Reduce College Drinking - Support Evidenced-Based Prevention and Counseling Programs

by Lisa Frederiksen

The “Rapid Response to College Drinking Problems Initiative” is a grant program supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) in response to survey findings showing a dramatic rise in alcohol related deaths amongst college students and the number of students binge drinking. Through the initiative, NIAAA scientists worked with 15 colleges facing alcohol-related crises, pairing them with five multidisciplinary teams of prevention and intervention experts, according to the NIH News release. Quoting from the release, “[t]he collaboration yielded a mix of programs that showed different benefits. Examples from their findings include the following:

• James F. Schaus, M.D., and colleagues at the University of Central Florida found that brief motivational interviews proved effective for high risk drinkers seen in a busy college health clinic. Compared to a control group, students who participated in two sessions reported consuming less alcohol six months later and had fewer drinking-related problems nine months later.

• Hortensia Amaro, Ph.D., and colleagues at Northeastern University in Boston developed a one-on-one counseling program for students with alcohol and drug policy violations. Six months later, students who received the intervention were drinking less than counterparts who had not been through the program.

• Joseph A. LaBrie and colleagues at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles evaluated the long-term effectiveness of a motivational-enhancement group intervention for first-year college women. Participants consumed significantly less alcohol across 10 weeks of follow-up, but not at six-month follow-up, suggesting the need for booster sessions during the first year of college.

• Two separate studies developed programs in which colleges worked closely with their surrounding communities, using measures such as increased police patrols in problem neighborhoods and raising student awareness of their responsibilities as community residents. The studies found reductions in heavy drinking and a decrease in the number of off-campus incidents involving students. One study was led by Mark D. Wood, Ph.D., of the University of Rhode Island, and the other by Robert F. Saltz, Ph.D., of the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, working with two universities in Washington state.

• Another study found that colleges have made online alcohol-policy information more available and accessible to students, parents, and other interested parties. This shift may reflect a greater engagement of colleges and universities in the issue of drinking on campus in general, according to lead author Vivian B. Faden, Ph.D., acting director of NIAAA’s Office of Science Policy and Communications.”

Consider passing this information and NIAAA’s Statistical Snapshot of College Drinking along to your college student and(or) the student health administrators of your student’s college.