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%)

Beliefs

Family

Friends

Wider school &

community

Teachers

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

8

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

Theme Example quote

Strength focus

Everyone should have a little job, to teach that kid to do something, to get something positive out of them. Most kids disengaged from school are the kids who think they’re not worth anything. So try to engage them back into something

Equity & fairness

If a student has done something wrong, I would try to keep the relationship the same with them as it has always been and let them know that I still like them, it’s just their behaviour that I’m not keen on

Change in looking out for friends

-15%

-10%

-5%

0%

5%

Protect Fight Protect DrinkCycle

Protect DrinkDrive

ProtectUnderage

Driving

Protect AlcoholUse

Intervention schools Control schools

= significant change, baseline to follow up

Change in alcohol use

-15%

-5%

5%

15%

25%

Males Females

Cha

nge

in a

lcoh

ol u

se s

core

SPIY

Control

Change in injuries

-15%

-10%

-5%

0%

5%

10%

Riding bike Ridingm'bike

Driving Passenger Physicalattack

Sport Fight

Intervention schools Control schools

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.”

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)

1.5 Methodology and practical strategies

Any questions?

Dr Lisa Buckleyld.buckley@qut.edu.auPh. 3138 4638

Mark your Diaries!

International Council on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety Conference (T2013)

26-29 August 2013, Brisbane