Missouri Partners in Prevention

The statewide Missouri Partners in Prevention (PIP) coalition serves approximately 130,000 Missouri college students and is funded primarily by the Missouri Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse as well as a diverse group of additional funding sources. Member institutions of higher education (IHEs) include Central Bible College, Drury University, Evangel University, Harris-Stowe State University, Lincoln University, Missouri Southern State University, Missouri State University, Missouri University of Science and Technology, Missouri Western State University, Northwest Missouri State University, Rockhurst University, Saint Louis University, Southeast Missouri State University, Truman State University, University of Central Missouri, University of Missouri, University of Missouri-Kansas City, University of Missouri-St. Louis, and Westminster College.

Statewide agency partners include the Missouri Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse, Missouri Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Control, Missouri Department of Transportation’s Office of Highway Safety, Missouri Department of Public Safety, the Missouri Department of Mental Health’s Youth Suicide Prevention Project, and the Missouri Department of Higher Education.

Background

Partners in Prevention (PIP) is a statewide coalition focused on preventing high-risk drinking among Missouri’s college students. The coalition is composed of representatives from 19 colleges and universities. PIP is funded by the Missouri Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse, with additional funding from the Missouri Department of Public Safety’s Enforcing Underage Drinking Laws Program, the Missouri Foundation for Health, the Missouri Department of Mental Health’s Youth Suicide Prevention Project, Missouri Department of Transportation’s Highway Safety Division, and the U.S. Department of Education.

Participation of 13 public universities is funded by the Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse, and the participation of six private campuses is funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education. PIP was created in 2000 with 12 public universities and colleges, adding a 13th in 2008. Since then it has provided training and networking opportunities to member colleges and universities through monthly meetings, assisted in developing a campus and community coalition on each member campus, conducted annual evaluation of alcohol and other drug use behaviors and related consequences, and held numerous drive-in workshops and training sessions and 10 annual conferences.

Before the coalition began with a U.S. Department of Education grant in 2000 to serve the 12 original IHEs, an e-mail and telephone needs assessment survey was implemented with health center staff and counseling center staff at each university who might be interested in joining the coalition. In addition, the coalition used data from the Core Alcohol and Drug Survey, a national alcohol and drug survey of college students, and information from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism report A Call to Action: Changing the Culture of Drinking at U.S. Colleges. The goals of the coalition are to empower law enforcement, campus judicial officers, and prevention professionals from colleges throughout the state to become change agents in their communities. These change agents will help create campus, city, and state environments that support good decision making in regard to alcohol use by the college students who attend the IHEs in the state of Missouri.

According to Joan Masters, director of the Partners in Prevention project, under the original coalition structure from 2000 to 2009 PIP served only public institutions. However, in 2009 a U.S. Department of Education grant provided funds to add six private IHEs, including some religiously affiliated colleges, to the coalition.

“This has enabled us to test our approach with private institutions and within their systems. We hope to continue working with those campuses after the grant ends. PIP provides $10,000 to member campuses every year. That’s $130,000 alone for the 13 public colleges, which are supported by state funding. Those funds are an excellent benefit of PIP membership, although the trade-off is we are limited to the number of campuses we can bring on board,” said Masters.

Nevertheless, PIP develops materials, such as brochures, and organizes low-cost or free-of-charge conferences and trainings that are available to all campuses in the state of Missouri. In addition, all campuses, regardless of membership in PIP, can participate in the coalition’s statewide assessment called the Missouri College Health Behavior Survey.

One of PIP’s main activities is training, from its annual Meeting of the Minds conference to monthly coalition meetings and drive-in one-day workshops.

“These workshops are valuable to campus staff as staff otherwise would have to go to a larger conference or a neighboring state for training, which costs them both more money and more time away from the office,” said Masters. “This is especially important in these times with strict budgetary and travel restrictions.”

Masters pointed out that, because of the funding PIP provides, another benefit of coalition membership is that campuses are able to put what they learn into practice.

“So many coalitions train their members on how to do evidence-based strategies but they do not have any tools except for the training to move to action. When PIP member campuses participate in a workshop on environmental strategies they have funding to put those environmental strategies, such as a policy review or compliance checks in their community, into place,” said Masters.

Community Initiatives

One requirement for funding from PIP is campuses must have an active campus and community coalition by partnering with local public safety and prevention organizations and groups.

“The most significant community campus partnership on PIP campuses is between the community police and the campus police or public safety department. Bringing law enforcement agencies together has been a tremendous benefit. They share resources and opportunities for funding from other agencies,” said Masters.

Some PIP members have been focusing on the implementation of nuisance ordinances to address off-campus parties that cause neighborhood disruption due to their size and noise. One campus and community coalition in Warrensburg, home to the University of Central Missouri, focused on bar entry age.

“They were able to raise the entry age at bars from 18 to 21, which it is in many of our communities. That change really helped them clean up a downtown area that had gotten a little out of control in terms of bars and restaurants and the number of people engaging in problematic or illegal behavior,” said Masters.

On the state level PIP contributed to education regarding statewide laws on keg registration and minor in possession and consumption laws, which passed in 2005.

“More recently we use our contacts to provide advocacy on issues like seat belts. Missouri does not have a primary seat belt law, so we provided education to representatives about the importance of these laws. When the legislature considered a decrease in funding for the Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Control, we provided education on how that decrease as well as budgetary decreases in alcohol enforcement would be a detriment to our communities,” said Masters.

Data Collection Evaluation

PIP uses a variety of methods to collect information about problems and issues related to student drinking, as well as to evaluate its prevention efforts. For example, it uses a Community Readiness Assessment to measure community readiness. This evidence-based assessment was developed by the Tri-Ethnic Center for Prevention Research. By using hour-long interviews with key community stakeholders and a scoring sheet, the coalition staff implemented this assessment in 2007 for the PIP statewide coalition as a whole and did so again in July 2009. This assessment gathers data on categories such as community knowledge, climate, leadership, and available resources to determine how ready a community is, on a scale of 1 to 9, to implement a successful prevention program.

The Campus and Community Environment and Policy Survey is an annual online survey for the main PIP contact at each member school. It includes environmental questions (such as how many bars are within walking distance of campus), questions about policies (for example, “Does your campus allow alcohol advertisements in the school newspaper?”), referral questions (“How many alcohol-related judicial referrals has your campus had in the last year?” and “What educational program are they required to complete?”), and questions on other areas.

The PIP Coalition Survey is an annual survey implemented online in May. This survey allows PIP coalition members to provide feedback on how they feel PIP as a group is progressing. They can rate PIP staff members, trainings, and coalition efficacy. Also, they can provide insight into what future trainings and other assistance coalition members may find useful, and many other topics.

“We also conduct the Missouri College Health Behavior Survey, which is a statewide health assessment of a variety of health behaviors, at all member campuses. In fact, in 2010 we surveyed our 19 member campuses and a few other campuses in the state that were interested in finding out about alcohol and drugs, stress, gambling, mental health issues, prescription drug abuse, and a variety of other topics. Many campuses would have had to pay to do some other large survey to identify baseline date and then maybe would not do that survey every year,” said Masters.

“Campuses get a survey that gives them up-to-the-minute information every spring about what behaviors their students are engaging in, how the students feel about their campus environment, what things they are struggling with, where they go for health services, and so on,” added Masters.

That survey provides information every year on trends in terms of underage drinking, high-risk drinking or binge drinking, as well as other drug use and other student behaviors and problems. PIP used the Core survey from 2000 to 2007. Based on the Core survey, it developed the Missouri College Health Behavior Survey in spring 2007.

“We have information on what the trends have been in terms of underage drinking and binge drinking. During the same period that PIP prevention efforts took place on our campuses, there has been a dramatic downturn in binge or high-risk drinking and underage drinking. In addition, we have seen a downturn in negative consequences related to drinking by students. Because they are drinking less they are experiencing fewer problems,” said Masters.

Advice to Others

Masters advises others interested in developing a statewide coalition to first develop an assessment process to help campuses get a sense of student behaviors and related problems, both on and off campus.

“For us data have been so important. First, data help keep campuses engaged by providing them with information on the issues they are confronting. Second, data are the way we can determine if we are making progress. Third, they help campuses stay in compliance with federal and state regulations when it comes to funding. The best thing we have done is to get a solid statewide assessment. This has led to the development of a culture of assessment related to prevention on Missouri campuses,” said Masters.

Masters also encourages statewide coalitions to give campuses ownership of their prevention efforts. “They know what the issues are on their campus and what strategies will work. PIP’s approach is to train and empower campuses, provide financial support for their efforts, and make sure that they have the data needed to make good decisions for prevention on their campus,” she concluded.

Additional Information

For more information on Missouri Partners in Prevention, go to http://pip.missouri.edu.