Citation

Arria AM, Jernigan DH. Health Promot. Pract. 2018; 19(2): 303-313.

Affiliation

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Society for Public Health Education, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1524839917711399

PMID

28582999

Abstract

Excessive drinking among college students is a serious and pervasive public health problem. Although much research attention has focused on developing and evaluating evidence-based practices to address college drinking, adoption has been slow. The Maryland Collaborative to Reduce College Drinking and Related Problems was established in 2012 to bring together a network of institutions of higher education in Maryland to collectively address college drinking by using both individual-level and environmental-level evidence-based approaches. In this article, the authors describe the findings of this multilevel, multicomponent statewide initiative. To date, the Maryland Collaborative has succeeded in providing a forum for colleges to share knowledge and experiences, strengthen existing strategies, and engage in a variety of new activities. Administration of an annual student survey has been useful for guiding interventions as well as evaluating progress toward the Maryland Collaborative's goal to measurably reduce high-risk drinking and its radiating consequences on student health, safety, and academic performance and on the communities surrounding college campuses. The experiences of the Maryland Collaborative exemplify real-world implementation of evidence-based approaches to reduce this serious public health problem.

Language: en

Keywords

alcohol; college students; excessive drinking; implementation; measurement; underage drinking