Prevention of high risk drinking at a residential college

• Background

The physical consequences of HRD include injury, medical problems, and death by alcohol poisoning.

• Purpose

To review strategies and findings being used to reduce HRD at a residential college campus.

• Significance

The project findings can be used by others designing programs to address HRD among college students.

• Methodology

The program aimed to achieve a 5 percent decrease in HRD among students served by the project.

The program reviewed is designed to engage freshmen, and fraternity/sorority members to address factors that foster HRD using social norm messaging, organizing alcohol free events, a lecture series and faculty symposia.

The program is founded on the 3-in-1 framework, which includes participatory involvement of multiple stakeholders.

The program monitored results using several survey instruments and data collected from Campus Safety on alcohol-related violations.

• Findings/Results

There was a significant reduction in issues related to HRD as well as some possible, though inconclusive, findings on the reduction of HRD among the target population.

A review of campus safety records showed a decline in alcohol related violations among the target population.

Survey results collected over the course of a year indicated that HRD dropped by 6 percent.

• Conclusions/Recommendations

Using the Harm Reduction Approach in collaboration with students and the college community can help lower HRD in college settings. It is difficult to accurately assess the impact of the project on HRD after just one year, but this program appears to have contributed to a decline in HRD among freshmen college students.