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Opportunities for positive approaches to reducing underage drinking Dr Lisa Buckley. Overview. Alcohol experiences among teenagers Protective factors Key design issues Example: a school-based program, Skills for Preventing Injury in Youth. Alcohol and underage use.
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Opportunities for positive approaches to reducing underage drinking Dr Lisa Buckley
Overview • Alcohol experiences among teenagers • Protective factors • Key design issues • Example: a school-based program, Skills for Preventing Injury in Youth
Alcohol and underage use National picture
Alcohol and underage use Year 9s (n=661, mean age=13.6 years) in past 6 months • 11% injured in a situation where they were also drinking • Drunk alcohol (males - 41%, females – 38%) • Drunk alcohol and vomited/ passed out (males - 6%, females – 5%)
Teachers Wider school & community Family Beliefs Friends
Skills for Preventing Injury in Youth (SPIY): Program goals • Reduce risk taking • Interpersonal violence • Transport related risks • Alcohol use • Encourage adolescents to protect their friends • Increase first aid skills • Increase school connectedness
How is SPIY taught? • Integrated with the curriculum • Taught by teachers trained in program delivery and connectedness • Year 9 Health Education • approximately 1 school term • Age-appropriate (research based1) • Personally, developmentally and culturally relevant • Interactive discussions based on scenarios • Practical exercises
Why first aid? • Emphasise that risk taking behaviour has serious injury consequences • Make injury more realistic and meaningful • Develop coping skills to minimise harm • Emphasise the importance of getting help, even in risk-taking situations • Integrate with Year 9 Health curriculum • Provides job skills
Looking out for friends • Prosocial behaviour is valued • College students protect their friends from drink driving • High school students intervene in their friend’s drinking, illegal drug use and smoking
Intervening • Strategies: • “tell them the repercussions of it” • “you have to talk to your good friends” • “kind of watching the amount (he drinks)” • “take them away from the situation” • “go to the movies” • Considerations: • “sometimes you have to be the bad guy. I get really nervous” • “you’ve gotta have a bit of confidence in yourself” • “you get a feeling that you get a bit more respect as well”
Parents • Parental involvement • General communication • Parental modelling • Limit access
Strategies used to encourage school connectedness among students
Change in looking out for friends = significant change, baseline to follow up
Teachers comments: • “The workbook was an attractive thing for us” • “Kids like discussions, as I said, they like to bring their own experiences in” • “They were quite happy to think oh yeah, probably not the world’s best move, so that was good” Student comments: • Importance of getting an adult’s help, “if I was the only one there I would. But if there was someone older and more knowing about it, I'd leave it up to them and maybe go get help or something else” • “To sacrifice 10 seconds of glory for, and like, say if you’ve broken your arm, you wouldn’t be able to do anything else that you wanted to do for a while.”
1.5 Methodology and practical strategies Key issues in intervention process design from the literature and focus groups with teachers... • Interactive processes - needs to be engaging, interactive and non-traditional, employing a variety of stimulus • Theory driven (e.g. cognitive-behavioural strategies) • Teachers are appropriate with training - a “Professional Development” component is considered important including offering support • ‘Dose’ – more than a single on-off lesson • Must be integrated into the school curriculum. Some contents should be assessable. First aid may be appropriate. • Socio-culturally and developmentally relevant (e.g., Botvin et al. 2003; Cuijpers, 2002; Ellickson, 2000; McBride, 2003; Perry et al., 2003; Sheehan et al., 1996; Shope et al., 2000)
Any questions? Dr Lisa Buckley ld.buckley@qut.edu.au Ph. 3138 4638 Mark your Diaries! International Council on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety Conference (T2013) 26-29 August 2013, Brisbane