Alcohol education becomes a first-year requirement

All incoming first-year students at UD now are required to take an online alcohol education program, AlcoholEdu for College. The course was introduced to those who attended DelaWorld, the orientation program for incoming students, this summer.

The course is aimed at creating a learning experience that motivates behavior change, resets unrealistic expectations about the effects of alcohol, links choices about drinking to academic and personal success and helps students practice healthier and safer decision-making.

First-year students who do not complete the online course will not be able to register for spring semester classes.

“Requiring all first-year students to complete AlcoholEdu is just one more tool we have in our efforts to reduce the problems related to high-risk drinking,” Tracy Downs, program director at the University’s Center for Counseling and Student Development, says.

Used on more than 450 college and university campuses nationwide, the course is designed as a population-level prevention program to be given to an entire population of students, such as an entering first-year class or a national Greek organization.

More than 250,000 students nationwide have taken AlcoholEdu for College, producing the world’s largest database on college students and alcohol, based on their responses to course surveys.

Data from students who completed the program in summer and fall 2004 showed that AlcoholEdu for College:

• Increases practical knowledge—71 percent said they now know more about blood alcohol concentration, and 44 percent of men said they know more about how alcohol affects consent for sex;
  
  
• Motivates students to change behavior—The percentage of heavy-episodic drinkers who did not see a need to change their behavior dropped by almost 30 percent after AlcoholEdu, and the percentages of students who were trying to change doubled; and
  
  
• Decreases negative consequences—For the entire 2003-04 academic year, students who took the program had significantly fewer negative personal, health and academic consequences.
  
  
• An independent evaluation of AlcoholEdu for College by Andrew Wall at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign showed that students who completed AlcoholEdu experienced a 50 percent reduction in negative academic and personal consequences, such as missing class, blacking out, having unprotected sex and vomiting in public.
  

“Our primary reason for making this population-level effort to focus on alcohol education is simply the concern we have about the health and safety of our students,” John Bishop, UD associate vice president for counseling and student development, says.

AlcoholEdu is part of a broader effort at UD. In June, the University’s Center for Counseling and Student Development and Wellspring, the student wellness program, received a grant for the second year of a $1.2 million three-year grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to combat underage drinking and drug abuse.

The $406,636 for the 2006-07 year will provide the resources for the University to expand efforts to assist students with alcohol and other drug interventions and treatment by promoting innovative screening, brief interventions and referral to treatment of those students with a high risk of substance abuse disorders.

“The University has been one of the national leaders in addressing alcohol-related issues among college students,” Bishop says. “The renewal of the grant is a significant step because it does signify that SAMHSA is endorsing our efforts to date as well as our plans for the future.”

UD was among 12 institutions that were awarded a total of $15.5 million last year to combat underage drinking and drug abuse. The grant was awarded following the completion of a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-sponsored program, which provided UD about $1.1 million over 10 years to focus attention on the need for public policy changes and for a community and campus awareness-building campaign aimed at curbing high-risk alcohol abuse.
“The University of Delaware has been a national leader in addressing the problem of high-risk, or binge, drinking among young people as an important public health issue,” UD President David P. Roselle said during the initial announcement of the grant.

“It is clear that substance abuse by students continues to be one of the most difficult problems confronting our campuses, and we are pleased that SAMHSA has recognized the gravity of the situation and has provided funding to help colleges and universities better deal with the issue.”

The University’s goals in the program are to enhance or establish programs to increase the receptivity of students to information about alcohol and drug risks; to provide brief interventions and to expand treatment options on campus through timely and effective assessments; and to coordinate with nearby off-campus treatment facilities to provide more intensive treatment for students found in need of such assistance.

During the first year of the grant, funds were used to hire a second substance abuse counselor, a senior secretary and graduate assistants.

“The project will now focus on expanding the assessment and treatment options that are available for students, with a focus on group screenings and motivational interviewing,” Bishop says. “The goal continues to be one of having students identify alcohol-related risk behaviors and increase their readiness to make changes in such behaviors.”

—Martin Mbugua