Tag Archives: prevention

Sexual Assault Awareness Month – April 2012

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Although the month of April is coming to a close, we want to share with you a note from Amy Cavender, MyStudentBody Implementation Specialist, about Sexual Assault Awareness Month. The tips below for programming can also be used year-round to raise awareness of this important issue on college campuses.

In April, schools all over the country observe Sexual Assault Awareness Month with educational events, media campaigns, and forums for survivors of assault. MyStudentBody makes information and resources for understanding and preventing sexual assault and other forms of sexual violence available year-round, both in the Essentials course and in articles and tools in the Student Center.

By sharing this information with students early in their college careers, colleges and universities can give students useful tools to prevent sexual violence and to help themselves and others if they experience an assault or find themselves in an abusive relationship. You can use the information gathered through student Sexual Violence Rate Myself assessments to guide your approach to the issue on your campus.

MyStudentBody works best as part of an overall prevention and awareness campaign. You can find information about raising awareness and preventing sexual violence in our library.

For more ideas on how to address sexual violence prevention on your campus, the National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC) offers a wonderful clearinghouse of resources on its Sexual Violence Awareness Month site. NSVRC is using a variety of approaches to communicate about the issue, from videos to Twitter-based chats to printable materials. There’s a great resource page that has everything from suggested events to templates for letters to the editor of the student or local media.

As a former member of the Primary Prevention Planning Team at the Hays-Caldwell Women’s Center in San Marcos, TX, I was especially glad to see that NSVRC offers an information sheet about working with men’s groups to prevent sexual violence. Working with men to prevent sexual violence is an issue that’s dear to my heart, as well as an effective strategy. I hope these resources will help make your sexual violence awareness and prevention activities more successful.

Get more helpful tips from MyStudentBody in your inbox by subscribing to the blog in the sidebar on our homepage.

Photo credit: http://www.yorkblog.com/smart/2012/03/29/sexual-assault-awareness-month-kicks-off-today/

Assessing Effectiveness and Looking Ahead

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On most campuses, spring is the time to assess the effectiveness of current programs and develop budgets for the upcoming fiscal year.

Our library offers ideas for evaluating your prevention programs and updating drug, alcohol, and other policies.

If you’re hoping to ramp up your campus approach to student mental health, a new guide from the Jed Foundation can help. This national organization is dedicated to reducing emotional distress and preventing suicide among college students.

Developed in partnership with the Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC), Campus MHAP: A guide to campus mental health action planning provides a comprehensive framework for planning, engaging stakeholders in the community, and making the best use of existing resources. It also offers specific tactics for suicide prevention and caring for students’ mental health.

The guide can be downloaded as a PDF, and EDC’s series also includes four webinars for college and university campus professionals working in mental health and suicide prevention.

Get more helpful tips from MyStudentBody in your inbox by subscribing to the blog in the sidebar on our homepage.

Photo credit: www.MyStudentBody.com

Commentary: The Crucial Role of Alcohol Awareness Month

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April is Alcohol Awareness Month. Deann Jepsen, MS, gives some compelling commentary on what this month means and what we can do to make a lasting impression when it comes to alcohol awareness. Jepsen is particularly helpful in laying out statistics to help debunk some misconceptions about alcohol misuse and abuse.  Much of his commentary can also be applied to college students because he talks a lot about the influence of underage drinking. Check out the full commentary here.

Photo credit: The Partnership at DrugFree.org

Common Mistakes Made by Prevention Practitioners

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If you haven’t seen it yet, there’s a new blog out there called the SCOPE Blog. According to the blog’s website, SCOPE, the School and College Organization for Prevention Educators,  is an independent, not-for-profit membership association for prevention educators and professionals.

Every week they post what they call the SCOPE Thought Piece, a question regarding best practices for the prevention field that’s answered by a number of professionals (all of whom do amazing work in the field – hello Beth DeRicco and Linda Langford!). This week’s question is, “What are some common mistakes made by prevention practitioners that should be avoided?” Here are some brief tidbits from the responses, but go to the blog for the full discussion.

Michelle N. Issadore, M.Ed., says, “We must break out of the cycle of reacting to crises…” Read more.

Beth DeRicco, Ph.D., says, “Common mistakes include: Not linking their issue to the particular needs or concerns of the power brokers of the constituent they are working with…” Read more.

Jane Stapleton, M.A., says, “While prevention practitioners are well-intentioned, they sometimes don’t teach people the skills to prevent the problem at hand…” Read more.

Linda Langford, Sc.D., says, “One common mistake is continuing to implement prevention efforts in a way that research suggests isn’t effective…” Read more.

Alan Berkowitz, Ph.D., says, “Among the most common mistakes are lack of planning and not creating the foundation or infrastructure necessary for success…” Read more.

Photo credit: www.MyStudentBody.com

Achieve a 90% Response Rate to Your Alcohol & Drug Survey

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The typical response rate for college alcohol and drug surveys is somewhere between 25 and 35%. But at Stetson University, more than 90% of the freshman class completes the MyStudentBody Essentials course—even though it’s not mandatory. What strategy produces those results?

The answer is: lots of strategies – and the key is to use more than one.

Working with Stetson’s Director of Health Education and Wellness, Lynn Stadelman, MyStudentBody product coordinator Tyler Achilles determined four elements that, used together, encourage the best possible response rate. “Most of these strategies are things prevention professionals are already doing. We found that what was most important was to do all of these things,” Achilles explained. “But we also found some small tweaks that could really improve a strategy’s effectiveness.” Some examples:

1) Advance notification: Sending advance notification by [snail] mail is especially useful in getting students to take Web-based surveys. It literally gives more weight to the request. Achilles notes it’s also an opportunity to send an incentive.

2) Incentives: Surprisingly, offering a guaranteed low-cost incentive—such as a free soda at the college café—to everyone who takes your survey raises response rates more effectively than offering a chance at a higher-value prize that only a few will win.

3) Reminders: The magic number for emailed reminders turns out to be three. After that, reminders don’t generate much further response, and may start to seem intrusive.

4) Sharing the results: Students want to know how their responses contribute to shaping policy; they also want to see how their answers compare to those of their peers. Knowing they’ll see group results increases student participation.

To see more of Achilles and Stadelman’s advice, view the poster they presented in January at NASPA’s Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Prevention and Intervention Conference in Atlanta.