The purpose of the Campus Alcohol Initiative (CAI) Evaluation Study is to demonstrate the potential effectiveness of the CAI and to develop a multi-level design for a multi-site experimental field trial of the CAI. The Campus Alcohol Initiative, an intensive team consultation intervention, seeks to reduce risky patterns of alcohol use by changing the campus culture and environment that has been permissive of such practices. Researchers will begin to investigate the changes in process, structure and behavioral outcomes that indicate the effectiveness of this intervention to influence campus culture and the feasibility of an evaluation design to measure adequately such changes. As a result of this feasibility study, the project will prepare a multi-level evaluation design for an experimental trial of the Campus Alcohol Initiative. The CAI will sensitize the university community to the magnitude of the problem of risky drinking on their campus. This sensitization will lay the foundation for change throughout the campus upon which the school's administrative, faculty and student leadership can implement new strategies to foster a healthier culture and environment concerning student alcohol use. A multi-disciplinary consulting team chosen and directed by the North Carolina Governor's Institute on Alcohol and Substance Abuse serves as an outside catalyst to help schools shift their focus and priorities so as to achieve a healthier culture and environment. To this end, the consulting team conducts an in-depth consultation visit to the university and makes tailored recommendations that address the school's specific attributes related to student alcohol use. The Governor's Institute then provides booster sessions to give technical assistance and support for implementing the recommendations.
The specific aims of the proposed study are to: 1) Detect evidence that change in campus culture is occurring through change in major process, structure and behavioral outcome variables, 2) confirm and refine the key variables that may document changes in attitudes and behavior among administration, faculty and students about risky patterns of drinking, 3) test data collection and analysis methods to measure those changes, and 4) revise the CAI intervention to maximize the potential for changing campus culture about risky patterns of student alcohol use. The study will provide a consultation visit to a four-year, public university, and will provide formal booster sessions to a similar university that has already received a consultation visit. Researchers will survey university administrators, faculty and students to assess their knowledge about campus alcohol policies and their attitudes about the campus alcohol problem and the university's efforts to address the issue. This study will also measure changes in campus alcohol policies, allocation of resources and other variables to determine the degree of structural changes the university makes after participating in the CAI.
