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Targeting High-Risk Drinking

Study may help Duke reduce alcohol-related problems among students

Duke is creating a campus and community coalition to test the most effective ways to change the culture on college campuses to help reduce alcohol-related problems among students.

The university is participating in a statewide research study called the Study to Prevent Alcohol Related Consequences (SPARC). The research is being conducted by Wake Forest University's School of Medicine and funded by a $3.2-million grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services. Duke's coalition will be called BlueSPARC.

Through December 2006, Duke organizer Claire Feldman-Riordan will work with BlueSPARC, a campus and community coalition to determine the challenges Duke is facing, identify the strategies to address them, and put those strategies into place.  Throughout the coalition's work, the research team at Wake Forest will collect data to evaluate how successful the strategies are at reducing alcohol-related consequences.

Larry Moneta, vice president for student affairs, said he was interested in Duke's participating in the study because he knows that Duke, like other universities, faces challenges in dealing with student alcohol use. This is an opportunity, he said, to experiment with new approaches.

 "We know the legislative approach -- developing policies prohibiting it and having judicial consequences -- doesn't work," Moneta said. "It creates an adversarial relationship between the administration and students.

 "The key with the SPARC project is that it is not just another clamping down on alcohol. This is a scientific project to understand the impact of alcohol and identify strategies that might help students make better choices."

The goal of the study is not to eliminate drinking altogether, but to prevent "high-risk drinking" -- that is, drinking that leads to academic problems, property damage, assault, physical and mental health concerns, and other issues.

Feldman-Riordan said the coalition will be guided by best practices identified in the NIAAA 2002 report, "A Call to Action: Changing the Culture of Drinking at U.S. Colleges." Examples could include a campaign to correct misperceptions about alcohol use or improvements to the Safe Rides program.

The study involves 10 universities across North Carolina. Five are control schools; Duke is one of five universities that will use a campus-community coalition to try to change the social environment to prevent alcohol-related consequences for students.

Feldman-Riordan is in the process of putting together the coalition, which will include students, administrators, faculty and local residents. She expects the group to begin meeting this fall. In the meantime, she is meeting with campus and community leaders. This is a rare opportunity, she said, for campus and community groups to work together on a project that will create a more enjoyable social environment for students and the larger community.

She is encouraging a variety of students and student groups to get involved, even those who are not on the coalition.

 "This is a way for students to impact what is best for the campus," Feldman-Riordan said. "I hear a lot of students criticize the administration for sending 'mixed messages,' inconsistent enforcement of the alcohol policy and not providing enough options for social life on campus. All of those issues have to do with alcohol-related consequences.  BlueSPARC is an opportunity to address some of these issues.

 "Students say they want to drink and have a good time, but they don't want to wind up in the ER or with academic consequences," she added. "These are issues students are already bringing to the administration's attention."

Feldman-Riordan anticipates that data describing the frequency and negative consequences of high-risk drinking at Duke will be made available to BlueSPARC members and the broader community starting this fall.

 "We talk to students whose regular behavior is to consume a 12 pack," said Dr. Robert DuRant, the lead researcher at Wake Forest. "That's high-risk drinking."

The strategies Duke will try as a part of this study will complement the alcohol education already being done, said Jeff Kulley, coordinator of alcohol and substance abuse services and staff psychologist in Duke's Counseling and Psychological Services. Duke's programs predominantly address individual behavior through education and treatment. The SPARC study aims to change the environment through new policies or social norms.

That combination, he said, will be effective.

 "The best evidence says a combination of approaches work best," Kulley said. "Education and awareness are helpful, but it also helps to have an environment that doesn't undermine that awareness. Right now, students have the information about making good decisions but that doesn't change what they do on Thursday night."

One of the benefits of participating in the study, Feldman-Riordan said, is that students will be surveyed throughout the process. The first survey was done last spring, and Feldman-Riordan plans to present those findings to the community later this year.

Duke will emerge from this process, she said, with a better understanding of how frequently undergraduates drink and why. What's more, Duke will have data to evaluate which educational strategies and policies seem to help students make good choices -- and which do not.

Anthony Vitarelli, a senior and president of Campus Council, said he would be concerned with "blanket attempts" to limit alcohol availability on campus. Recent events such as Springternational show that students can drink responsibly, he said, and responsible drinking on campus is preferable to drinking off campus.

He added, though, that he thinks the participation in this study "has the potential to reduce some of the unsafe outcomes associated with excessive drinking, notably drunk driving."

 "Duke has made an abrupt transition from a social scene formerly dominated by large on-campus events to one consisting mostly of smaller off-campus events," Vitarelli said. "This has left a social void on campus that overtly 'alcohol-free' programming cannot successfully fill. Student groups, residential staff and administrators need to work together to cater to changing student interests."

Sue Wasiolek, assistant vice president for student affairs and dean of students, agrees with Vitarelli about the potential of this process.

"For years, Duke has attempted to identify strategies to encourage students to consume alcohol in a responsible manner," Wasiolek said. "We hope that from this innovative, community-based approach, safer and more vibrant social options for students will emerge."