2008 Woodie Awards
Home > News
Campaign educates on dangers of sex and alcohol
by Trevor Davis | News Reporter
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.
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.
Be the first to comment on this story