The Maryland Collaborative to Reduce College Drinking and Related Harms was launched in 2012, with the goal of implementing evidence-based individual- and environmental-level strategies to address risky drinking among college students. A new article describes the formation of the initiative, data collection, and findings. Environmental interventions implemented by participating institutions included identifying and intervening at “hot spots” where staff believed high-risk drinking was occurring (most campuses selected off-campus parties), enforcing existing laws, establishing civil social host ordinances, restricting access to dangerous products (i.e., grain alcohol and powdered alcohol). Individual-level interventions included screening and brief interventions that used motivational interviewing and the design and implementation of a website to help parents of college students talk about alcohol use with their children. Key findings from the collaborative were (1) the importance of supportive campus leaders, (2) the need for annual data collection on student drinking behaviors, safety, and academic performance, (3) addressing the problem at the state level may be more effective than a campus-by-campus approach; and (4), direct technical assistance by experts is critical, especially when employing new strategies.
Take away: The Maryland Collaborative to Reduce College Drinking and Related Harms “exemplifies a real-world ongoing example of how state resources can be used efficiently to address a serious public health problem” on college campuses and the surrounding communities.