A synthesis of research on effectiveness of school-based drug prevention programmes / Claves de eficacia de los programas de prevención de consumo de sustancias en el contexto escolar: una meta-revisión

Abstract

Resumen:Pese a que disponemos de información relevante sobre qué aspectos se relacionan con la eficacia de los programas de prevención de drogadicciones en el ámbito escolar, existen aún datos contradictorios que hacen necesario continuar arrojando luz sobre esta cuestión. En esta investigación se trató de determinar cuáles eran las variables que, según los estudios de revisión, fomentan la eficacia de estos programas y qué peso tiene su evidencia empírica; además se examinaron algunas características de los diseños de evaluación en los que las variables habían demostrado su eficacia. Se llevó a cabo una búsqueda sistemática de la literatura que dio lugar a la extracción de 1622 artículos y al análisis final de 17 estudios de revisión. Su análisis permitió identificar 29 variables relacionadas con la eficacia de los programas de prevención, las cuáles fueron ordenadas en función del peso de la evidencia empírica que los apoyaba.2 Además, las características de los estudios incluidos en la revisión mostraron la necesidad de incrementar la rigurosidad y calidad de los diseños de evaluación en este ámbito.Palabras clave: meta-revisión, eficacia, programas escolares, prevención de drogadicciones. Abstract:Relevant information about effectiveness of school-based drug prevention programs is available. Despite this, there is still a gap about drawing a comprehensive map concerning this available evidence. The aim of this research consisted of reviewing empirical evidence from a comprehensive perspective in order to extract relevant variables for efficacy of schoolbased drug prevention programs and establish its evidence's weight. A systematic review of periodical literature published was conducted, extracting 1622 papers from which 17 studies were analyzed. An in-deep analysis of these publications led us to identify 29 effective key factors. The need for getting better rigorousity and quality in evaluation designs was also highlighted.

Drug use prevention projects in schools in Vitória, Brazil: quality analysis and improvement proposals

“…Those skills are generically called life skills, already recognized as the "primary focus" of school-based prevention (Winters et al 2007, p. 375). This primacy was reported in a systematic review of 17 recent studies, published by Jiménez et al (2014), that identified 29 elements associated with the effectiveness of prevention at school, highlighting the training of life skills.…”

“…Each reference on the right column clearly cites the element on the left column as element of effectiveness of school-based prevention of drug use. Ramos et al (2010) and Jiménez et al (2014) cited most of them as key of effectiveness. According to Jiménez et al, the elements were ranked by the strengthof-evidence in their effectiveness, indicating the weight of the evidence observed for each of them.…”

“…In addition to differences in details, Jiménez et al (2014) noted a lack of rigor in designs for the evaluation of prevention in the studies reviewed. Moreover, there were conflicting results on the effectiveness elements described in the literature, such as the involvement or not of students as facilitators.…”

“…Espada et al (2015) also found low effectiveness in 21 studies on the effectiveness of Spanish programs published between 2001 and 2011, while the more effective studies were those (a) with the aim of changing attitudes; (b) based on health education or social learning theory; (c) that used a combination of oral, written and audio-visual support material; and (d) that were implemented by teachers and other professionals. In relation to the social learning theory as an underlying prevention model, the systematic review of periodical literature by Jiménez et al (2014) indicated it as an effective element. The cognitivebehavioural (Sandler et al 2014)-including the social learning theory-and the health education models were most related to effectiveness (Espada et al 2015).…”

“…In short, the results available on quality elements of school-based drug use prevention programs are still disaggregated, and some are not consensual (Jiménez et al 2014); more rigorous evaluations of interventions need to be made and implemented in public policies (Espada et al 2015). Table 1 summarizes the effectiveness elements of drug use prevention planning at school, with definitions and support references (cited or not in the review or meta-analytic studies referred in the preceding paragraphs), ranking considering the strength-ofevidence in the essential elements of effectiveness (also indicated as "I", on Table 2).…”