Campus Location
Abilene Campus (Residential)
Date of Award
5-2021
Document Type
Thesis
Department
Social Work
Degree Name
Master of Science
Committee Chair or Primary Advisor
Wayne Paris
Second Committee Member or Secondary Advisor
Malcolm Scott
Third Committee Member or Committee Reader
Derek Tuley
Abstract
Abilene Christian University has been building their alcohol and other drug (AOD) prevention initiatives over the last decade in tandem with current intervention efforts. Universities across the country, especially faith-based institutions, are engaging in similar pursuits of implementing an effective AOD program to reduce risky drinking behaviors in their student population. Recently, ACU implemented a new online educational prevention training in 2019 called AlcoholEdu for all incoming students. Data from 2019 were secured from the AlcoholEdu of 530 pre and 485 post surveys of incoming freshmen and transfer students. Results suggest educational benefits from AlcoholEdu and reduction in risky drinking behavior in the majority of participants. When compared to the Brief Alcohol Screening and Intervention for College Students (BASICS) program referrals from the same time period, triangulation of data suggests that the current process has identified the incidence of problem drinking on campus. Overall, the research shows that students have benefited from the AlcoholEdu program. However, there is an overarching gap between the university’s zero-tolerance alcohol policy and its harm reduction initiatives. The current approach is lacking a theoretical framework, which results in incongruent zero-tolerance and harm-reduction approaches. Therefore, for ACU as well as other universities, exploring the theoretical framework of university AOD programs for efficacy may be highly beneficial
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Recommended Citation
Gornitz, Rachel, "Assessment of ACU Student Behavioral Risk: A Program Evaluation" (2021). Digital Commons @ ACU, Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 335.
https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/etd/335