Drug Prevention in Higher Education: Most Salient Outcomes of Institution-Wide Programs

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Drug Prevention in Higher Education: Most Salient

Outcomes of Institution-Wide Programs

Andris Ziemelis, Ed.D.

University of Wisconsin-La Crosse

The findings summarized below are based on eight years of drug

prevention program analysis involving over 500 FIPSE-sponsored

Institution-Wide Drug Prevention Programs in Higher Education. In this

study, the La Crosse Drug Prevention Program Analysis Project assessed

program activities and outcomes, and showed how program activities

accounted for variance in program outcomes. Currently, the project is

developing drug prevention program models for use in varied settings.

Analysis of longitudinal changes in Core Survey data from 146

institutions showed the following:

Alcohol use (30 day prevalence) decreased significantly during the

grant period (p<.03).

Significantly more institutions decreased than increased in binge

drinking during the grant period (p<.01).

Compared to the most recent binge drinking average of 42.7

percent reported by Henry Wechsler of the Harvard School of

Public Health, the binge drinking average for FIPSE-funded

programs was 37.5 percent.

AOD policy awareness increased significantly during the grant

period (p<.03).

AOD program awareness increased significantly during the grant

period (p<.001).

Percent of students working increased significantly during the grant

period (p<.04).

Percent of students volunteering increased significantly during the

grant period. (p<.001).

Analysis of follow-up data from 321 Institution-Wide Programs

showed the following:

Over 90 percent of programs continued operation after expiration of

grant support.

Over 85 percent of programs became institutionalized during or

after the grant period.

One-third of programs increased the scope of their activities,

despite expiration of grant support.
Drug Prevention in Higher Education: Most Salient Outcomes of Institution-Wide Programs

file:///C|/Users/mames/Desktop/test/lps110655/drug_prevent2.html[9/23/2014 11:15:39 AM]

Correlation of program activity themes and theme elements with

outcomes showed the following:

Over 80 percent of the significant correlations between activity

themes and post-grant indicators of program viability were positive.

Over 67 percent of the significant correlations between activity

themes and desired changes on Core Survey outcome indicators

were positive.

Correlation of program activity themes and theme elements with

multiple outcome indicators from different sources revealed similar

results across sources. In general, program emphasis on student

involvement/ empowerment, provision of alternatives for students,

and emphasis on training activities for students, staff and faculty

yielded the most consistently positive results.

Despite important cross-cutting components of more effective

programs, such as emphasis on student involvement/empowerment,

in general, different combinations of program activities were found

to underlie different outcomes.

In summary, this analysis showed that FIPSE sponsorship provided the

impetus for development and institutionalization of drug prevention

programs in higher education. Also, many current institution-wide

approaches to prevention were found to correlate significantly with desired

program outcomes. These findings argue for development of hybrid drug

prevention programs, comprised of the empirically supported parts of

existing approaches. They also support tailoring of programming to meet

varied needs in varied settings.

Copyright © 1998 by Andris Ziemelis

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