Influencing the Binge-Drinking Culture on a College Campus

Intervenciones para reducir el consumo de alcohol en jóvenes universitarios

Introducción: el consumo nocivo y excesivo de alcohol en los jóvenes ha sido reconocido como un comportamiento de riesgo significativo, por tanto, reducir el consumo y los problemas asociados es una prioridad entre los investigadores, educadores y profesionales de la salud que trabajan con esta población. Objetivo: examinar la evidencia actual sobre las intervenciones para reducir el consumo de alcohol de jóvenes universitarios. Método: se utilizó la metodología propuesta por Toronto y Remington. Para la evaluación y selección de los artículos cuantitativos se empleó el Instrumento de Criterios de Elegibilidad para la Selección de los Artículos de Investigación (ICrESAI) y para la evaluación de los ensayos clínicos aleatorizados se empleó la lista de verificación Estándares Consolidados de Informes de Ensayos (Consort). Resultados: se encontraron trece artículos, diez de ellos ensayos clínicos aleatorizados, dos cuantitativos longitudinales y un ensayo factorial. Conclusión: se encontró una gran variedad de diseños y propuestas de intervención, dentro de las cuales se demostró que las intervenciones breves entregadas de manera digital, tanto en la web, como en teléfonos inteligentes, son efectivas para reducir el consumo de riesgo de alcohol entre los jóvenes.

Alcohol use and binge drinking in baccalaureate nursing students: A descriptive study

BACKGROUND

Current literature validates that drinking is a problem on many college and university campuses. While educators are aware that drinking negatively impacts learning, it is imperative that nursing educators understand why this behavior exists and recognize strategies and opportunities to mitigate drinking for students in the nursing major.

PURPOSE

The purposes of this study were to understand the prevalence of and reasons for alcohol use and binge drinking in undergraduate baccalaureate nursing students in the United States and identify ways faculty may promote a healthy learning environment to decrease the incidence of alcohol use and binge drinking.

METHOD

This descriptive study used a web-based survey methodology. The survey contained a demographic questionnaire, alcohol use survey, and open-ended questions to address reasons for drinking and stressors. The survey was randomly distributed to baccalaureate nursing programs throughout the United States.

RESULTS

The final sample included 937 participants. Nursing students abuse alcohol for a variety of reasons including lack of understanding of binge drinking, peer pressure, dealing with mental health issues, and as a way to cope with multifaceted life stressors. Slightly over half (51%) of these participants reported drinking behavior that would be considered hazardous and 3% were in the alcohol dependent category on the alcohol use survey.

CONCLUSION

These findings are consistent with social concerns about alcohol use. Nursing students yearned for help and support from faculty regarding how to handle stress and desired faculty to be role models. Faculty who form collaborative partnerships with students, foster healthy coping strategies which may promote academic success and more importantly favorable outcomes as future practicing nurses.

“#BingeDrinking: Using Social Media to Understand College Binge Drinking (Preprint)

Background

Objective

Methods

Results

Conclusions

A systematic review of alcohol education programs for young people: do these programs change behavior?

Numerous education programs have addressed young peoples' alcohol use. To date, no peer-reviewed publication has evaluated the effectiveness of such programs delivered across a range of contexts to change alcohol-related behaviors, attitudes and/or knowledge. This systematic review aimed to identify alcohol education programs addressing young people, and determine whether they changed alcohol-related behavior, knowledge and attitudes; and, ascertain components of successful programs. Studies were identified, guided by the PRISMA review process, from the earliest records until June 2020. Included studies (N = 70) comprised an alcohol education program which focused on young people (15-24 years). Forty programs reported behavior changes, and these programs were the highest quality. Others impacted attitudes and/or knowledge only (n = 12); or reported no impacts (n = 17). Recent programs were more likely than older programs to feature online delivery and report behavior changes. To enhance alcohol education, future programs should include the identified quality criteria, alongside process and long-term outcome evaluations, to better monitor effectiveness. Findings indicated some education programs have capacity to positively change alcohol-related behavior; however, outcome consistency varied even in high-quality programs. Alcohol education programs should be designed alongside health education/promotion models and best-practice recommendations, to improve the likelihood of desirable behavior-related outcomes.

Self-reported campus alcohol policy and college alcohol consumption: a multilevel analysis of 4592 Korean students from 82 colleges

BACKGROUND

Campus alcohol policy has been associated with student alcohol consumption in numerous studies. However, more information is required to assess the extent to which school policy affects student drinking behavior; especially when both individual-level sociodemographic characteristics of students and area-level characteristics of college campuses are controlled for. Thus, this paper explores the association between campus alcohol policy and student alcohol consumption among a nationally representative sample of college students in South Korea, while controlling for both individual and area-level characteristics.

METHODS

We surveyed and analyzed the data of 4592 students from 82 colleges. Multilevel (hierarchical) linear modeling was used to identify the association between campus alcohol policy and alcohol consumption levels, measured via the AUDIT-C (Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test - Consumption). Controlled individual-level characteristics included sex, year level, major, GPA (grade point average), pocket money, smoking status, stress level, depressive thoughts, suicidal thoughts, and number of clubs/organizations. Controlled area-level characteristics included college type, number of students, number of faculty members, number of workers/administrators, and region.

RESULTS

Compared to students unaware of their school's campus alcohol policy, students who self-reported that their campuses allow drinking in outdoor spaces (β = 0.755 p = 0.010) or in all areas (β = 0.820, p = 0.044) had higher AUDIT-C scores. Students attending schools with a large number of students, males, freshmen, students with low GPA, students with high amounts of pocket money, and smokers also had higher alcohol consumption scores relative to their peers. Alcohol education experience in the form of lectures, mail, and/or campaigns were not associated with student alcohol consumption levels.

CONCLUSION

Our results suggest an association between self-reported campus alcohol policy and student alcohol consumption. College educators and administrators must be aware that relative to students unaware of their school's campus alcohol policy, students at colleges that allow drinking in outdoor spaces or all areas consume higher amounts of alcohol than their peers; even when area-level factors are controlled for.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

Yonsei IRB (IRB number: Y-2017-0084). https://irb.yonsei.ac.kr Date of registration: 01/2017. Date of enrolment of first participant to trial: 03/01/2017. Y-2017-0084.