Program Description: The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT), has awarded the University at Albany, State University of New York $465,403 per year for 3 years to expand its capacity to provide screening and brief intervention to high-risk drinkers seeking medical care through its University Health Center and create an environment that supports reduced drinking rates and increased health behaviors.

Campus Description: The University at Albany (UAlbany) is a public Research I and NCAA Division I institution within the 64-campus State University of New York system that enrolls approximately 17,000 undergraduate and graduate students. The National College Health Assessment (NCHA), conducted in Spring 2004, found that nearly 30 percent of students consumed alcohol 10 or more days per month and approximately 60 percent of students participated in binge drinking in the 2 weeks prior to the survey. Forty-one percent of judicial cases in the fall of 2003 involved alcohol abuse and 48 percent of on-campus student arrests involved alcohol.

Screening: Licensed University Health Center (UHC) health care providers, including physicians, physician's assistants, and nurse practitioners, conduct screening using the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT). The AUDIT is incorporated into the student health screening, which is completed for all students seeking services at the University Health Center.

Brief Intervention: Brief interventions involve eight- to ten-minute sessions based on motivational interviewing conducted by UHC health care providers and University Counseling Center psychologists. Approximately 1 week after the initial interview (which includes the GPRA intake data collection), students participate in a one 45-minute Brief Alcohol Screening and Intervention of College Students (BASICS) session with a University Counseling Center psychologist.

Referral: Students who are not responsive to the BASICS intervention due to alcohol dependence or continuing alcohol abuse are referred for 12-session intensive counseling services at the University Counseling Center or St. Peter's Addiction Recovery Center.

Service Features: Students log on to a secure Web site to enroll in the project and complete questionnaires; data from the questionnaires are downloaded to a spreadsheet and used to create a personalized feedback sheet. Students are e-mailed a link to questionnaires at discharge and for 6-week and 6-month follow-up assessment and can complete them online at their convenience.

Follow-up assessments are conducted online at discharge, 6 weeks, and 6 months post intervention.

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Within our large public university, we have reached nearly 6,000 graduate and undergraduate students with evidence-based alcohol screening, and, as indicated, brief intervention. With our intervention strategy, the Brief Alcohol Screening and Intervention for College Students (BASICS), we have seen both clinically and statistically significant changes within our student population at six-month follow-up, including the following:

• 15% reduction in drinks consumed per week
• 11% reduction in heavy episodic drinking episodes in the past two weeks
• 9% reduction in peak drinking amount during the past 30 days
• 17% reduction in peak BAC
• 29% correction of student misperceptions about peers'drinking

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Our SAMHSA-CSAT-supported college-based screening and brief intervention program is serving to change the culture on our campus toward an environment that supports reduced alcohol use and associated negative consequences and enhanced use of protective behaviors. I would encourage enhanced support for such campus-based screening and brief intervention programs across the nation so that we can reach a greater percentage of our 17 million college students before they experience the deleterious effects of alcohol abuse across the academic, physical, legal, social, and psychological areas – at a time when we can make a difference and potentially save lives with early assessment and intervention.

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