Lessons Learned: From Research to Practice

In 2002, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism released A Call to Action: Changing the Culture of Drinking at U.S. Colleges. The National Research Council and Institute of Medicine followed in 2003 with their report of recommendations for prevention professionals, followed by the 2007 U.S. Surgeon General’s report on the issue.

The message is loud and clear: gone are the days of borrowing prevention theories and practices from other fields, or relying solely on intuition to battle high-risk alcohol and other drug use at institutions of higher education. Campus- and community-based prevention practitioners now have an arsenal of research and reports to use in helping to design and implement comprehensive, evidence-based, effective prevention programs to address high-risk alcohol and other drug use among college students.

The following reports and publications have recently been released to add to the growing body of literature on what works in prevention.

• Dejong, W. Experiences in Effective Prevention: The U.S. Department of Education’s Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention Models on College Campuses Grants (2007).
• For a full listing of the 22 programs highlighted above, along with information newer awardees and a searchable database, see the Model Programs section of the Higher Education Center’s Web site.
• Wechsler, H., and Nelson, T. What We Have Learned From the Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study: Focusing Attention on College Student Alcohol Consumption and the Environmental Conditions That Promote It (2008).
• The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. A Matter of Degree Initiative to Reduce Binge Drinking at Colleges and Universities: Lessons Learned (2008).