I agree with Robert and Allen. I have always found educating students
about BAC and its effects on one’s body to be extremely effective means of
engaging students as well as promoting moderate drinking. A couple of
years ago a colleague (Karen Forbes) and I began developing a series of
weight and gender specific BAC cards that we could quickly and easily
distribute during our campus’s annual Wellness Fair. Each card was small
enough to fit in one’s wallet. In addition, these cards employ a
color-coded “Zone” system that helps the user focus on keeping his or her
BAC below .06 (the green zone) in order to reduce the risks associated with
alcohol. We call these cards BACZONE™ cards. Later that same year when we
participated in Alcohol Screening day on our campus we discovered that many
of the students we spoke to during screening day in April still had the
BACZONE™ cards that they received at the College’s Wellness Day in
October. Also many of the students shared how useful the cards were and
asked if they could get cards for their friends, boyfriends and
girlfriends. After hearing these responses we knew we had found a
cost-effective, easy to use tool to reduce high risk drinking. To make
sure that we were on to something, we conducted a research study in which
we found that students who received BACZONE™ cards reduced the amount of
time their BAC exceeded .06 by 8% after one month as compared to the
control group which had an increase of 15%. (this research was presented at
the 2001 APA Annual Convention, San Francisco, CA and will be published in
an upcoming issue of American Clinical Laboratories).
Karen and I have had such positive experiences in using the cards with our
students that we have now made these cards available to other professionals
across the country. If you are interested about find out more about
BACZONE™ cards, our research, or just have questions about how we have
educated students about BAC, please check out our web site: www.baczone.biz.
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