ENVIRONMENTAL PREVENTION OF COLLEGE ALCOHOL PROBLEMS

Pacific Institute For Res And Evaluation, Beltsville MD

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

This application responds to the NIAAA call for research on interventions to reduce college student, heavy episodic drinking and resulting alcohol problems by proposing the initiation and evaluation of a comprehensive environmental prevention program at San Diego State University (SDSU). The SDSU Community Alcohol Partnership Program, a "Town-Gown" consortium, is in place to implement the program. The proposed five element, multiyear effort is guided by a model of campus alcohol problems growing out of research on community public health prevention programs funded by the NIAAA. It implements a comprehensive set of campus environmental policies and programs that have been recommended by the Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention. The research design provides for a quasi- experimental study employing New Mexico State University as a comparison site. Special features of interest in the proposal include: (1) a data-driven phased program that uses the feedback from an extensive set of process, intermediate, and outcome variables to modify and perfect programs; (2) an ongoing survey of cross-border (Mexico) binge drinking of students at the two universities as a measure of campus drinking displacement and program effectiveness, challenging program designers to find solutions to high-risk drinking behavior; (3) in addition to employing student self-report surveys of drinking as an outcome measure, voluntary breath-test surveys conducted on campus are proposed to provide an objective impact measure; and finally, (4) the utilization of a rich set of archival outcome measures including records from the campus police, student counseling centers, and student residence hall records.