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Making the Pieces Fit
By David S. Anderson, Ph.D.
Director, Center for the Advancement of Public Health George Mason UniversityIn developing a campus-wide effort to address alcohol problems, it is vitally important to "create a comprehensive and long-term perspective." It's just like doing a jigsaw puzzle - you need all the pieces to make a complete puzzle, but just because you have all the pieces does not mean that the puzzle is complete. With our campus alcohol abuse prevention activities, it is important to have individual activities, initiatives, and strategies to make up a whole picture, but just having these is not sufficient. While we need these individual efforts, we need much more than these.
First, why do we need a comprehensive perspective? The answer is both simple and complex,revolving around the fact that the issue of alcohol abuse is quite complex since individuals become involved with alcohol, and some harmfully involved with alcohol, for a wide variety of reasons. The students, faculty, staff, parents and community leaders with whom we work each have different developmental needs and learning styles; thus, to obtain a change in knowledge, attitudes or behavior, we must implement a range of strategies. In addition to these individual differences, we know that different campus populations have unique needs, some of which are attended to more than others (see Results of 1997 College Alcohol Survey, George Mason University). Specifically, campuses report working fairly closely with the unique needs of freshman students, fraternity/sorority members, and student athletes; they report not attending well to the needs of persons with disabilities, women, people of color, and gays/lesbians/bisexuals.
From an implementation perspective, a comprehensive approach is necessary since our audiences change each year. We have new students arrive, including freshmen, transfer students and returning students. While we think "we did that last year", that's OK since many of the students in our audiences will not have been part of "last year." Also, comprehensive approaches imply multiple strategies, which implies multiple partners actually implementing the efforts.
Second, why do we need a long-term perspective? A long-term perspective is critical since the problem is a long-term problem. We can think of this as a large problem that will not go away with single strategies. It is one which requires careful thinking and choreography over a long period of time.
Picture again the jigsaw puzzle - having the border all done (isn't that always the easiest part?) doesn't finish our task! Having certain elements done well doesn't complete the task, either. With this thoughtful long-term perspective, it's important to look at the underlying issues regarding why students drink heavily and get harmfully involved with alcohol. Until we attend to these issues, we will continue to be providing symptomatic relief to the immediate and urgent problems. While this relief is, indeed, important, it is not sufficient in making permanent change.
The third considerations is what strategies will help achieve a comprehensive and long-term perspective? A very, very helpful place to start is with the Sourcebook prepared with the Promising Practices: Campus Alcohol Strategies (Milgram and Anderson, 1997; www.promprac.gmu.edu).
Finally, what cautions are important to consider? Two key themes are important in this regard. First, acknowledge - and remember - the important role that you play. Your role is critical to the overall success of the campus effort, because without individual efforts there is nothing. What's important is to see how each individual effort fits within the scope of the larger campus-wide effort. Second, try to keep the perspective of the "big picture" of a comprehensive program, knowing that individual efforts are important, but only in the context of a comprehensive, long-term perspective. As you hear some of the popular themes of today, realize that they can be part of a larger picture. Suggestions which state that individual approaches are not effective are, I believe, inappropriate. The comprehensive, long-term approach suggests that a wide range of approaches, from individual to group to environmental, are all appropriate. Similarly, a policy approach (alone) is not sufficient, nor is a social marketing approach (alone), nor is a peer education approach (alone). Each is important as part of the larger, comprehensive and long-term perspective.
We want to make a difference, and each of our pieces, however small or seemingly insignificant or seemingly significant, is helpful when placed in the context of the larger picture. It's a jigsaw puzzle, but one that can be put together!
David S. Anderson, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor at George Mason University's Center for the Advancement of Public Health. Promising Practices: Campus Alcohol Strategies is based at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA. Project Co-Directors are GMU's Dr. Anderson and Gail Gleason Milgram, Ed.D. of the Center of Alcohol Studies, Rutgers University. Funded by a grant from The Century Council, Promising Practices: Campus Alcohol Strategies hosts a web site at http://www.promprac.gmu.edu; project staff can be contacted at 703-993-3697 or caph@gmu.edu.
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