School-Based Research on the Prevention of Adolescent Alcohol Use and Misuse: Methodological Issues and Advances

What harms do young Australians experience in alcohol-use situations?

“…The conceptual basis of the measures included in the SHAHRP survey draws on several studies, interventions and focus groups with older students. 1,4,8,11,12 Several measures of harm were identified and defined by young people. Extensive pilot-testing of the SHAHRP questionnaire was undertaken during the initial formative period of the study.…”

“…15 Context of drinking also seems to have an impact on the influence of school-based drug education programs. 9,12,20 Studies suggest that initial alcohol education exerts greatest influence on young people who were supervised drinkers prior to the intervention, 9 while alcohol education provided in subsequent years may be more influential on young people who were unsupervised drinkers prior to the intervention. 11 These studies suggest that educators can best influence young people in alcohol-related issues if they implement programs based on local prevalence data related to context of use.…”

“…In addition, there is a strong body of literature that suggests that drug education programs should be based on the experiences of students that they wish to influence. 11,12,18,[21][22][23] The provision of both qualitative and quantitative data concerning the experiences of young people provides an important basis on which to develop such programs. It is particularly important to ensure that programs are culturally appropriate in the Australian context and are well informed by Australian research rather than relying solely on programs and research from other countries with different context and policy underpinnings.…”

Differential segmentation responses to an alcohol social marketing program

“…Some programs yield greater effects in either low-risk or high-risk groups and some with females Weichold et al, 2009) and yet others with males (Dielman, 1994;Faggiano et al, 2008;Vogl et al, 2009). Studies typically employ predominantly socio-demographic…”

A Pattern-Centered Approach to Evaluating Substance use Prevention Programs

“…Many students will not use illicit drugs, whether or not they participate in a substance use prevention program. Because they constitute a large proportion of most samples, these individuals may dilute the apparent effectiveness of primary prevention efforts (Dielman, 1994). In addition, those who deviate most from the overall trend (for example, youths who consistently drink more than their peers) may be the very people who are of greatest interest to researchers and practitioners (Labouvie, Pandina, and Johnson, 1991).…”