Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #106727

Sylvia J. Brandt, PhD, Resource Economics, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Stockbridge Hall, Amherst, MA 01003-9246, 413-545-5722, brandt@resecon.umass.edu and Edward Brandt, PhD, Department of Biology, Shenandoah University, 212 Gregory Hall, Winchester, VA 22624.

Despite investments in college alcohol awareness programs, Harvard's College Alcohol Study (2001) concludes that there is little evidence of the effectiveness of standard alcohol education. An innovative approach is curriculum infusion (CI), which integrates prevention content into standard college courses. In this study we assess the impact of curriculum infusion in two settings: a large introductory statistics course at University of Massachusetts-Amherst and a large introductory human anatomy and physiology course at Shenandoah University.

First, we assess the feasibility of transferring the CI approach by partnering Shenandoah University, profiled as an exemplary program by the Network for the Dissemination of CI, with University of Massachusetts, which provides only a traditional alcohol workshop. Using the CI materials from Shenandoah University we establish a protocol for adapting the course materials for use at University of Massachusetts. We apply the theory of Social Norming to dispel common misperceptions about alcohol use (Berkowitz and Perkins), and develop CI themes that could be replicated. In this paper we identify and discuss the elements essential to successful partnership and replication.

Second, we evaluate the effectiveness of CI by measuring the change in baseline and exit surveys administered to enrolled students (N=302). The surveys, adapted from the National College Health Behavior Survey (CDC) and the Alcohol Use Survey (Center for Education Policy), consist of four domains 1) personal alcohol use 2) attitudes on alcohol use 3) perception of campus climate 4) demographics. Preliminary results indicate that CI is an effective tool for communicating alcohol awareness.

Learning Objectives:

• Define Curriculum Infusion (CI) and recognize potential for replication through institutional partnership.
• Identify how faculty can influence health risk behaviors and the effectiveness of CI.
• Describe patterns of alcohol use and attitude by demographics.
• Participants will be able to begin development of CI materials.

Keywords: Alcohol Use, College Students

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.