Abstract
Curriculum Infusion is the process of integrating information about alcohol and other drug (AOD) abuse prevention into the curriculum of regularly taught courses. In this brief note a novel curriculum infusion module is presented, as developed for an undergraduate course entitled Psychology of Substance Abuse. The module consisted of two sub-modules: (1) eliciting risk estimates for various substances and then attempting to re-norm students' risk perceptions by discussing discrepancies between students' estimates and risk estimates reported in the literature, and (2) asking students to maintain an alcohol expectancy diary for seven consecutive days in which they recorded all of the sources and types of alcohol expectancy information that they encountered. The role of expectancies in influencing personal alcohol use behavior was highlighted and strategies for weakening the link between expectancies and alcohol use were considered.
The Network for Dissemination of Curriculum Infusion at Northeastern Illinois University (see http://www.neiu.edu/∼cinfusi/process.htm) defines curriculum infusion as the process of integrating information about alcohol and other drug (AOD) abuse prevention into the curriculum of regularly taught courses. The goal of curriculum infusion is to alter students' AOD-related attitudes and behavior to reduce risk. Several evaluation studies have found curriculum infusion to be effective (e.g., Lederman, Stewart, & Russ, 2007; Licciardone, 2003). Examples of courses that could infuse alcohol- and drug-related content include: a course in Business that examines the ways in which substance abuse by employees and managers negatively affects worker satisfaction and employee productivity; a course in Media Studies that explores how advertising by the alcohol industry affects beverage preferences and brand loyalty; a course in Biology that considers fetal alcohol syndrome and other adverse biological effects of substance abuse 2 . As these examples illustrate, the specific alcohol- or drug-related content is tailored to each particular course. However, across the curriculum, a common goal of curriculum infusion is to educate students about substance use and to influence their attitudes and behavior toward alcohol and other drug use.
In this article a novel curriculum infusion module is presented, as developed and incorporated into an undergraduate psychology course entitled Psychology of Substance Abuse. As the title implies, this course emphasizes the psychological (i.e., cognitive, emotional, personality, social) factors that influence substance use behavior and that heighten one's risk of transitioning from casual use to abuse. Psychologically based substance use prevention and treatment programs, such as life skills training and cognitive-behavioral relapse prevention, are also discussed. The curriculum infusion module is implemented over a 3-week period and consists of two different components, or sub-modules.
The first component focuses on substance-related risk perceptions. In particular, students are asked to estimate, using a numerical Likert-type scale, the extent to which various substances of abuse pose a health risk to the user. For each substance, students are asked to provide health risk estimates for occasional patterns of light to moderate use (i.e., casual use) and for regular patterns of heavy use (i.e., abuse). The students' estimates are then tallied, summary data are presented (means and standard deviations for each substance), and the class is given feedback regarding the accuracy of their health risk perceptions. Discrepancies between the students' risk estimates and estimates of risk reported in the research literature are highlighted and discussed (for sample articles, see Duitsman & Colbry, 1995; Chomynova, Miller, & Beck, 2009). A consistent finding is that relative to the illegal “hard” drugs, such as heroin and cocaine, students report greater uncertainty as to the risks associated with commonly used and legally available substances, such as alcohol and cigarettes. In other words, there is substantially more variation in the students risk estimates of alcohol and cigarette use. This finding is consistent with research by Hittner (1997a), who found a strong negative correlation between perceived risk means and perceived risk standard deviations such that substances perceived as least risky (e.g., alcohol, cigarettes, caffeine) had the largest standard deviations. The sub-module on risk perceptions usually culminates in a discussion of the relative importance to the user of proximal (immediate, short-term) versus distal (future, long-term) risks. The relative weighting of these two risk categories can have important implications for substance use behavior (e.g., when people focus on negative proximal risks, they tend to engage in less regular, heavy use).
The second curriculum infusion component focuses on alcohol outcome expectancies. Briefly defined, alcohol outcome expectancies represent an individual's beliefs, or expectations, concerning the anticipated positive and negative effects of alcohol use. Numerous empirical studies have found that the relative balance of positive and negative alcohol expectancies and their relative strength of endorsement are important predictors of drinking behavior (see, for example, Goldman, 1994; Hittner, 1997b; Reich & Goldman, 2005). For this sub-module, students are asked to maintain an “expectancy diary” for seven consecutive days in which they record all of the sources and types of alcohol expectancy information that they encounter. Examples of expectancy sources include friends, family, television, radio, and billboards. Examples of expectancy types (i.e., the expectancies communicated or conveyed by sources) include expectations that alcohol increases sociability, increases aggression, increases physical pleasure, and reduces tension and anxiety. The expectancy diary assignment serves to sensitize students to the various communication routes by which alcohol expectancies are regularly reinforced. Following completion of the assignment and as a result of discussing the diary contents in class, students come to realize that (a) one's own expectancies and the expectancies of others (e.g., peers) can greatly influence personal alcohol use patterns, and (b) through gaining awareness of the sources and types of societally transmitted expectancy information and understanding their potential influence on drinking behavior, one can challenge, and perhaps even change, personal expectations regarding alcohol's anticipated positive effects.
The curriculum infusion module described above is novel for at least two reasons. First, the two sub-modules of correcting erroneous risk perceptions and elucidating alcohol expectancies via an expectancy diary assignment have not been paired in a single curriculum infusion course. The focus on assessing and then challenging risk perceptions and alcohol expectancies is consistent with social norming interventions and alcohol expectancy challenge programs, respectively. These two programs are among the most empirically validated approaches for decreasing alcohol use among college students (Perkins, 2003; Labbe & Maisto, 2011). Second, because the curriculum infusion module is presented within a course on the psychology of substance abuse, by a professor who regularly conducts research on substance abuse, students likely view the professor as a knowledgeable and credible source of AOD-related information. Such a scenario bodes well for curriculum infusion given previous research indicating that attitudinal and behavioral change is more likely when information is delivered by a highly credible source (Pornpitakpan, 2004). In summary, it is my hope that the information contained in this note has fostered an appreciation of the benefits of curriculum infusion and that the material presented will encourage others to integrate substance use prevention content into their courses.
