Tackling on-campus drinking cultures in the ACT
A student-to-student approach by a Local Drug Action Team is set to improve the drinking culture at universities in Canberra.
The Brief Alcohol Intervention Training project teaches students at three ACT universities how to deliver the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) to their peers.
AUDIT is a screening questionnaire that picks up risky drinking patterns. It takes less than five minutes to complete and was developed by the World Health Organization. The Alcohol and Drug Foundation’s Drinking Calculator is based off AUDIT.
During the half-day training course, student leaders learn about harmful alcohol use. They’re also shown how to support others to change their drinking habits through face-to-face discussions.
“We were thrilled that there was so much interest from students wanting to participate in the program and help educate their peers about safer drinking guidelines and some of the harms of associated with alcohol,” said project lead Annie Bleeker.
Annie is the Senior Training Specialist at the Alcohol Tobacco and Other Drug Association ACT (ADOTA).
Students interested in learning more about alcohol risks
The training is guided by the University Drug and Alcohol Network established from an LDAT grant. ADOTA leads the network, together with staff responsible for student wellbeing and university residential services, and student representatives.
Annie explained that 45 University of Canberra students and staff have already been trained, with more than 100 tests completed with students.
“We were really pleased with the pre and post test scores for the brief alcohol training program delivered to the students and wellbeing staff in charge of student accommodation on campus.”
Helping Annie with the project is Leanne Bourke, a student intern, who has now joined ADOTA as a Junior Policy Administrator.
Leanne says that she is excited to be involved in such a meaningful project.
“I was able to give the project a unique student lens and develop my skills and knowledge about the AOD sector. I am also stoked about recently becoming an employee at ATODA and cannot wait to deliver this project to more students in the future.”
Student leaders say they have learnt a lot from showing people the amount of alcohol intake that is harmful and gained insights on student perspectives around alcohol consumption.
Big future plans for the LDAT
Inspiration for the activity came from the University of West Australia College Row LDAT who presented the program to the university network group in 2019.
ATODA hopes to continue working with the university network and develop the program into a student led intervention in 2023. Planned activities include the development of a train-the-trainer manual and data collection tools to measure the intervention’s effectiveness.
A name-change to a simpler and more catchy title for the project is also on the cards.
Changing the course of alcohol (and other drug) consumption in ACT higher education institutions: A coordinated response LDAT partners include: Alcohol Tobacco and Other Drug Association ACT Inc. (ATODA); University Drug and Alcohol Network (UDAN); Australian National University; University of Canberra; Australian Catholic University; and, University of Western Australia.
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