Drinking Reduced by College Fraternities and Sororities Through Population-Level Prevention.

BOSTON -- High-risk drinking moderated at college Greek organizations implementing AlcoholEdu, an online prevention program

Opening a new front in the battle against high-risk student drinking, America's college fraternities and sororities are implementing comprehensive prevention programs that are starting to show significant positive results. During the 2003-2004 school year, 12 national collegiate Greek organizations implemented an online alcohol prevention program, AlcoholEdu for College, with the first wave of students documenting healthier drinking patterns and measurable reductions in high-risk drinking.

Nationwide assessment data collected from 3,144 members of 313 fraternity and sorority chapters revealed significant reductions in drinking, especially high-risk, heavy episodic "binge" drinking, after they took AlcoholEdu:

--The proportion of students who abstained from alcohol increased by 35 percent.

--The proportion of heavy episodic drinkers - men who consumed five or more drinks and women who consumed four or more drinks in a sitting at least once in the previous two weeks - decreased 14 percent.

--The proportion of problematic drinkers - those who consumed 10 or more drinks in a sitting - declined 11 percent.

More important, the prevalence of certain high-risk drinking behaviors associated with alcohol abuse declined and healthier drinking patterns increased. "Our members are making better choices," said Drew Thawley, Vice President of Alpha Sigma Phi Fraternity.

Dylan Thomas, a Zeta Psi member at UCLA, found the program's format beneficial. "The course doesn't say drinking is good or bad," he said. "It just presents the facts and lets you make your own decisions."

--The percentages of students who drank shots, played drinking games, skipped a meal to "save" calories for alcohol and "pre-partied" before going out for the evening showed significant decreases.

--The percentages of students who thought about their blood alcohol concentration levels when drinking, paced their drinks at one or fewer per hour, alternated alcoholic with non-alcoholic drinks, and went out with non-drinking friends increased.

--The percentages of students who experienced hangovers, reported blackouts, had to be prompted to remember something they did, injured themselves, attended class hung over, and found themselves unfocused or unprepared in class due to drinking the night before all decreased.

AlcoholEdu provides comprehensive feedback on attitudes and behavior, collecting data from students in surveys immediately before, immediately after, and four-to-six weeks after they take the course.

"Requiring new members to take AlcoholEdu, a rigorous 2 1/2-hour course on how alcohol affects you socially, academically, athletically and medically, provides students with the tools necessary to make responsible decisions in social situations in college and beyond," said Cindy Menges, Executive Director of Delta Zeta Sorority who will begin implementation fall 2004. "And the results speak for themselves. The moderation in high-risk drinking and its consequences promotes a more sincere and lasting friendship that will benefit our members as students and as leaders in their communities throughout their adult lives."

Andy O'Brien, Executive Director of Zeta Psi Fraternity of North America, Inc., the first Greek Organization to implement AlcoholEdu, says, "We've had AlcoholEdu for three years now. Since we've been using the course, we have had significant reductions in liability claims related to alcohol. This drop in incidents can be attributed to our members making more informed decisions about alcohol and potentially risky behaviors."

Population-Level Prevention

The national fraternities and sororities have asked participating chapters across the country to establish prevention programs to attack the problem of high-risk drinking and change the culture of drinking on college campuses. The organizations administering the online program are: Alpha Kappa Lambda, Alpha Tau Omega, Alpha Sigma Phi, Delta Delta Delta, Delta Tau Delta, Delta Phi, Delta Upsilon, Kappa Alpha Theta, Pi Kappa Phi, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Sigma Nu and Zeta Psi.

"Clearly, our fraternal organizations are committed to taking the lead in confronting the problems associated with high-risk drinking on today's campus," said Jon Williamson, Executive Vice President of The North-American Interfraternity Conference. "Fraternities have invested countless hours and thousands of dollars to help our undergraduate members make good decisions."

AlcoholEdu provides a cornerstone of preventive education for comprehensive Population-Level Prevention programs. It is a science-based, interactive prevention program that students take in the privacy of their own rooms. Incorporating proven prevention techniques and science-based research, it empowers students to make more informed decisions. The Web-based program is designed to be administered to an entire population of students easily and cost-effectively, creating a positive "viral" effect that reinforces its messages and inspires cultural change. Because it is a common bond or shared experience, students talk with each other about what they learn in the course - a positive influence counteracting the oftentimes overwhelming social forces motivating high-risk drinking.

"Numerous studies have shown that without AlcoholEdu, high-risk drinking and all the problems that come with it increase significantly and often reach epidemic proportions in the first year of college," said Brandon Busteed, Chief Executive Officer of Outside The Classroom, developer of AlcoholEdu. "But when an entire population of students takes AlcoholEdu, a dialogue ensues that helps create a 'counter-epidemic' of healthy behavior. The culture of drinking on campus begins to change."

About Outside The Classroom

Outside The Classroom (www.outsidetheclassroom.com) was founded to address critical behavioral health issues. The company offers three AlcoholEdu courses - AlcoholEdu for College designed for college students, AlcoholEdu for Sanctions aimed at college students who have violated alcohol policies and AlcoholEdu for High School developed for high school students. In addition, universities nationwide are gaining insight about key campus health trends and environmental policy issues with TheHealthSurvey, a comprehensive, online assessment tool. Outside The Classroom collaborates with many prominent organizations, including Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA). AlcoholEdu is endorsed by FIPG, HRH/Kirklin & Co., LLC, and M-J Insurance.