Comparing Alcohol Education Programs: What's right for your campus?

Madison, Wis.—March 19, 2009 — Many colleges and universities look to existing alcohol education programs–some commercial and some free–to help them build student alcohol education programs on their own campuses.

Dr. Brian Van Brunt, president-elect of the American College Counseling Association and Western Kentucky University’s director of counseling, offered advice on that process during his recent online seminar Alcohol Education Programs: Purchase, Customize or Create?

During the seminar, Van Brunt reviewed the pros and cons of seven commercial and six free alcohol education programs. These programs range from programs students take online to training courses for staff members who then conduct face-to-face alcohol education courses. Van Brunt based his reviews on 10 years of experience offering various alcohol abuse prevention programming, assessment, and treatment to sanctioned college students.

Van Brunt recommended that when reviewing possible programs, you should:
• Be clear about what population you want the program to reach–the general student population, students who have been sanctioned for alcohol violations, students with dependency problems?
• Ensure that any research used to support the program’s efficacy is accurate and applicable to that population.
• Ask for a free trial so you can experience directly what the students will experience.

Van Brunt also offered advice for assessing an education program’s effectiveness once it’s been implemented on your campus. He advises keeping the following in mind as you look over your results:
• Don’t confuse correlation and causation. “If judicial sanctions for alcohol are down on your campus, are there other factors in addition to the alcohol program that could be responsible?” Van Brunt asked.
• When reviewing survey results, ask yourself whether the students are simply saying what you want to hear.
• Does your assessment measure how long any improvements will “stick”? That is, do you know if any improvement in attitudes or behaviors last two years … or only two weeks?
• Is there a connection between students learning what they should do in regard to alcohol versus what they actually do in real-life drinking situations?

In the final portion of the seminar, Van Brunt detailed ten components he believes all alcohol education programs–whether purchased, customized, or created–should include.

If you missed the seminar and would like to purchase it for your institution, you can order the program in CD or print transcript format, both of which include the presenter's handouts.

Magna Publications is a leading publisher of newsletters and other information products in the higher education segment. Magna also manages onsite and online conferences on topics of interest to higher education.

For more information please contact David Burns, Publisher, Magna Publications, Inc., at 608-227-8109, or dburns@magnapubs.com.