University website aims to curb student drinking

Leeds University has developed a website that allows its students to check how much they drink and offers warnings of the health risks of bingeing.

The ‘e-UNICAL’ site, which was developed internally by the university IT department following a grant from the European Advisory Research Board, encourages students to log how much they drink.

In return, they are given information on how many units they are drinking, how that compares to other students, and the health implications. The aim is to show the truth behind the peer pressure to drink heavily.

"Students tend to overestimate how much their peers are drinking," Bridgette Bewick, principal investigator and project manager at the university’s psychological therapies research centre. "Giving students personalised feedback that they’re in a high-risk category can act as a wake-up call."

The site aims to reduce alcohol consumption in the university by ten percent over two years. Bewick explained that this kind of website was a good method for influencing people’s behaviour.

"There’s growing interest in the health professions in using online resources to change the way people behave," she said. "The widespread availability of low-cost IT makes the internet a great potential source for instigating change."

Initially, three hundred volunteers were going to take part in the survey, beginning this month. However, around 2000 people have volunteered to take part since the website was announced.

Although students are told how much they drink in comparison to others, Bewick told E-Health Insider that it does not necessarily follow that they will compete to be the biggest drinker. "Previous research says that most students think that everybody drinks the same as them. But they are quite surprised when they see that they are drinking above what the norm is."

Students with excessive alcohol intake will receive a message saying, for example, "95% of students are drinking less than you". Drinkers who are taking large amounts of alcohol will be told how it affects them and their drinking will be put into context.

Bewick said that the site will be expanded if it works well. "If the trial is successful in reducing alcohol consumption and binge drinking it will provide an effective and low-cost tool that could be used not only by the University of Leeds but also by student populations across the UK and Europe," said Bewick. Local PCTs have also been informed.

As well as health problems caused by excessive drinking, the site also calculates the financial hit students can take, and explains the implications for their studies.

The site was developed following feedback from a survey that revealed high consumption of alcohol among some students. The university successfully applied for a grant from the European Advisory Research Board after proposing the system to them.