The Task Force Recommendations: What Alcohol Researchers Should Do Next

Sharon C. Wilsnack, Ph.D.
University of North Dakota
School of Medicine & Health Sciences

25th Annual Scientific Meeting

San Francisco, July 2002

Recommendations for the Research Community High priority on evaluation research

Recommendations for the Research Community

• High priority on evaluation research
• Well-designed evaluation studies...
  • Increase likelihood of program effectiveness
  • Maximize use of resources
• Validate program credibility
• Extract more and better information from existing research databases
• Develop standards for assessing campus alcohol problems, monitoring trends, and evaluating programs
• Improve existing data systems (e.g., FARS) to more accurately monitor college
• Student deaths over time
• Collaborate with universities to capitalize on "natural experiments"
• Partner with universities on short-term evaluations of popular, commonsense prevention strategies
• Assist universities in using research-based evidence to improve alcohol policies and programs

Recommendations to NIAAA: Improving Research Methods

• Implement a national surveillance and data system for all U.S. colleges and universities
• Support development of state-of-the-art screening and assessment measures

Recommendations to NIAAA: Lengthy and Complex Research

• Longitudinal studies of youth's early adolescence to young adulthood
• Effectiveness of joint campus-community coalitions
• Multi-site campus trials of promising strategies

Other Task Force Recommendations to NIAAA

• Disseminate research-based information to all college campuses
• Expand funding to support college drinking research on as many campuses as possible

"Through committed collaborative efforts grounded in research and supported by institutional leadership, the Task Force is convinced that the culture of drinking at U.S. colleges and universities can be changed."

Task Force on College Drinking
April 2002