A public relations firm hired by the state Department of Human Services met with University students and campus leaders Thursday to hear feedback on how to spread a simple message: Unprotected sex and alcohol are a dangerous combination.
Drinking alcohol during pregnancy, even in the earliest days, can cause life-long learning and behavioral problems, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Problems can appear in children as late as ages 2 to 8.
“If a woman becomes pregnant, she may not realize she is pregnant for several weeks or months,” said Lesa Dixon-Gray, prevention project coordinator at the Department of Human Services. “She could be drinking or binge drinking during that time, not realizing she’s pregnant. That would put her baby at risk for permanent developmental disabilities.”
DHS defines binge drinking for women as consuming more than three alcoholic drinks in one sitting or more than seven during a week, Dixon-Gray said.
The Metropolitan Group will launch an awareness campaign about fetal alcohol syndrome in September at the University of Oregon and Western Oregon University.
“We really were looking at a large university, and we wanted a university where we really felt like there would be more of an urban flavor where many of the students might be from urban or larger towns,” Dixon-Gray said. “We could have picked PSU, but PSU is more of a commuter campus.”
The campaign will be one of the first fetal alcohol syndrome, or FAS, campaigns in Oregon targeting college-age women, said Jennifer Heilbronner, vice president of Metropolitan Group. Campaign leaders want to reach college students because students are at risk for having an alcohol-affected pregnancy.
In a study of 10,904 students at 119 colleges and universities conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health, 40 percent of female students reported drinking at least four alcoholic drinks in a row in the past two weeks.
In another study at the University of Maryland, 37 percent of female students who sought pregnancy tests at the college health clinic said they didn’t use any contraception at the time of the possible pregnancy.
Past campaigns have focused on women who are already pregnant, Heilbronner said. The state Department of Human Services wants to target students 18 to 24 who are not yet pregnant.
Heilbronner said the campaign may not be able to persuade students to not have sex or drink alcohol, but she hopes to encourage students to not do one or the other at the same time.
“We’re acknowledging they happen,” Heilbronner said. “We want to be realistic.”
The University Health Center started offering counseling funded through the CDC for students who may be at risk for FAS, said Paula Staight, director of health education.
When female students use services at the health center, they can fill out a screening questionnaire. If the screening reveals the students are at risk for FAS, counselors will call patients, and students can seek counseling.
Staight said the health center is often promoting various health-related campaigns aimed at students.
“Alcohol is on the top of our list, and we’re always promoting contraceptives, but fetal alcohol syndrome doesn’t always fall into our top 10,” Staight said. She added she hopes the FAS campaign will blend with other awareness programs on campus.
“These are women who might end up having children in the long-run,” Staight said.
University senior Noelle Ronco, a member of the Student Health Advisory Committee, said she’s glad to see a FAS health campaign targeted at a younger crowd.
“We’re in definite need of more awareness,” Ronco said. “Right now, we’re not connected to the issue personally.”
Ronco, who sat in on a focus group Thursday, said she liked the ad campaigns because they were effective and straight-forward.
Heilbronner said she wants to continue to work with University community leaders because they know students the best.
“Women have these trusted places already on campus they go to,” she said.
Those interested can fill out a confidential form near a drop box at the health center to answer questions to see if they are students who are at risk for FAS.
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