The Washington State Health Care Authority has provided funding to disseminate a parent/caregiver handbook (Letting Go and Staying Connected, developed as part of our First Years Away from Home randomized controlled trial) to universities across the state. So far, the handbook has been disseminated to incoming students at 8 universities in Washington in the 2022 and 2023 academic years, with additional dissemination planned for summer 2024.
The handbook, developed collaboratively by WSU and UW researchers, provides general guidance on how parents/caregivers can support their students’ growing autonomy while communicating clear expectations and remaining connected. Although the handbook isn’t specifically about risk behaviors, our NIH-funded trial showed that students whose parents/caregivers received the handbook were significantly less likely to use alcohol and cannabis in their first and second years of college.
We are distributing the handbook to parents/caregivers in the summer of 2022 and 2023, about 6 weeks before school begins. There is no cost to the university; due to our state prevention funding from HCA, WSU covers editing to personalize it to each university, printing, and mailing.
For additional information about the handbook or to request a copy, please reach out to clara.hill@wsu.edu.