Implementing and evaluating alcohol and drug prevention methods at youth health clinics

Background

In Sweden, there are about 230 youth health clinics and studies show that alcohol and drug consumption is higher among youths visiting these clinics compared to peers. Thus, youth health clinics constitute an important arena for prevention of alcohol and drug related problems. A web-based alcohol and drug prevention guide for staff working at the clinics, based on the principles of Motivational Interviewing, has been developed, and also a web-based psychoeducative alcohol and drug prevention program targeting 15-25 year olds, which includes normative feedback, ambivalence exploration, information about coping strategies and information about alcohol and drugs. The aim is to implement and evaluate the web-based alcohol and drug prevention guide, with regard to use and benefits, and to evaluate the web-based intervention, with regard to changes in alcohol and drug consumption, wellbeing, perceived peer pressure, and sexual risk behavior.

Methods

The setting for the implementation and evaluation is youth health clinics in Stockholm county (n=33 clinics) and a nationwide sample of 800 adolescents and young adults. Participants are staff at the youth the health clinics, and 15-25 year olds who have a risky alcohol consumption and/or use drugs. The guide will be evaluated among the staff using a post implementation design with questionnaire and interviews about the use and benefits of the guide. Data will be analyzed with descriptive statistics and content analysis. The alcohol and drug prevention intervention will be evaluated among the adolescents and young adults in a two-armed randomized controlled trial, evaluating effects by comparing baseline and follow-up data at 3 and 6 months after intervention, using within and between group analyses and plausible statistical methods. Measures used in the randomized controlled trial are: AUDIT C, Daily Drinking Questionnaire (DDQ), DUDIT, WHO 5, Peer pressure inventory, and questions about sexual risk behavior for evaluating the web-based intervention among youths.

Results

Data collection is on-going. Preliminary results will be obtained during spring 2019.

Conclusions

Conclusions will be outlined and discussed at the conference.