Student-to-Student Interactions Help Campuses Manage Risks

College and university students, many on their own for the first time, face health and lifestyle decisions that can have lasting consequences. Choices involving alcohol and substance abuse have challenged students for decades, and issues related to mental health and sexual assault are of increasing importance. Backed by research and experience, higher education institutions are leveraging peer education programs to help students help each other and reduce risks associated with potentially harmful conduct.

“Students can play a unique role in the promotion of healthy and positive behavior on campus,” said Ann Quinn-Zobeck, senior director of BACCHUS Initiatives, a division of NASPA - Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education that provides peer educator certification, training, and resources. “The research shows students have influence and access when it comes to their peers. If we can train peers, they can address situations and stop behaviors.”

To understand the ways that institutions are enlisting peer educators, United Educators spoke with representatives at Santa Clara University, Miami University, the University of Maine, and Adelphi University, where student educators play an important role in programs designed to reduce alcohol abuse and promote personal responsibility.

Students in Charge

At Santa Clara University (SCU), peer educators add a layer of risk management to ensure student safety within its more than 180 student-run organizations. The private, 8,000-student school in Santa Clara, Calif., offers peer education programs through the SCU Wellness Center, but administrators also have recognized a need to extend risk awareness more broadly across the student population.

This year, SCU launched a pilot program in which they designate at least one person from a student organization as risk manager. Student leaders in the pilot program are charged with developing risk profiles for their organization and implementing risk management strategies, working with Tedd Vanadilok, director of campus programs in the Center for Student Leadership, and Sam Florio, SCU director of risk management and compliance. The administrators follow an approach used with SCU’s sports clubs, implementing precautions such as proper equipment, first-aid protocol, and emergency contact procedures. Vanadilok said he also plans to have student risk managers complete incident reports for every off-campus trip.

SCU is beginning its pilot effort with four groups that offer high-risk activities, including the Into the Wild wilderness group. Into the Wild takes 15 to 20 students on hiking, rafting, climbing, and other alcohol-free outdoor activities each weekend. “There are no staff members,” Vanadilok said. “That is another reason we need to empower students to handle that risk management themselves.”

FIRE-ed Up

Peer educators at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, have a mission—nicknamed FIRE for Freedom, Information, Reflect, and Engagement—that emphasizes students’ responsibility for their own health and safety. “We give them the information, they think about it and make choices consistent with their values and beliefs, then put those choices into action,” said Leslie Haxby McNeill, assistant director of Miami’s Office of Student Wellness.

Miami trains its peer educators on the top issues facing college students. According to ACHA-NCHA survey results, the top impediments to academic success five or six years ago were cold, sinus infections, and the flu. “The interesting shift is that the top impediments now are stress, anxiety, depression, and concern for a friend. We are targeting our educational efforts around mental health,” McNeill said.

One program, called “Give Me Some Head Room,” teaches students to recognize at-risk behavior, from eating disorders to substance abuse. “The goal is to catch them before the behavior escalates and get them help,” McNeill said. The peer educators also help train students in bystander behavior through the Step UP! initiative, a BACCHUS program developed for higher education institutions and organizations nationwide. The Office of Student Wellness has offered pilot training programs to Greek organizations and athletes, and plans to expand the program to all students. The sessions teach students to recognize signs of depression, physical or sexual abuse, alcohol poisoning, or other issues that threaten their health or safety. “If your friend has been sexually assaulted, you know what to say: ‘I believe you. It’s not your fault. Here are resources,’” McNeill said.

Peer education provides an effective tool toward compliance with the federal Campus Sexual Violence Elimination (SaVE) Act, enacted in March 2013, which requires most higher education institutions to educate students, faculty, and staff on the prevention of sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking.

Miami’s peer education program has responded with several programs on healthy relationships, safe sex, and sexual and interpersonal violence. One popular program, offered several times per year in dorm lounges and Greek houses, explores the role alcohol plays in sexual decision-making.

Healthy Interactions

At Adelphi University (AU), an 8,000-student private institution in Garden City, N.Y., peer educators take advantage of social media and activities to engage students, whether it’s forming a human ribbon to raise awareness and money for breast cancer research or posting “healthy selfies” on Instagram for a 30-day challenge to promote fitness and nutrition.

“We have learned that interactive events yield greater participation than setting up a table in the university center,” said Lauren Dolinski, health educator and adviser to AU’s peer education program.

AU also uses the American College Health Association-National College Health Assessment (ACHA-NCHA) to help evaluate students’ health behaviors. The survey asks students about issues such as substance use; personal safety and violence; and physical, mental, and sexual health. The peer educators use the results to plan programs to increase healthy behaviors on campus.

Dolinski’s goal is to have the peer education group, which began in 2009, grow into a leadership organization that helps encourage students to make the best choices. “We want to be able to educate on healthy behaviors with the hope that these behaviors become a lifestyle that will last long past their years at Adelphi,” Dolinski said.

Peer education is a sanctuary for students who are reluctant to confide in an adviser or family member, said Sharmila Samwaru, an AU peer educator. “They know this [program] is confidential, so they will talk to us. We give them the resources and point them in the right direction.” Samwaru led the 30-day fitness challenge event. She and other peer educators wore t-shirts promoting the event. “When people saw us at the gym, they would ask us about the t-shirts,” she said. The peer educators also stay visible on campus through activities such as sponsoring brown-bag lunch discussions about breast cancer, leading yoga and painting sessions designed to relieve stress, or setting up an impaired driving obstacle course to let students experience the dangers of drunk driving.

Samwaru, a nursing major who plans to become a family nurse practitioner, enjoys informing students about staying healthy and safe through AU’s peer education programs. “We want students to make good choices and be mindful of what they are doing. They can have a good time, but be aware,” she said.

It’s Greek to Them

When Dr. Sandra Caron, professor of family relations and human sexuality, arrived at the University of Maine (UM) in Orono in 1988, she focused peer education on visible groups such as athletic teams and Greek organizations.

She founded the Greek Peer Education Program and Athletes for Sexual Responsibility in 1990, training representatives from each fraternity, sorority, and sports team. The Greek program focuses on alcohol and sexual responsibility while aiming to counter stereotypes about fraternity and sorority life. The male and female athlete peer educators serve as role models for appropriate social and sexual behavior. In 2004, Caron spun off another group, Male Athletes Against Violence, designed to show that violence is not only a women’s issue.

The peer educators write and perform skits, create videos, design posters, and sponsor events, including an annual “Drinkout” sponsored by Greek Peer Education. Several thousand students at the 11,000-student public university pledge to give up drinking for a week. “They get to see the role alcohol plays in their lives,” Caron said. “Can you go to a party and have a great time without drinking? If you can’t, why not?”

Samantha Schulte, a 2014 graduate of UM, experienced peer education from both sides. She learned about UM’s Greek Peer Education Program as a freshman, the year she joined Chi Omega. “At least once a semester, an older sister would hold workshops at our house on alcohol, drugs, or sexual health,” she said. She became a Greek peer educator in 2012 and is working toward a graduate degree in mental health and sexual health education to continue the work she started as an undergrad.

From a risk management perspective, “universities benefit because they have students who are standing up to other students and trying to change the campus from within, as opposed to me as a professor going to a residence hall and talking,” Caron said.

By Donna Davis, freelance business and education writer