Healthy communities, healthy states: A campus/community effort to expand the use of assessment, planning, and public health approaches to address problems associated with alcohol and other drug use

Northern State University (NSU), a four-year public university located in Aberdeen South Dakota, is part of a statewide, community-based network working to prevent problems associated with alcohol and other drug (AOD) abuse. CORE survey data shows that NSU students report higher rates of negative consequences associated with AODs than the national average in multiple areas. These include: poor academic performance, arrests for driving under the influence; sexual assaults; and suicide ideation and attempts. The NSU campus coalition's efforts to reduce AOD problems among students have been enhanced by participation in a statewide transformation initiative led by the SD Department of Human Services' Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse, with technical assistance from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's Center for Substance Abuse Prevention. This change effort has resulted in enhanced community capacity to use epidemiological approaches, engage in targeted prevention system development and outcome-based planning, and use comprehensive public health approaches. As a result, the NSU campus coalition has incorporated a number of policy approaches into its health promotion and early intervention efforts, including: reviewing, recommending changes to, and enforcing campus, community, state and federal AOD laws and policies; tracking consistency of enforcement efforts on campus and in the community; limiting the availability of alcohol both on and off-campus; developing and implementing social marketing campaigns; and planning and implementing alcohol-free events and public service opportunities. This presentation will provide a campus coalition perspective on this systems transformation initiative, and describe successes and key lessons learned to date.