Correcting Misperceptions and Reducing Risky Drinking through a Student-Designed Poster Campaign

Dear Editor, Despite an increase in preventative efforts on college campuses, underage college drinking continues to be a national problem and a source of concern for college health professionals and researchers alike (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, 2002; Wechsler et al., 2002). Excessive consumption can result in serious consequences including diminished academic performance, sickness, fighting, unwanted sexual encounters, and even death (Hingson, Heeren, Winter, & Wechsler, 2005). The social norms approach to college drinking suggests that students are influenced by their misperceptions of the normative drinking patterns of other students (Berkowitz, 2004' Perkins & Berkowitz, 1986). Social norms theory predicts that overestimations of heavy drinking frequency (perceived norms) will increase heavy drinking, while underestimations of healthy behavior (abstinence or moderate drinking) will discourage individuals from engaging in them. As misperceptions predict drinking behavior and are associated with drinking-related problems (see review by Berkowitz, 2004), correcting normative misperceptions among students may result in decreased problematic drinking. Campaigns correcting normative misperceptions have become increasing common on college campuses. Our research team decided to implement a campus-wide, poster media campaign to disseminate accurate, normative information regarding the actual alcohol consumption patterns of students at our university. However, despite being cited as theoretically promising by the NIAAA (2002), our team was wary about this approach due to the lack of empirical support for these "universal prevention" campaigns (Wechsler et al., 2003) and due to reports of failed campaigns that cited unbelievable or inconsistent message sources and lack of long-term exposure of the campaigns to students as a major flaw (e.g., Clapp, Lange, Russell, Shillington, & Voas, 2003; Werch et., 2000). Nevertheless, reviews of poster media campaigns state the success of many programs and encourage schools to adopt programs on their own campuses (Berkowitz, 2004; 2002). Researchers cite several necessary steps to consider when designing a campus poster campaign to reduce drinking. These include accurate assessment of true campus norms, consistency and believability of the message presented, dosage (length of presentation) of the message, and adequate evaluation of the campaign (Fabiano, 1999). Taking into consideration past campaign failures and suggestions from research reviews of social norms programs (Berkowitz, 2004; Fabiano, 1999), we developed a plan. First, the message on the posters needed to be accurate and current. The university distributed a campus-wide CORE survey to all students in the spring of 2004 to obtain accurate and current drinking data of its students. A representative sample of 1,277 students (nearly one-fourth of the student population) completed the survey. Students assessed were similar in demographics to the overall student population as a whole. Statistics from this source were used to display true campus drinking norms on posters. Next, the message needed to be consistent, attractive, and presented in a way that made the statistics believable. It was anticipated that a "student-designed" poster campaign, rather than one presented by the administration or student affairs staff, would make the presented information more attractive and easier to accept as accurate. Through a collaborative venture with the Department of Graphic Arts, our team recruited qualified volunteer students in upper-level Graphic Arts classes to design the posters. Students received class credit and were able to create an important addition to their portfolios. In order to have a consistent message on posters, we met with students and pitched their mission of mindfulness and responsible (risk-reduction) drinking and provided campus-specific drinking norms to incorporate into the posters. …