School domain
Schools can play a role in preventing and delaying the use of alcohol and other drugs by young people.
Initiatives to do so may seek to increase protective factors, such as enhancing a person’s sense of belonging and connection to their school.
Schools can also ensure they implement evidence based drug education programs as part of their broader alcohol and other drug strategy.
Whole-of-school approach
A whole-of-school approach takes a holistic view of the school environment, recognising that student health and wellbeing is the result of complex and
overlapping factors.
This approach identifies the substantial social learning which happens outside of the classroom as a critical component of, and key outcome from, a person’s school experience.
The culture of a school, and student’s day-to-day experience at the school, are important factors that inform a child’s health and wellbeing. These may be leveraged to create a warm and supportive environment for young people.
While the evidence specific to the impacts of a whole-of-school approach on alcohol and other drug use is somewhat mixed, some evidence has shown small improvements in health measures, ranging from increased physical activity to reduced bullying.32
In terms of protective factors, some studies have suggested that school initiatives which specifically improve student participation in the school and encourage a positive school culture are associated with reduced alcohol and other drug use.33
In terms of risk factors, some studies suggest that poor quality student-teacher relationships and students feeling disengaged from their school are associated with higher alcohol and other drug use.33
Alcohol and other drug education in schools
Current and effective school-based drug education explores students’ values, attitudes, knowledge and skills with the aim of improving their capacity to make healthier decisions about using alcohol, tobacco and other drugs.
Typically delivered as part of health education, school-based alcohol, tobacco and other drug education aims to increase students’ self-efficacy to refuse alcohol, tobacco and other drugs and equip them with knowledge and skills to reduce harms.34, 35
Evidence-based drug education can play a role in preventing or delaying the use of alcohol and other drugs by young people. Although the positive impact of drug education on individual students’ drug use is generally small, access to appropriate and accurate information about alcohol and other drugs is still important.
The selection of an evidence-based drug education program is also important because some programs have been found to increase drug use. 36, 37
Drug education programs are either delivered to all students, regardless of level of risk (universal) or designed for adolescents and young people who may be at greater risk of AOD harm (selective).
Universal programs, such as Climate Schools (outlined below), have the advantage of being able to reach large numbers of participants at relatively low cost; but this can lead to minimal impact.
Selective programs, such as Preventure (outlined below) can be tailored to reach those that may be at greater risk; but this approach may be more expensive and lead to stigmatisation.
Climate Schools
Climate Schools is a program for 13-14 year-olds. It is based on harm reduction and social influence approaches and is designed to be implemented within the school health curriculum.
It comprises 12 x 40 minute lessons which address the use of alcohol and related problems. A psychostimulants and cannabis module - over six lessons - for Year 9-10 is also available.
In each lesson, students view a cartoon-style story of teenagers grappling with real life situations. The cartoon is followed by classroom discussions and student interaction exploring the topic covered in the story.
Climate Schools has been shown to increase students’ alcohol knowledge, decrease their positive expectancies about alcohol and reduce alcohol consumption.
At 12 months follow-up, there was a reduction in weekly alcohol consumption and the frequency of excessive drinking.38
A Climate Schools module that combines education on alcohol with cannabis was also found to reduce alcohol consumption; reduce frequency of binge drinking; reduce frequency of cannabis use; increase resistance to peer pressure; and, reduce psychological distress and truancy. 39, 40
School Health and Alcohol Harm Reduction
Project (SHAHRP)
SHAHRP is a classroom-based program that aims to reduce alcohol-related harm and prevent high risk drinking among students in Year 7-8, and Year 9-10 – a time that research suggests is a vulnerable period for alcohol experimentation.
The program takes a harm reduction approach, with an emphasis on interactive skills building and individual and group decision making. SHAHRP is based on the social influence approach which understands that young people begin to use drugs due to psychological and social pressures from peers, family and the media.
The intervention comprises 17 interactive, skill based activities in year 8 with 12 follow-up activities in year 9. Activities include problem solving and rehearsal tasks in which students develop and rehearse harm reduction, help seeking, making safety plans, decision-making about situations involving drug use, as well as discussions based on scenarios suggested by students.
The initial SHAHRP study in 14 secondary schools in Western Australia reduced alcohol consumption and related risks and harms.
A SHAHRP-inspired program, Drug Education in Victorian Schools, (DEVS) conducted for students aged 13–15 years in 21 secondary schools in Victoria, included tobacco and illicit drugs, in addition to alcohol. Participants in the pilot study were found to be more knowledgeable about drug use issues, communicated more with their parents about alcohol, drank less alcohol, engaged in risky drinking less often, and experienced fewer alcohol-related harms.
In comparison, harmful levels of drinking increased amongst students in the control group.41
Preventure
Preventure engages high-risk teenagers who are identified to possess one of the personality traits of: sensation seeking, impulsivity, anxiety sensitivity, and negative thinking.
The young people then participate in workshops tailored to their personality trait. The program may be successfully delivered by trained school staff.
Developed in Canada, and adapted for the Australian classroom, Preventure is a schoolbased, selective prevention program that aims to reduce alcohol and other drug use among selected students in Year 7-8 and Year 9-10.
Students identified through a screening questionnaire as at-risk are invited to participate in two x 90-minute groups, delivered by a trained facilitator and co-facilitator in a classroom setting (training is now being offered in Australia).
The workshops are designed to encourage an understanding of how a student’s personality style can influence their emotions and behaviour.
Four different workshops are available, each focused on the development of coping skills relevant to the four higher risk personality traits.
Studies have been conducted on iterations of this program in Canada, the UK, and Australia.
Findings are somewhat different, and the effectiveness of the program might be different depending on the individual’s personality type and the drug in question.
Research conducted in Australia found that Preventure reduced the uptake of alcohol use and the frequency of drinking at risky levels.42
Another study in the UK, which only examined cannabis use, suggests that Preventure may delay the uptake of cannabis by students with sensation seeking personality types.43