# The College Alcohol Intervention Matrix (College AIM): Adoption and Implementation Across College Campuses

> **NIH NIH K08** · UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-COLUMBIA · 2024 · $164,039

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Risky alcohol use and related behaviors among college students result in significant, adverse outcomes (e.g.,
injury, death). For example, an estimated 1,519 college student deaths each year are associated with alcohol.
Accordingly, these behaviors constitute a serious public health concern that must be addressed across college
campuses. NIAAA has prioritized the identification of interventions focused on reducing college drinking and
these efforts have yielded a number of evidence-based strategies (EBSs), which were recently compiled in the
College Alcohol Intervention Matrix (CollegeAIM; NIAAA, 2015a; 2019). CollegeAIM includes a list of evidence-
based alcohol reduction strategies organized by approach (e.g., individual or environmental), cost, and level of
efficacy. Colleges can use CollegeAIM to identify EBSs to implement on their campuses to combat risky drinking.
Despite NIAAA prioritization and the availability of the CollegeAIM tool and existing EBSs to address risky
drinking, relatively little is known about the adoption and implementation of EBSs for college drinking
among stakeholders (individuals involved with EBS implementation) on college campuses, and further, to what
extent CollegeAIM is used to identify EBSs for implementation. The proposed project will evaluate the use
and effectiveness of CollegeAIM in the selection of EBSs for college student drinking across a statewide
substance use coalition, with a long-term objective of supporting colleges’ use of CollegeAIM and thus,
ultimately the implementation of EBSs to reduce risky drinking. The proposed project aims will be achieved with
a mixed-methods design to assess stakeholders’ use and perspectives of the CollegeAIM tool, identify barriers
and facilitators to using CollegeAIM to select appropriate interventions for their institutions, and identify institution
characteristics that impact CollegeAIM use. This will be the first study to extensively evaluate CollegeAIM as a
tool to identify EBSs on college campuses. The findings from the proposed project also will be instrumental in
developing an organizational decision-support program, intended to be used in tandem with CollegeAIM to
address college drinking, which will be evaluated in a follow-up R01 proposal. The proposed project and training
of this K08 Mentored Clinical Scientist Research Career Development Award will be based at the University of
Missouri, an ideal setting given the well-established training programs and group of experts across domains of
alcohol research. The candidate will be mentored by Drs. Kenneth Sher and Kristin Hawley and an excellent
team of collaborators who will support the candidate’s advancement through specialized training in addictions
and implementation science. The candidate will gain the experience with mixed-methods design and analytic
approaches and alcohol prevention research necessary to establish the candidate as an independent
investigator who will be prepared to exte...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10880291
- **Project number:** 5K08AA028543-04
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-COLUMBIA
- **Principal Investigator:** Ashley Colleen Helle
- **Activity code:** K08 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $164,039
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2021-07-01 → 2026-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10880291

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10880291, The College Alcohol Intervention Matrix (College AIM): Adoption and Implementation Across College Campuses (5K08AA028543-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10880291. Licensed CC0.

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