Innovative Prevention Strategies to Reach Higher Education

Background: College drinking is extremely widespread. About four out of five college students drink alcohol. About half of college students who drink also consume alcohol through binge drinking (a pattern of drinking that brings blood alcohol concentration (BAC) levels to 0.08 g/dL). Each year, drinking affects college students, as well as college communities, and families. Potential consequences of drinking include: death; assault; sexual abuse; injury; academic problems; health problems; and suicide attempts. Despite both evidence linking harmful drinking with negative outcomes for students and the effectiveness of prevention efforts, many Institutions of higher education (IHE) professionals are hesitant to implement strategies to prevent underage drinking, citing limited support from administrators, students, parents, and community members, as well as limited financial resources, as the main barriers to implementing prevention programs.

Program background: The federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is a key player in reducing substance misuse in the U.S.  SAMHSA’s Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) implements two initiatives, the Underage Drinking Prevention Education Program Initiative (UADPEI) and the Communities Talk: Town Hall Meetings to Prevention Underage Drinking initiative (CTE:THM), aimed at educating communities and building sustainable prevention about the consequences of underage drinking, disseminating evidence-based prevention messages, and mobilizing communities to implement prevention efforts on a local level.  A focus of both initiatives is reducing the incidence and prevalence of underage drinking on college campuses by supporting IHEs to hold CTE:THMs and providing research summaries, web materials, and videos that can be effectively utilized in plans, policies, practices, and partnerships to enhance student success.

Evaluation Methods and Results: Evaluation of successful implementation of these initiatives and use of SAMHSA materials was conducted through qualitative research, including ad-hoc IHE reporting and support of a newly developed video series, College Drinking: Prevention Perspectives.

Conclusions: IHEs across the U.S. have shown sustained interest in the initiatives, resulting in active participation in development of the College Drinking series and participation in current video episodes.  Increasing numbers of IHEs are holding CTE:THM meetings, increasing campus and community knowledge about risks and dangers of underage drinking, and gaining support from administrators.

Implications for research and/or practice: A decade of implementing these SAMHSA initiatives has produced evidence of need in supporting IHEs in the continuing effort to reduce college-student alcohol use, change campus norms around this use, and overcome barriers to administration adoption.  Further research is needed to identify best practices to gain administration support to decrease the UAD rates and the risks and harms to students and surrounding communities.