REAL Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention Plan

Key Foundations of the REAL Plan:

Research

Education

Assessment

Leadership

Components of the Plan:

Assessment & Evaluation
Policy Review
Late Knight Programs
Social Norms Marketing
Educational Programs
Student Assistance
Student Involvement
Faculty Involvement

Research

• Fall 2005-Spring 2007: University Health Services NIAAA Grant designed to test the efficacy of brief Primary Care Provider administered Interventions in a sample of College Students screened for a history of High Risk Alcohol Use.
• Summer 2006-Spring 2007: A Comparative analysis of the efficacy of brief alcohol interventions delivered in an individual, group and online format.
• Summer 2006-Spring 2007: Effectiveness of classroom based Alcohol Expectancy Challenge delivered by Peer Educators designed to reduce High-Risk Drinking among College Students.
  
  
  

Education/Brief Intervention

The goals of educational programming are to:

• Increase students' knowledge regarding the effects and the potential safety, health, social, academic, and legal consequences of alcohol and other drug misuse
• Increase awareness regarding the signs and symptoms of alcohol and other drug abuse and dependency
• Assist students in evaluating their expectancies regarding and motivations for high-risk drinking and other drug use
• Define and encourage low-risk, responsible drinking
• Assist students in exploring alternatives to drinking
• Assist students in knowing how to help a friend in trouble
• Correct misperception regarding norms for alcohol use at UCF
• Provide students with information about campus and community alcohol and other drug prevention, student assistance, and wellness resources

Educational activities include:

• Online Population Level Prevention Education for all FTIC students
• Lectures and interactive workshops
• Information tables
• Bulletin board displays
• Posters
• Pamphlets
• Web site materials
• Promotional Items
  
  
  

Student Assistance/Brief Intervention
Student Assistance provides support services for students who experience physical, psychological, social, academic, and/or legal issues related to alcohol and other drug use.

Services include:

• Assessment services provide students with the opportunity to meet with a trained clinical provider in a confidential face-to-face session. During the session, students receive individualized screening and feedback on a variety of substance-related behaviors that are designed to inform the student about personalized risk and protective factors, as well as behaviors that can help maximize their health and safety. Following the session, the student may be eligible to receive additional information and referrals to fit their individual needs.
  
• BASICS (Brief Alcohol Screening for College Students) is an individually-delivered alcohol abuse prevention program for college students that is empirically supported by rigorous research. BASICS is a Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) Model Program and a National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Tier I Program demonstrated to be effective with college students in reducing drinking and alcohol-related harm.
  
• CHOICES is a group-delivered intervention modeled after the Alcohol Skills Training Program (ASTP), an NIAAA Tier I Program with evidence of effectiveness with college students. CHOICES is designed for universal alcohol abuse prevention, for selective prevention focused on particular high-risk groups of students, and for indicated prevention (i.e., students mandated for intervention by an alcohol policy violation or an arrest).
  
• e-CHUG (electronic Check-Up to Go ) is an electronically-delivered intervention that incorporates Motivational Interviewing and Social Norms feedback theories designed to motivate students to reduce their alcohol consumption using personalized information about their own drinking and risk factors. The e-CHUG is a NASPA evidence-based approach, with four controlled studies on three different campuses all having demonstrated significant reductions in high-risk alcohol use among college students completing the e-CHUG online intervention.
  
• e- TOKE (electronic THC Online Knowledge Experience) is an electronically-delivered marijuana-specific brief assessment and feedback tool designed to reduce marijuana use among college students. Modeled after the successful e-CHUG, e-TOKE draws on social norms marketing and motivational interviewing theories to motivate students to reduce their level of marijuana use using personalized information about their own behavior and risk factors.
  
  
  

Assessment & Evaluation
Assessment & Evaluation helps us define prevention strategies and determine successful approaches to decrease alcohol and other drug abuse on and around campus.

Sources of assessment and evaluation data include:

• CORE Alcohol and Drug Survey
• American College Health Association Assessment
• Additional surveys and evaluations conducted by the SDES Assessment and Planning Office
• Program evaluations conducted by university departments providing AOD programs, services, and activities.
  
  
  

Leadership
Environmental Management emphasizes the importance of the social, legal, and economic environment in shaping health-related behaviors. Campus & Community Alliances bring together diverse individuals, agencies, and associations to collaborate and share responsibilities for developing communities and environments that encourage responsible, low-risk alcohol use.

Groups that address alcohol and other drug issues on and around campus include:

• The Alcohol Use Policy Task Force
• SDES Alcohol Advisory Committee
• Orange County Coalition for A Drug-Free Community
• Residential Property Managers Initiative
• KnightWatch
  
  
  

Policy Review
Policy Review insures that UCF has clear and appropriate guidelines for alcohol use that are widely disseminated and consistently enforced. The Alcohol Advisory Committee oversees this task.

Late Knight Programming
Late Knights is a monthly event at the University of Central Florida providing free food, fun, games, giveaways and alcohol and drug-free activities for UCF students! The program has been a great success and continues to attract over 2000 students at each event.

Evaluation findings indicate that:

• Attendees include a mix of high-risk drinkers, low-risk drinkers, and non-drinkers.
• Students are pleased with the quality of events.
• A third of students who attend report that they drink less than normal due to attending Late Night events.
  
  
  

Social Norms Marketing
Social Norms Marketing aims to correct students' misperceptions about the amount and frequency of alcohol their peers are consuming. Research indicates most college students overestimate the amount that their peers are drinking.

For example, 95% of UCF students perceive that the average UCF student uses alcohol once a week or more. In reality, about 63% of UCF students reported using alcohol less than once week.

An individual’s behavior is in part formed by what they perceive to be normative behavior in their community; misperceptions regarding drinking norms are theorized to be one factor that leads to high-risk drinking on college campuses.

Messages such as, "Most UCF students have 4 or fewer drinks when they go out and 1 out of 5 don’t drink at all.”, are disseminated to students via newspaper advertisements, posters, promotional items (cups, key chains, etc.), Web sites, bulletin board displays, media contacts, lectures, workshops, etc.

Student Involvement
Students should be included in the process of planning, implementing, and evaluating alcohol and drug prevention strategies. Faculty, staff, and others should empower and encourage students to become advocates for responsible alcohol use and should support student-led prevention initiatives.

Student involvement is facilitated through:

• HLP 2701: Peer Education Training Course

This course is a three credit elective and is the foundation for Peer Education training. This course will allow students to examine various theoretical models applicable to peer education. Information on contemporary college health issues such as alcohol and other drugs, sexual assault, HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted infections, and diversity will be discussed. Students will explore ways to assist their peers with life skills development when dealing with these issues. Instruction will be given on development and implementation of health promotion activities, strategic planning, confidentiality, presentation skills, listening skills, assertion skills and group facilitation skills. Students will then have an opportunity to utilize these skills and knowledge to present valuable information and act as a resource and referral source to other peers on campus.

• The REAL Project Alcohol and Other Drug Peer Education Program
• The Alcohol Advisory Committee
• Social Norms Marketing Campaign
  
  
  
  

Faculty Involvement

Faculty can:

• Incorporate alcohol and drug prevention education into the classroom
• Serve as an important link to resources and services for students they believe are having difficulty with alcohol and other drugs
• Provide expertise needed to develop effective alcohol and drug prevention programs

Faculty involvement has been promoted through:

• Faculty and staff trainings
• Faculty-student luncheons focusing on alcohol and other drug issues
• Opportunities to infuse Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention Programming through SLS and the classroom-based Alcohol Expectancies Challenge.
• Faculty participation in task forces and committees, such as the Alcohol Advisory Committee