Villanova University

Cathy Lovecchio Director of Health and Wellness Education

Health and wellness initiatives have been the primary focus of Villanova University over the past three years. With the erection of a new Health Services Building, the administration at Villanova University seized the moment and placed value on a wellness approach with the establishment of the Center for Health and Wellness Education. Located on the first floor of the Health Services Building, this 3-year-old Center has made great strides in how the university views alcohol prevention and other important student issues.

In relation to alcohol, Villanova has just completed the fourth year of mandating all incoming freshmen to complete AlcoholEdu for College. The commitment from all entities of the university has been the driving force behind the shift in alcohol consumption acceptance on our campus. The Center for Health and Wellness Education has orchestrated the completion of AlcoholEdu in addition to many other strategies. It is our belief that utilizing only one avenue for prevention and education is not the solution to any problem, and we have, therefore, taken the "many tools in the toolbox" approach. AlcoholEdu is one of the primary tools that have assisted us in our work to change the culture of drinking on our campus. The following will discuss the various other tools that we are utilizing.

Alcohol prevention in the form of passive and active formats can be seen all around campus throughout the year. Passive programs include:

• The Stall Street Journal, a monthly publication placed in residence hall bathroom stalls that includes health and wellness tips and alcohol information, and advertises our upcoming events.
• Five-dollar freshmen poster. This poster, which contains important alcohol facts, AlcoholEdu instructions, campus resources, train schedules and phone numbers for the best local take-out restaurants, is placed in each freshman room on campus. If the student still has the poster hanging when a peer educator comes around to meet with him or her, the student is rewarded with five dollars. The poster is a popular tool because the facts are continually hanging for them to see and it also stimulates great conversation.
• Table tents, posters, and brochures that are distributed around campus.
• Public Service Announcements and Educational Commercials run continuously on our college radio and television stations. The PSAs provide current statistics and social norm messages regarding alcohol and other college issues.

• The Peer Education program provides the active programming that we do - a major tool in our toolbox. We currently have three Peer Education groups and one Improvisational group that focus on alcohol and other drugs, sexual assault, and sexual health. All four groups discuss alcohol and its relationship to their specific issue. The peer educators provide a large-scale program during new student orientation called POWER Hour, a simulated party in a realistic setting with a party DJ from Philadelphia, glow sticks, strobe lights, root beer kegs, and 100 Peer Educators and Orientation Counselors acting in character roles. Some of the character roles are risky drinkers, responsible drinkers, abstainers, drug pushers, and drug users. After a 30-minute simulated party, the students are placed in small groups for a debriefing and educational discussion on many different issues. The facilitated group discussions help the freshmen to make informed choices and to know how to react to potentially dangerous situations.
• Other active programming tools involve awareness weeks throughout the year on all of the specific topics, interactive presentations, games, and national speakers.

The support for the Center for Health and Wellness Education has been outstanding from the Board of Trustees to the faculty, staff, and students. We have connected with many academic programs with the addition of student internships, coordination of senior projects and the collaboration on sponsorship of speakers.

AlcoholEdu continues to be a valuable tool for us as we are seeing an increase in the number of abstainers, a reduction in our heavy-episodic drinkers, and most importantly a shift downward of the severity of our alcohol-related incidences on campus. We continue to struggle with underage drinking; however, the culture of acceptance is changing. Students are reporting that drinking until you get drunk it not as acceptable as it used to be. They feel that health and wellness has taken on a new identity at Villanova and that more is being done to promote healthy living.

Critical to a successful change in the culture are support from the entire community, financial resources, creative staff, talented and committed students, and an overall plan followed by assessment. Villanova's community has embraced health and wellness with more than lip service. We have established a new center, improved our peer education program, initiated AlcoholEdu for all freshmen and the rewards in the primary stages have been a positive shift in the culture of health and wellness.

More information on Villanova is available at its Web site.

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