Screening and Brief Intervention (SBI) Toolkit for Colleges

Many campuses will implement brief alcohol screenings for their campus students and staff on April 9, 2009, this year's Alcohol Screening Day. These quick assessments, particularly when followed with a brief, intentional conversation, can help students and staff to identify potentially high-risk alcohol use as well as strategies for decreasing their drinking. Take advantage of a free Screening and Brief Intervention Toolkit for campuses to help your campus effectively address alcohol abuse. BACCHUS will post additional SBI resources in the near future as well.

Identified as an effective strategy for addressing alcohol abuse among college students, The BACCHUS Network™, under a cooperative agreement with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, created a toolkit to assist college and university campuses utilize screening and brief intervention. Click here to download the pdf of the toolkit and to learn more about this strategy.

The Haunting of Scare Tactics

A recently released study details the health status of hundreds of so-called “crack babies” from the late 80s/early 90s. For those old enough to remember, “crack babies” were a major topic of health discussion during those years. Not only that, but they were also used as a tool of propaganda in the War on Drugs. Common were prophecies of an entire generation of children with severe mental impairment and lingering health issues. This was an accepted, terrifying “truth” with a strong undertone of morality.

Article: http://www.jointogether.org/news/headlines/inthenews/2009/crack-had-little-long-term.html

Fast-forward 20 years to check in on these now-grown-up children. As it turns out, their health problems have been relatively minimal, at least much less than the original scare tactic had implied. The biggest factor in the health of these children appears related to the overall socioeconomic status of their mothers and the mothers’ ability to take care of themselves through proper nutrition, hydration and exercise. Certainly, crack and cocaine have wreaked havoc on many, many lives, and in this case, parenting ability has suffered. But the lingering images we had, and the assumptions that were made (thankfully) have not materialized.

There is a lesson here about credibility, scare tactics and fear in general. Hopefully we have learned to avoid trumpeting a health epidemic for which we have little concrete evidence. The public takes note of exaggerations and fears that do not come to pass. As with any brand (and, yes, “public health” is a brand), credibility is paramount. People want to know that you/we will deliver on our promises and that we will be honest with them. Creating anxiety in hopes that it will motivate people to change or abstain from a behavior is simply a poor way to promote health.

-posted by Tad Spencer

Great American Smokeout

Today is the American Cancer Society’s Great American Smokeout, an annual tradition where smokers are encouraged to quit for 24 hours. If that is successful, they should try two days, then four, then eight, etc.

This is a day where we remember those that we have lost to tobacco-related illness. It is also a day where we honor those who are fighting for their lives to escape the grips of the most powerful addiction we know.

Congratulations to those who are working to quit and transition to a life free of tobacco. At BACCHUS, it is our honor to help you in that process.

Please visit our tobacco site: www.tobaccofreeU.org

-posted by Tad Spencer and the BACCHUS Tobacco Team

Study Shows Link Between Early Alcohol Exposure and Adult Heavy Drinking

A new study from the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) is described in this article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7641312.stm

Excerpts from the article:

• The NIAAA found drinking before the age of 15 increased a child's risk of becoming a heavy drinker.
• A teenager's fast-developing brain becomes programmed to link alcohol with pleasure, experts believe.
• Research shows that by the age of seven most children will have tasted alcohol.
• Research also shows the likelihood of developing alcohol-use disorders in adulthood is about 50% higher for people who start drinking before the age of 15 as for those who abstain until they are 18 or older.
• "The data support the notion of delaying the onset of drinking behavior as late as possible."

Question for campuses:
How might this potentially impact your alcohol programming and interventions on campus?

-posted by Tad Spencer