Optional, Introductory Pre-Conference Session: "Introduction to Social Norms Theory and Practice"
Presenters:
H. Wesley Perkins, Ph.D., Professor of Sociology and Director, HWS Alcohol Education Project, Department of Anthropology and Sociology, Hobart and William Smith Colleges
Michael Haines, MS, Director, National Social Norms Resource Center
Session Description:
This optional, intensive pre-conference seminar is designed for those conference participants who are relatively new to the social norms approach and seek to gain an understanding of fundamental social norms theory and its application to the field of health promotion. Some of the topics to be covered include: the emergence of the social norms approach and how it compares and contrasts with traditional prevention strategies; the causes and consequences of misperceived norms of health, protection, and safety; the development of the social norms model as an effective health promotion strategy: background research and sample case studies.
(Please note: Attendance at the pre-conference session requires an additional fee, which includes materials and a snack break during the session.)
9 - 10 :15 AM General Session #1
"An Overview of the Conference and the Social Norms Approach"
This overview of the conference sessions is designed to familiarize participants with the array of sessions available, and to place the sessions within the broader context of current norm-related research and the social norms approach to health promotion as currently employed both here and abroad.
Presenter:
Michael P. Haines, Director, National Social Norms Resource Center
1. Title: The State of Social Norms: Successes, Challenges and Emerging Issues
Presenter: Alan Berkowitz, Ph.D., Independent Consultant
Session Description:
This session reviews important developments in social norms practice and research, including: 1) new empirical support for the model; 2) research on norm salience (which norms are most "salient" for which groups); 3) innovative applications to violence prevention, eating problems, bystander behavior, and; 4) next steps for successful campaigns. Previously unexamined issues will be explored including: 5) campaign impact on individuals who perceive the norm correctly or who under-estimate, and on groups who experience themselves as non-normative (such as racial/ethnic/sexual minorities, etc), and; 6) implications of social norms for issues of spirituality. The session provides participants with the opportunity to become current with recent developments and emerging issues of importance to social norms practitioners.
2. Title: Developing and Implementing a Successful Integrated Campus and Community Social Norms Campaign
Presenters:
Thomas L. Gebhardt, M.A., Director of Personal Safety and Off-Campus Affairs
Brian M. Freidenberg, Ph.D., Staff Psychologist/Addictive Behaviors Specialist, University Counseling Center
Stacy Rijssenbaeck, M.A.. Project Coordinator, University at Albany AOD Prevention Models Project
Estela M. Rivero, Ph.D., Director, University Counseling Center
M. Dolores Cimini, Ph.D., Director, Middle Earth Peer Assistance Program, University Counseling Center
University at Albany, State University of New York
Session Description:
This workshop will focus on the development and implementation of an integrated campus and community-based social norms media campaign targeting both the on-campus community and long-term neighbors of students at the University at Albany, State University of New York. The project was funded under the U.S. Department of Education's Alcohol and Other Drug prevention Models on College Campuses Grant Program. After assessment data on the attitudes and perceptions of University at Albany students and long-term neighbors was collected, a targeted and integrated social norms/informational media campaign addressing campus and community misperceptions was developed and launched. This workshop will outline critical program components, strategies, outcomes, and lessons learned and will discuss ways in which other colleges and universities may implement similar community-based interventions.
3. Title: Preventing Alcohol Misuse, Smoking, and Bullying Among Summer Camp Campers and Counselors Using the Social Norms Approach
Presenters: H. Wesley Perkins, Ph.D. Hobart and William Smith Colleges, and Erin Kaplan, MSW, and Laura Stenson Wynne, American Camp Association (New York)
Session Description:
During the 2006 summer camp season, the American Camp Association-New York implemented an experimental social norms program to address alcohol and tobacco use among by campers (N=7,102) and camp counselors (N=2,051) and also bullying by campers at 43 resident camps (private and not-for-profit) throughout the Northeastern United States. Counselors completed anonymous surveys about their beliefs and behaviors at the start and end of the summer. At each two-to-eight week camp session campers (11 and older) also completed anonymous pre- and post-surveys. Respective pre-survey results about positive norms were presented to counselors and campers in interactive workshops, posters, newsletters, and other print media. Initial survey results indicated pervasive misperceptions of peer norms and that misperceived norms were highly associated with personal problem behavior. Camp programs delivering high doses of the intervention achieved substantial reductions in misperceptions and problem behavior compared to camps with low dosage.
4. Title: Survey Methods and Planning: Critical Issues
Presenter: Greg Barker, Ph.D., Acting Director for Psychometric Services, Northern Illinois University
Session Description:
The management of an effective social norms project presents numerous challenges, one of which is the selection and proper administration of a valid and reliable survey. This session will focus on many of the critical, how-to details involved in this process, such as: clearly establishing the goals of your project; selecting and consistently following a sound methodology for survey administration, including the who, what, when, and where of sampling; and establishing a checklist for, and effectively implementing, proper logistical planning for survey administration and analysis. Specific, real world examples will be provided that clearly demonstrate the critical importance of these issues. Although designed primarily for those who may be relatively new to survey research, this session will also be beneficial for those who have had some experience in this area. Ample time will be allowed for questions and discussion.
5. Title: Peer Educators, Student Leaders, and Social Norms: Making Campus Connections
Moderator:
Drew Hunter, President/CEO, The BACCHUS Network
Session Description:
Peer Educators can and often do play an important role in campus-based social norms projects. This panel of student leaders and peer educators from campuses that have employed the social norms approach will provide a student perspective on these efforts and share ideas on how to better utilize students in the process. Ideas for defining student roles in campaigns, building support, and avoiding mistakes will be shared, with ample opportunity for discussion and questions.
1. Title: The Social Norms Marketing Research Project
Presenter: William DeJong, Ph.D., Boston University
Session Description:
The Social Norms Marketing Research Project conducted two randomized
control trials to assess the effectiveness of social norms marketing
(SNM) campaigns. In study 1, with 18 institutions, cross-sectional
mailed surveys conducted at baseline and at posttest three years later
revealed that students attending institutions with a SNM campaign had a
lower relative risk of alcohol consumption than students attending
control group institutions. Study 2, begun one year later with 14
institutions, was a replication failure. Having a SNM campaign was not
significantly associated with lower perceptions of student drinking
levels or lower alcohol consumption. Analyses with all 32 institutions
suggest that the impact of the SNM campaigns was moderated by alcohol
outlet density in the surrounding communities.
2. Title: Challenging the Environment of High-Risk and Celebratory Drinking: Using Protective and Injunctive Messages to Reduce Harm
Presenter: Dennis Martell, Ph.D., Michigan State University
Session Description:
Data from NCHA and Social Norm grant research at Michigan State University clearly indicate that there are protective behaviors utilized and accepted widely by students, at a level sufficient to be considered culturally normative, and which may be used to reduce harm. Based on these findings, the MSU Social Norms committee has integrated protective norms as part of their social norms campaign, and has used protective and injunctive norms culturally connected to specific celebratory events (i.e., St. Patrick's Day) where consumption tends to increase from normative levels. The committee has also integrated protective norms into the global, non-targeted campaign as harm reduction related to alcohol use and is consistent with the University's strategically targeted 2010 Healthy Campus objectives. Ideal for participants who are currently involved in a social marketing campaign and who are interested in expanding their campaign to include protective behaviors as well as the use of injunctive protective norms.
This session will also provides a brief overview of the formative research utilized to initially develop and design the MSU campaign, as well as the ongoing data collection strategies that have been critical to refining the messages and evaluating the campaigns impact, particularly as it relates to use of protective behaviors.
3. Title: The Normative Mirror. Results from an Experiment with Personal Normative Feedback on Tobacco Use among 11 and 12-year-olds in Denmark.
Presenters: Dr. Flemming Balvig, Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen, Lars Holmberg, Ph.D., Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen, and M.A. Katrina Gillman
Session Description:
Taking its departure from an overview of a randomized experiment on prevention through discussion of normative misperceptions among school pupils in Denmark (the Ringsted Experiment, presented at the 2006 conference on social norms in Denver, CO.), the programme will discuss results on further research on the relation between social norms and social capital in the classroom. Whereas the level of social capital in a school class generally reduces the level of normative misperceptions among pupils, it is demonstrated that high levels of social capital also seems to increase some forms of pupil risk behaviour, especially drinking. The program will demonstrate the intricate relationship between social capital and social norms, and implications for interventions and future research will be discussed.
4. Title: Use and Abuse: Effective Design, Implementation, and Data Analysis in Focus Group Interviews (Part 1)
Presenter: Linda C. Lederman, Ph.D., Professor of Health and Human Communication, Arizona State University
Session Description:
This session is the first of a two-session series designed to introduce and/or review fundamental principles of focus group interviews as qualitative research and to distinguish between the use and abuse of the method. The sessions will provide a brief overview of the method; its history and fundamental assumptions; guidelines for the design, implementation, and analysis of focus group data; guidelines for research reports summarizing the findings, and hands-on experience in it application to actual research projects. (Please refer to the handouts printed in this Guidebook for specific topics covered in this session.)
5. Title: MOST Of Us Field Notes: 101 Lessons Learned from over a Decade of Social Norms Research in Multiple Settings
Presenter: Jeffrey W. Linkenbach, Ed.D., Director, National MOST Of Us Institute for Social Norms
Session Description:
This session presents 101 Lessons Learned from over a decade of MOST Of Us social norms research projects. The accumulated wisdom of these "field notes" is derived from quantitative and qualitative findings from across a variety of issues and settings. Projects include local, state and national studies targeting behaviors such as seatbelts, impaired driving, fetal alcohol syndrome, social norms advocacy, stroke / heart attack, law enforcement and more. Critical perspectives, practitioner tips, and future research considerations are discussed in a user-friendly manner to benefit practitioners, researchers and administrators with their social norms efforts. Particular attention is focused on the implications of managing successful social norms interventions based upon the "a-ha!" moments of the research as well as those things that still make us ask, "hmmm?"
1. Title: Extensions of Personalized Normative Feedback in Two Domains: 21st Birthdays and Intimate Partner Violence
Presenter: Clayton Neighbors, Ph.D., Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington
Session Description:
Dr. Neighbors' presentation will describe current and ongoing evaluations of personalized normative feedback in reducing 21st birthday drinking and in correcting misperceptions of abusive behaviors among men who are perpetrators of intimate partner violence (IPV). The first topic will describe programmatic evaluation of intervention approaches incorporating social norms for reducing extreme drinking associated with 21st birthday celebrations and will feature results from a recently completed randomized controlled trial evaluating web-based personalized feedback. The second topic will describe preliminary results from an ongoing trial targeting non-adjudicated IPV perpetrators recruited from the general population. Results will focus on the documentation of normative misperceptions among IPV perpetrators and the correspondence between these normative misperceptions and abusive behavior.
2. Title: Perceptions, Peer Groups and Partnerships: Insights and Preliminary Results from the First Australian Trial of Social Norms
Presenters:
Clarissa Hughes, Ph.D., Research Fellow/Project Director, University of Tasmania
Mr. Matthew Richman, Detective Inspector, Tasmania Police
Roberta Julian, Ph.D., Director, Tasmanian Institute of Law Enforcement Studies
Session Description:
This session introduces the first major Australian trial of the social norms approach, which has been funded by the Alcohol Education and Rehabilitation Foundation. The 'Social Norms Analysis Project' (SNAP) is a collaborative endeavour involving the University of Tasmania, Tasmania Police, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Education and a range of other project partners. Presenters Dr Clarissa Hughes and Detective Inspector Matthew Richman will provide an overview of the project, discuss preliminary results and comparative data, and introduce delegates to poster designs and promotional items used in SNAP's school-based media campaigns. The session will hold particular appeal for those with an interest in collaborative inter-sectoral work and/or undertaking high-school based projects in small rural communities.
3. Title: Use and Abuse: Effective Design, Implementation, and Data Analysis in Focus Group Interviews (Part 2)
Presenter: Linda C. Lederman, Ph.D., Professor of Health and Human Communication, Arizona State University
Session Description:
This session is the second of a two-session series designed to introduce and/or review fundamental principles of focus group interviews as qualitative research and to distinguish between the use and abuse of the method. The sessions will provide a brief overview of the method; its history and fundamental assumptions; guidelines for the design, implementation, and analysis of focus group data; guidelines for research reports summarizing the findings, and hands-on experience in it application to actual research projects. (Please refer to the handouts printed in this Guidebook for specific topics covered in this session.)
4. Title: A First Year Seminar Class Builds Campaign Credibility Using Alternative
Data Collection Strategies: Breathalyzers and Clickers
Presenter:
David W. Craig, Ph.D., Professor of Biochemistry, Hobart and William Smith Colleges
Session Description:
Misperceptions among collegiate populations naturally lead to skepticism
of self-report anonymous survey results despite sound data collection
strategies. The effectiveness of a social norms campaign is influenced
by the believability of campaign messages. This session will report on
how a first year seminar class collected late night breath tests as part
of a class research project and reported on the results during residence
hall presentations. Interactive student response devices ('clickers')
were used to collect student alcohol use information and estimated BAC
levels using BAC cards and provide immediate feed back to students
during the session. Campaign message believability was assessed at the
beginning and end of each session to assess the impact the session had
on changing the number of students that believed campaign messages.
Message believability about the frequency of alcohol consumption and BAC
levels of students late at night were both assessed during the sessions.
In addition, late night BAC distributions will be shared demonstrating
majorities of students returning home with either zero of very low blood
alcohol levels. Strategies to resolve human subject issues will also be
discussed.
5. Title: It's Normal to be Healthy: Evidence of Indigenous Protective Drinking Norms in College Populations
Presenter:
Michael Haines, M.S., Director, National Social Norms Resource Center
Session Description:
As generally conceived and implemented, the social norms approach is focused on reducing exaggerated misperceptions (overestimations) of the prevalence of less healthy behavior. A critical element that this simple formula frequently overlooks, however, is the promotion of protection and the avoidance of risk behaviors. This session will describe research that has been conducted on both local and national data sets to uncover some of the protective behaviors that college students employ to protect themselves from drinking-related harm, and how these behaviors have been incorporated into social norms campaigns. Although the work described has been conducted on college-age populations, the concepts as they will be explored and discussed in this session are applicable to other health-related issues, other age groups, and other settings.
1. Title: Normative Misperceptions in a British University Student Sample
Presenter: John McAlaney BSc, MSc., School of Social Sciences, University of Paisley,
United Kingdom
Session Description:
The aim of the current study was to investigate heavy episodic drinking and normative misperceptions in a U.K. university setting. Completed surveys from 500 respondents were returned. The majority of respondents were found to overestimate alcohol consumption in other students to a degree comparable to that noted in similar American studies. An age effect was noted, in which misperceptions appeared to decrease with age but did not vary between genders. The findings of the study indicate that the normative-belief alcohol consumption processes that have been found on U.S. college campuses also operate in U.K. university settings. This raises the possibility of applying social-norms interventions from the United States to the United Kingdom and potentially elsewhere in the world.
2. Title: Correcting Misperceptions with the Click of a Button: Evaluation of a Small Group Social Norming Intervention Using Audience Response Technology with Athletes and First Year Students
Presenters:
Linda Hancock, FNP, Ph.D., Director, Office of Health Promotion, Virginia Commonwealth University
Amanda Wattenmaker, MPH, CHES, Health Educator, Office of Health Promotion, Virginia Commonwealth University
Gregory Barker, Ph.D., Acting Director of Testing Services, Northern Illinois University
Session Description:
Audience Response Technology (also called "clickers") are rapidly becoming both user-friendly and affordable. This new clicker technology can provide social norms practitioners and researchers with a new tool for assessing and changing misperceptions. Our session will provide information at three levels. First, the basics about "clicker systems" will be briefly reviewed for those who are unfamiliar with the latest changes in this technology. Second, lessons learned from two years of small group social norming interventions on a college campus will be shared. And finally, research findings from two pre-test/post test comparison group studies with college athletes and freshmen will be presented.
3. Title: Surveying High School Students for Social Norms
Presenter:
Michael Haines, MS, Director, National Social Norms Resource Center
Session Description:
Collecting data about a target population is a fundamental necessity of an effective social norms project. This presentation will address many "nuts and bolts" issues related to use of the survey data: data cleaning; determining the norm; developing an array of data-based messages; diagnosing impact; dealing with data and the press; and discussion of the interplay of parent, teacher, and student data. The "Teen Norm Survey (TeeNS) " will be used to provide examples from actual high schools of each point covered. TeeNS is a survey instrument designed specifically for high school norm projects and includes parent and teacher modules that gather data from and develop messages for parents/teachers as well as students. A copy of the survey will be provided, as will a sample Evaluation Summary of data results. Ample time will be allowed for questions.
4. Title of Program: The POP2 (Power of Positive Prevention) Project: How to Sell Social Norms to Your Community
Presenters:
Tracy Desovich, MPH, Director
Stephanie Patton, MPH
Kathryn Dutille dos Santos, MPH
Vincent Fusaro, MSW
Southeast Center for Healthy Communities, A program of Health Care of Southeastern MA, Inc.
Session Description:
How do you build investment for Social Norms at the community-level? How can you assess your prevention plan and strategies to ensure consistency and avoid messages that dilute your positive prevention efforts? Whether you are starting from scratch or looking to infuse social norms into your existing prevention efforts, the Southeast Center for Healthy Communities' Power of Positive Prevention (POP2) Project can help you with tools and tips to ignite a community initiative that gets outcomes!
5. Title: Preventing Teen Dating Violence Using a Social Norms Approach
Presenters:
Monica Moran, MSW, Domestic Violence Specialist, Pioneer Valley Planning Commission
Alan Berkowitz, Ph.D., Independent Consultant
Session Description:
This session will present a social norms project on preventing teen dating violence. The project is currently being implemented at Gateway Regional School District in Huntington, Massachusetts and is being sponsored by a local domestic violence task force. The campaign is based on a survey given to 349 out 419 students in January 2006. The campaign started in September 2006 and will complete its first phase in June 2007. The campaign includes a lead in ad and five content ads. Ads have been developed through Task Force work groups and student focus groups and with help from consultants in the field of social norms. The campaign is in process and students and staff have given feedback through focus groups, email, intercept interviews and staff meetings. However, the initial survey has not been given again so outcome data based on survey results will not be available at this breakout session.
1. Title: MUmythbusters
Presenters:
Kim Dude, Director, Wellness Resource Center, University of Missouri-Columbia
Jennifer Shannon, MEd, Wellness Resource Center, University of Missouri-Columbia
Leigh Neier, MEd, Wellness Resource Center, University of Missouri-Columbia
Session Description:
The Wellness Resource Center at the University of Missouri-Columbia is increasing the number of students who make responsible decisions in regard to alcohol by changing the norms and behaviors of the students through implementing two comprehensive interventions. The "Most of Us Make Healthy, Safe and Smart Choices" campaign is a comprehensive social norming campaign that emphasizes protective factors and injunctive norms. The bi-weekly "MUmythbusters" campaign addresses myths about the environment in which students drink and about students' drinking expectancies. These myths are countered with facts in comprehensive ongoing marketing campaign. In 2006, the Wellness Resource Center was recognized by the US Department of Education as a model program for these efforts.
2. Title: The "Reign of Error" in Student-Athlete Alcohol Use: A Multi-Site Study at Institutions of Higher Education in the United States
Presenters:
H. Wesley Perkins, Ph.D., Hobart and William Smith Colleges
David W. Craig, Ph.D., Hobart and William Smith Colleges
Session Description:
Although student-athletes are more likely to engage in alcohol misuse compared to other students in college, case studies have suggested that this subgroup may also misperceive their athlete peers as engaging in more risky drinking than is the reality. This presentation presents research examining this phenomenon and its negative effect as a general pattern among student-athletes in higher education. Data were collected in an anonymous online survey conducted between Fall 2001 and spring 2007 (N= 3,750) at 13 institutions in 12 states across the U.S. Students most commonly overestimated the alcohol consumption norms (both quantity and frequency) in every instance. Students' perception of their peer athlete drinking norm was one of the strongest predictors of the amount of alcohol personally consumed. Perception of the peer athlete drinking norm was also a much stronger predictor of personal use than the variation observed in actual norms across schools. These data on student-athletes extend the evidence that peer drinking norms are grossly misperceived and that misperceptions produce a highly detrimental "reign of error." The data also suggest that student-athletes will benefit from implementing intervention strategies that can reduce their misperceptions.
3. Title: Data How To: Analyzing for Marketing and for Effectiveness
Presenters:
Adrienne Keller, Ph.D., Director of Research, National Social Norms Institute
Jennifer Bauerle, Ph.D., Director, National Social Norms Institute
Session Description:
Reducing harm to students from alcohol is a main focus for health professionals in college populations. How does one determine what are, and how to use, these strong predictors for negative consequences? This presentation is a guide of how UVA is using the data for creating normative messages and for evaluating the effectiveness of their campaign to reduce high risk drinking. This program will teach participants how to drill down the data to get what is essential for these two separate but important aspects of a normative program. Participants will have an interactive experience while learning various ways to apply their data to their social norms programs.
4. Title: A True Innovation or Too Good to be True: Will a Social Norms Approach Effectively Reduce Bullying Behavior?
Presenters:
Ron Ludwig, B.A., Executive Director, The Conflict Center
Pearl Bell, M.A., Assistant Manager of Operations, The Conflict Center
Session Description:
Join Social Norms practitioners from the Denver-based Conflict Center as they discuss their organization's three-year Social Norms campaign to reduce bullying behavior in an inner-city Denver high school. Presenters will also talk about the promising research that influenced their decision to begin this campaign. Attendees will hear about the process of implementing this campaign, from the creation and administration of a school-wide "bullying survey," to the design and display of a series of anti-bullying posters. Presenters will put forth the results of the "bullying surveys" and how students have responded to the anti-bullying posters. Finally, presenters will talk about some of the limitations to using a Social Norms approach to reduce bullying behavior.
5. Title: Who We Are… The Harvard Response to Reduce High-Risk Drinking Among Its Freshmen and Athletes
Presenters:
Ryan M. Travia, M.Ed., Director, Office of Alcohol & Other Drug Services, Harvard University
Paul J. Barreira, M.D., Director, Department of Behavioral Health & Academic Counseling, Harvard University Health Services
Jeff Linkenbach, Ed.D., Director, National MOST Of Us Institute for Social Norms
Session Description:
Harvard College recently adopted social norms as one of its prevention strategies and has systematically implemented a marketing campaign, targeting freshman and student-athletes. The researchers have found that an effective way to use social norms on their campus is integrating messages into ongoing programs, such as BASICS, Alcohol Communication & Education Skills (ACES) Training, and large-scale events such as National Alcohol Screening Day. Presenters will share data examining the effectiveness of social norms at Harvard, focusing on the breadth and depth of "dosage," as well as a cost-benefit analysis of various marketing strategies, and correlations between exposure to messages and reported behavior change. Finally, presenters will highlight key outcome findings from this project, as well as sharing their successes, challenges, and lessons learned.
Moderator: Michael Haines, M.S., Director, National Social Norms Resource Center
Panelists:
H. Wesley Perkins, Ph.D., Hobart and William Smith Colleges
William DeJong, Ph.D., Boston University
Clayton Neighbors, Ph.D., University of Washington
"Questions and Answers: A Panel on Emerging Issues and Future Directions in Social Norms Research"
In this, the final general session of the 10th annual National Conference on the Social Norms Approach, a panel of recently-published researchers will discuss the emerging issues that need to be addressed as norm-based research advances over the coming years.
(Please note that questions will be solicited from conference attendees throughout the two-day meeting for inclusion in this dialogue.)
1. Title: Academic Success - The Norm: Academic Champions Experience
Presenter: Jenny LeBeau, Program Facilitator, Academic Champions Experience, University of Idaho
Session Description:
The ACE-it program is a grant-based program funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education (FIPSE). Data collected over the last three and one-half years has demonstrated that the Social Norms model can be successfully applied to academic success and effectively integrated into the university system. The goals of ACE-it are to increase graduation and retention rates by promoting academic success behaviors, such as meeting with professors, attending class, socializing with students from other racial or ethnic groups, and participating in campus events and organizations. Findings to date demonstrate that the theoretical foundation of the social norms approach is both present and sound for being successfully applied to academic success. The program has been considered to be "consistent, intelligent, and intense" in effort, and has demonstrated promise to faculty and administrators across the University of Idaho campus. ACE-it has made an impact on academic success at the University of Idaho, and has the potential to make an impact on other college and university campuses across the nation and abroad.
2. Title: There's Strength in Numbers: Training Students to Deliver Social Norms Interventions within an Evidence-Based Framework
Presenters: M. Dolores Cimini, Ph.D., Estela Rivero, Ph.D., and Jennifer A. Roman
University at Albany, State University of New York
Session Description:
This workshop will examine the theory and practice of implementing successful interactive, social norms-focused interventions by trained and professionally supervised undergraduate students within their work as peer educators. More specifically, presenters will discuss the ways in which trained peer facilitators can conduct social norms interventions within three modalities: small group motivational interviewing-based interventions, peer theater interventions, and campus-wide public service media campaigns that highlight social norms data. Presenters will highlight successes, challenges, and lessons learned when training and supervising undergraduate students to deliver social norms interventions with their peers. Peer facilitator recruitment and retention, training, and specific strategies for training peers to address resistance to social norms data will be explored. The role of trained peer facilitators in serving as campus ambassadors and advocates for the social norms model with administrators, faculty, staff, and the media will be explored.
3. Title: Evaluating a Social Norming Project: Questions, Answers and More Questions
Presenter: Larry Hembroff, Ph.D., Michigan State University
Session Description:
Since 2002, a group at MSU has mounted a campaign to curb high-risk drinking among students. This presentation describes some of the evaluation strategies and findings that have been used to gage how effective the campaign has been and for which groups of students. The presentation describes a number of important questions that have arisen along the way, how the group has tried to collect data to answer the questions and modify its approach and messages to improve impact. Some of the issues dealt with include the kinds and contents of normative messages used, problems with the measurement of student drinking, the relationships among drinking, protective behaviors, harm and sensation seeking.
4. Title of Program: Reduce Florida's Panhandle Teenage Alcohol Abuse — A
Rural and Low Income Project
Presenters: Richard Howell, M.S., and Steve Brooks, M.S., Florida State University
Session Description:
The 2004 Florida Youth Substance Abuse Survey (FYSAS) cites that a sample of the 11,118 high school students within the 12 rural and low income counties in the PAEC report: alcohol use in the past 30 days ranged from 25-40.3%; and binge drinking ranged from 10.5-25.2%. This presentation will provide a focus on 12 Florida school districts (27 high schools) over the first year and half of a three-year project. It will further provide an update of the collaborative plan between Panhandle Area Education Consortium (PAEC's) Supplemental Programs Unit and the Center for Prevention Research at Florida State University (FSU). The plan introduces the proven evidence-based prevention program Too Good for Drugs and Violence and a proven effective Social Norms Media Campaign in 12 Panhandle districts. It will reveal data collected from the first year (2006) as well as the first half of the second year (2007) of the project. The combined approach is designed to develop and implement appropriate prevention, early identification, intervention and reinforcement of positive healthy behaviors.