Technology to Prevent High-Risk Drinking among College Students

Psychology professor, Dr. Michael Dunn is one of three winners of the Technology-based Products to Prevent High-risk Drinking among College Students Challenge. Dr. Dunn won second place ($30,000) for the University of Central Florida’s Expectancy Challenge Alcohol Literacy Curriculum (ECALC) mobile application, which focuses on changing key expectancy processes to reduce risky alcohol use and presents information in a nonjudgmental manner to minimize student resistance. The ECALC uses an expectancy challenge to reduce alcohol consumption, a technique identified as empirically validated by the NIAAA in its 2002 report on college drinking.

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The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is pleased to announce the three winners of the Technology-based Products to Prevent High-risk Drinking among College Students Challenge, as follows:

First place ($60,000): Syracuse University’s BeWise, an interactive website designed to reduce the occurrence and negative outcomes of excessive drinking by providing students with education regarding alcohol poisoning. The website emphasizes the need for awareness of one’s limits to reduce excessive consumption, knowledge of the signs of alcohol poisoning to know when to act, and familiarity with emergency numbers and responses to know how to act in a potential alcohol poisoning situation.

Second place ($30,000): University of Central Florida’s Expectancy Challenge Alcohol Literacy Curriculum (ECALC) mobile application, which focuses on changing key expectancy processes to reduce risky alcohol use and presents information in a nonjudgmental manner to minimize student resistance. The ECALC uses an expectancy challenge to reduce alcohol consumption, a technique identified as empirically validated by the NIAAA in its 2002 report on college drinking.

Third place ($10,000): University of Tennessee’s Alcohol and You, an online module that educates all incoming first-year students about alcohol, their choice to use alcohol, and the impact that choosing to use alcohol can have on their success as a student. The module provides information on several topical areas, including alcohol facts, alcohol and health, alcohol and legal consequences, and alcohol and social life.