclaim sports as an educational experience. Through (a) Awareness, (b) Alignment, (c) Action, and (d) Accountability, the initiative empowers school communities to provide student-athletes with transformative, life-sustainin...

This interactive seminar is designed to inspire coaches and coach educators to initiate individual, communal and societal change that will reclaim sports as an educational experience. For coaches to provide student-athletes with more than physical skill development, strategies and the rules of a game, and get to the true purpose—the life sustaining...

The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs support creation of innovative technologies that align with the National Institutes of Health’s mission to improve health and save lives. The National Institute on Drug Abuse’s (NIDA) SBIR/STTR programs are 3.6% of the overall NIDA budget. The progr...

This study examined risk factors for problem outcomes experienced by drinking and non-drinking first year collegiate student-athletes. Freshman and transfer student-athletes (N=2956) reported their alcohol use, problems experienced and demographic/sport-related data via an online survey. We hypothesized extreme drinking, male, out-of-season, team s...

Researchers have identified college student-athletes as a subgroup at risk for heavy drinking and associated consequences. Yet, few studies have examined multiple variables simultaneously to determine which stand out as most robust to explain drinking behavior among student-athletes. Student-athletes from 54 National Collegiate Athletic Association...

Objective: To describe first-year college student-athletes' friendship contexts and test whether their perceptions of alcohol use and approval by different types of friends are associated with their own alcohol use. Participants: First-year student-athletes (N = 2,622) from 47 colleges and universities participating in National Collegiate Athletic...

Objective: This study tested whether perceived parental approval of high-risk drinking is directly linked to alcohol-related outcomes or whether the link between perceived parental approval and these outcomes is mediated by perceived friends' approval of high-risk drinking. Method: In fall 2009, 1,797 incoming first-year college students (49.7%...

Synthetic cannabinoids have gained popularity over the past decade, especially among young adults, due to sharing similar psychoactive properties with Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). A limited number of studies have examined synthetic cannabinoid use among college students but none have examined use exclusively by collegiate student-athletes. The objec...

The authors examined the mediational role of drinking motives in explaining the associations among psychosocial antecedents and collegiate drinking. Results indicated that drinking motives partially mediated the relationships between outcome expectancies, perceived norms, alcohol use intensity, and alcohol-related negative consequences.

Background: School-based alcohol and other drug use prevention remains an important national strategy. Collaborative partnerships between universities and high schools have the potential to enhance prevention programming; however, there are challenges to sustaining such partnerships. Purpose: The purpose of this commentary is to underscore challeng...

Information and communication technologies are opening up vast new arenas for conducting the work of health promotion. Technology-based health promotions expand reach, standardize information and its delivery, provide opportunities for tailoring, create engaging interactivity within content delivery, provide for privacy and autonomy, improve portab...

College athletes are at risk for heavy alcohol use, which jeopardizes their general health, academic standing, and athletic performance. Effective prevention programming reduces these risks by targeting theory-based intermediate factors that predict alcohol use while tailoring content to student-athletes. The purpose of this study was to examine th...

There is an inherent gap between the importance of behavioral factors on student-athlete health and fair completion, and the effectiveness of today’s behavioral programs or interventions at modifying these behavioral factors. At best, theories of human development are used to design interventions that target the reduction of risk and the enhancemen...

In 2010, the United States (US) enacted a restaurant menu labeling law. The law also applied to vending machine companies selling food. Research suggested that providing nutrition information on menus in restaurants might reduce the number of calories purchased. We tested the effect of providing nutrition information and 'healthy' designations to c...

Given current pressures to increase the public health contributions of behavioral interventions, intervention scientists may wish to consider moving beyond the classical treatment package approach that focuses primarily on achieving statistical significance. They may wish also to focus on goals directly related to optimizing public health impact. T...

Objectives: This study tested whether days on campus, financial access through a meal plan, and health consciousness were associated with number of meals that college students obtained from fast food restaurants. Participants and methods: In April 2013, all students currently enrolled in a meal plan were invited to participate in an online surve...

Introduction: College student-athletes are at increased risk of substance use compared to non-athletes. Currently there are no evidence-based programs that address their unique patterns and motivations for use. In response to this void, we developed myPlaybook, an online substance use intervention tailored to college student-athletes. After initial...

Alcohol use among college student-athletes should be of great concern due to their risk for excessive consumption and related negative consequences compared to their non-athlete peers. Previous research has focused on reasons and/or motives for alcohol and other drug use among student-athletes, rather than non-use. Additionally, previous studies on...

College student-athletes and first-year students are two undergraduate populations at risk for heavy-episodic drinking and alcohol-related negative consequences. In this study, 63 (56% female, 62% Caucasian) first-year student-athletes completed a preliminary questionnaire assessing demographic characteristics, athlete-specific drinking motives, al...

Introduction: Over 500,000 student-athletes, who compete in college-level athletics each year, are susceptible to the same physical, cognitive, and social consequences of alcohol and other drug use as their non-athlete peers. This is exacerbated by the demands intercollegiate sports place on student-athletes. Sufficient literature suggests a relati...

Motivational interviewing (MI) is a counseling technique that evolved from the treatment of problem drinkers. It is a semi-directive, client-centered approach that is designed to elicit behavior change by helping clients explore and resolve ambivalence. Compared with traditional counseling, MI is more goal-directed. There is compelling evidence t...

Social host policies focused on underage drinking parties are implemented to reduce social availability of alcohol and high-risk drinking by adolescents in private locations. We examined the policies’ relationship with drinking location, peer-group drinking size, heavy episodic drinking, and nonviolent consequences. Cross-sectional data from 11,205...

Background: The use of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs (ATOD) by adolescents is a national health issue. One way in which the United States approaches the prevention of substance use among adolescents is by teaching high school students about ATOD at school. The curriculum for health education courses is based upon each state's framework. The pu...

Objective: The authors used the photovoice method as a strategy for empowering students to advocate for change of a campus smoking policy. Participants: Participants included 49 college students and 160 photo-exhibit attendees during spring 2011. Methods: Students were trained in the use of the photovoice method and a public exhibit was used t...

Underage drinking continues to be a public health concern, partially due to the ease in which adolescents obtain alcohol and consume it in private locations. States and municipalities have implemented strategies to counteract this, including adopting public policies called social host policies, despite limited evidence of effectiveness. Traditional...

Research studies indicate that smoking cigarettes is related to a premature development of facial wrinkles. Given that facial wrinkles may act as motivation for people to quit smoking, it is crucial that smoking cessation professionals be able to accurately inform clients about research concerning smoking and wrinkles. Therefore, the purpose of thi...

This study aimed to examine college student physical activity promotion. A cross-sectional approach to qualitative research was used. Southeastern state university system. Fourteen of 15 (93%) universities recruited were included in this study; 22 university employees participated in a semistructured interview. Nonprobabilistic purposive and snowba...

The authors estimated the number of violations of a university policy that prohibited smoking within 25 ft of all campus buildings. The project was conducted by 13 student researchers from the university and a member of the local public health department. Students quantified cigarette butts that were littered in a 30-day period inside the prohibite...

Blending high-quality and rigorous research with pure evaluation practice can often be best accomplished through thoughtful collaboration. The evaluation of a high school drug prevention program (All Stars Senior) is an example of how perceived competing purposes and methodologies can coexist to investigate formative and summative outcome variables...

Using the Problem Oriented Screening Instrument for Teenagers (POSIT), the effect of mode of administration on (1) students' willingness to disclose sensitive information and (2) response rates was investigated. A 2 × 2 unequal N factorial analysis of variance (ANOVA) design was employed. Mode of administration (paper-and-pencil vs. Web-based) was...

The hookah pipe is an ancient tool for smoking tobacco and is a growing public health concern at the global level. YouTube is a website that allows its members to post videos for people to watch and to share comments about the videos in an online forum. The purpose of the study was to investigate the types of videos about hookah on YouTube, their p...