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April 15, 2002 - BOSTON, MA – OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM, INC., the leading provider of alcohol prevention programs for colleges, and the AMERICAN COLLEGE PERSONNEL ASSOCIATION (ACPA), the comprehensive student affairs association, today announced a multi-year research partnership.
As part of a four-year study, Outside The Classroom and ACPA will conduct a comprehensive control group study of AlcoholEdu, a three-hour, non-opinionated, science-based alcohol education course, designed for college students.
The study comes at a timely juncture in higher education following recent recommendations established by an NIAAA report entitled "College Drinking: Changing The Culture." Many of the criteria cited by the NIAAA center around comprehensive program assessment and interactive or personalized prevention tools, many of which AlcoholEdu includes.
In the past year, AlcoholEdu has been adopted by over 100 of the top colleges and universities. Early results indicate the program is strongly influencing attitude and behavior among students, including a 19% decrease in 'binge' drinking. ACPA has endorsed Outside The Classroom’s AlcoholEduTM online alcohol education course as a leading approach to prevention.
"This collaboration will bring the outstanding research capabilities of the ACPA together with our intervention and assessment tools to establish a new standard of dynamic prevention," said Brandon Busteed, Founder and CEO of Outside The Classroom.
The study will include a detailed longitudinal analysis of AlcoholEdu at four universities. In conjunction with AlcoholEdu, each school will conduct a random-sample health survey of the student body during each year of the program. For this purpose, Outside The Classroom will administer TheHealthSurveyTM, an online, comprehensive health survey designed to assess a variety of behavioral issues important to students and campus life.
“We are excited to be partners with Outside The Classroom. This research will provide greater knowledge to better understand college student behavior and the impact of this alcohol prevention program on student learning,” said Dr. Carmen Neuberger, Executive Director of ACPA.
Knowledge, attitudinal and behavioral learning outcomes collected from AlcoholEdu’s pre- and post-course surveys, along with data collected by TheHealthSurvey, will be measured in conjunction with campus-specific data. These data points include, for example, admissions to emergency rooms, judicial violations, property damage, and dropout rates. Through the comprehensive data collection and measurement aspects of the study, Outside The Classroom and ACPA will work to establish benchmarks by which all broad-based prevention efforts may be measured.
About Outside The Classroom
Outside The Classroom (www.outsidetheclassroom.com), a Boston-based health education company, was founded to address critical behavioral health issues. In addition to the college market, Outside The Classroom provides world-class online health education for individuals and institutions ranging from parents and health educators to high schools, corporations, and the armed forces.
Outside The Classroom is a partner to many prominent organizations including MADD, Education Development Center’s National Center for College Health and Safety, Security On Campus, and the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA).
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