Drug and Alcohol Findings write up findings about some drug education carried out in Dutch schools.
The similarity with the UK-style of teaching is in how few lessons there were – 3 per year – and the attempts to influence knowledge, decision making, refusal skills and pupils attitudes towards their own health.
By year three (age 15), only with respect to alcohol had substance use consistently and substantially risen less in programme than control schools. The effect was apparent in year one and maintained through to year three when, for example, 33% were drinking weekly compared to 46% of controls.
The gap on tobacco was there in the first year (when there was a focus on that substance) but narrowed during the period the programme ran.
While acknowledging the methodological flaws in the study and the limited outcomes the paper concludes:
The message of the study seems to be that less intensive programmes can create worthwhile prevention gains if they take a whole-school approach, pick up on individual problems as well as providing universal education, are well-structured but flexible, based on research and aim for realistic objectives.
Filed under: drug education, europe, research , Healthy School and Drugs project
