The Prosocial Project: An Evaluation of Student-Led Interventions to Reduce Alcohol-Related Harm and Promote Mental Health at Dalhousie University

Introduction: A survey was administered to 872 first year students (fall 2014) assessing perceptions of campus culture, drinking behaviour, mental health, social norm perceptions of peer alcohol use, and primary and second-hand harms from alcohol use. The survey found that alcohol use was prevalent (76% of students reported alcohol use), students commonly overestimated their peers’ alcohol use, and high rates of harms from alcohol use (e.g., 15% reported injuries) and harms from other students’ alcohol use (e.g., 37% experienced physical second-hand harms) were reported. Students also reported feeling an obligation to help friends struggling with mental health and substance use problems, but did not know how to help, or where to seek help.

Project Branding: Student leaders developed programming unique to the university’s social culture. The intervention was branded as “The PROsocial Project” and the programming reinforced the importance of being prosocial, proactive, and protecting your peers. The goal was to empower students to make proactive decisions related to substance use and mental health, encourage a prosocial environment, promote a healthy, compassionate and informed campus culture, and improve accessibility to and awareness of student wellness resources.

Methods: Student leaders developed interventions that used psychoeducation and harm reduction strategies. A website was developed about how to identify mental health/substance use problems in peers, how to help, and where to get help. Free Mental Health First Aid training was offered to students, videos of students sharing personal stories of mental health and substance use problems with an emphasis on how they were helped by others were disseminated through the website, social media, and screenings at public events, and social norm misperceptions were corrected through social media/poster campaigns. Students hosted educational events to engage the student body in discussions about substance use/mental health and to reduce stigma. Harm reduction initiatives included information booths to teach students strategies to drink in safer ways and booths where student leaders handed out food, water, and condoms during times where drinking/substance use on campus is high.

Evaluation: Engagement with and effectiveness of interventions will be evaluated using data from student surveys, focus groups, university incident reports, tracking social media activity, website activity, event attendance, and downloads/views of promotional and educational videos. Program implementation will end April 2016 and preliminary program evaluation results will be presented.