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
Research Society on Alcoholism
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 – 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.”..
