Study raises questions on alcohol education

A recent study calls into question the effectiveness of online alcohol education courses.

The study, released Sept. 1, shows that one such course — AlcoholEdu, used at over more than American universities — is only effective in reducing harmful drinking behavior for students’ first semester of school.

Although Penn does not use AlcoholEdu, it does use its own online course called the Penn Alcohol Module to educate incoming freshman on responsible drinking behavior. “Similar to [AlcoholEdu], PennAM provides students with important information about high risk alcohol and other drug use, but is also able to inform students about Penn-specific policies and resources,” Julie Lyzinski Nettleton, director of the Office of Alcohol & Other Drug Program Iniatiatives, wrote in an email.

Researchers at the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation in Berkeley, Calif., studied 30 schools where AlcoholEdu had never been used before. The schools studied hailed from all regions of the country, ranging from small to large and public to private.

Researchers implemented AlcoholEdu at some of these schools. Using surveys to measure alcohol use in the freshman body, the researchers found that students at schools that instituted AlcoholEdu were better off — but only for a limited amount of time.

At the schools where the AlcoholEdu course was implemented, alcohol use and binge-drinking were lower, as well as physiological problems such as getting sick due to alcohol use. In addition, social problems, including getting in trouble with school authorities, were less common in schools that used AlcoholEdu. These effects were stronger at schools where the completion rate was higher.

However, the team found that these positive effects all “went away in the spring semester,” study author Mallie Paschall said.

AlcoholEdu “seems to be a promising strategy,” however, “it should be used in combination with other strategies,” he added.

Most underage drinking at colleges and universities happens in off-campus settings, he said. Paschall suggested a community effort, combining police and local businesses, to reduce the availability of alcohol to underage students.

“At least now there is some scientific evidence supporting the effectiveness of AlcoholEdu, so other programs that include similar content may also be effective,” Paschall wrote in an email.

“I would agree that online education modules are effective in reducing harm and temporarily modifying behavior, but … they are meant to be one piece of a bigger puzzle,” Lyzinski Nettleton wrote.

This year, PennAM was “revamped” to include missing information about Medical Amnesty, prescription drug abuse and sexual assault, among other information.

College freshman Sean Massa said he learned from PennAM, including about how potent certain drinks are. Although Massa does not drink alcohol, PennAM, which he called “interactive” and “comical,” “helped me affirm that decision.”

Others disagreed on the effectiveness of PennAM. “I kind of just put it on mute in the background and answered the questions … they were very basic,” said another College freshman, who added that the module did “not one bit” discourage her from drinking. However, underage drinking is “unavoidable on any college campus,” but she does not feel it is a particular problem at Penn.

Massa agreed, saying drinking is “moderate” on campus.

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