Substance use screening and assessment in campus health care: Tips for clinical professionals working with young adult students

This guidance document aims to assist a wide variety of clinical professionals in their ability to carefully assess how substance use might be related to the variety of presenting problems of young adult patients in the college context, and how to begin to address co-existing substance use. Learning how to evaluate substance use, identify problematic substance use behaviors or disorders, and manage them is becoming an increasingly important part of a healthcare professional’s responsibilities. Unfortunately, substance use topics are often underemphasized and the educational content and clinical experiences are often limited outside of specialty training.20-23 For those who have training, the multiple clinical topics that need to be addressed in clinical encounters might limit the time they have to discuss substance use. Yet, substance use can critically affect a students’ overall health and well-being, making the identification and management of problematic substance use an essential skill for clinicians. Healthcare professionals on college campuses, including licensed counselors, psychiatrists, primary clinicians, health promotion professionals, occupational therapists, etc., interact with students in different contexts. Learning how to assess, identify, and discuss problematic substance use aligns around the shared common goal of improving student health and well-being. Below are examples of how a few of these professionals’ responsibilities might intersect with student substance use.