The Role of Schools in Alcohol Education

The National Centre for Education and Training on Addiction (NCETA) released a report last year, which we think needs revisiting. “The Role of Schools in Alcohol Education” looked at all the available literature and consulted with a range of school communities.

Similar to much of the existing evidence-base on school based drug education, there was little evidence supporting “one-off” talks to students. Resistance skills training and participation in sports programs was found to increase alcohol use, while there was no evidence that “scare tactics” had any effect. Programs that worked tended to use a social influence approach and were comprehensive in that they involved the entire school community.

The results are worth keeping in mind if you’re considering conducting alcohol related educational activities in a school environment.

Download the whole report here.

Research into alcohol prevention programs

Latrobe University is looking to interview managers about their experiences of alcohol prevention programs.   This research will assist in understanding what works in alcohol prevention programs by speaking with the people who have first hand experience of the programs being implemented.   To be eligible, participants must be managing an alcohol prevention / eduction program for young people, have a knowledge of alcohol prevention programs, and been in their current position for 2 years and in the AOD field for 5 years.  For more information contact the researcher Liudi Xia at l2xia@students.latrobe.edu.au or mobile 0430 1025 90.

Download the participant information sheet here.

Engaging Marginalised and Vulnerable Families

The Centre for Community Child Health at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne has published a policy brief titled “Engaging Marginalised and Vulnerable Families”.   This paper highlights the barriers to engaging families facing multiple difficulties such as domestic violence, AOD use and / or mental and physical health problems, to name a few.   The paper finds that many of these families do at times access some support services, however they tend to disengage or access is infrequent and crisis driven.    Some of the barriers identified include service barriers (like rigid eligibility criteria, limited access to transport, waiting lists etc), family barriers (for example being homeless or transient, limited family income) and interpersonal barriers (including lack of trust in service providers, past negative experiences with services etcetera).   The paper goes on to consider the ways services can work to overcome these barriers, and increase access to services for some of the most vulnerable families.

Download the whole paper here.

Responding to children experiencing homelessness

Throughout 2009, 107 specialist homelessness services were surveyed about how they responded to the needs of children experiencing homelessness. Of the agencies surveyed, almost half had less than five staff members, a similar number had more than 10% of their client group identify as indigenous. The survey includes information on what the services thought could be done to prevent family homelessness and ways to better to support children experiencing homelessness.

To read more, download the full report here.

Do increases in tobacco prices reduce how much young people smoke?

 

 

Dovetail recently posed the question: “Do increases in tobacco prices reduce how much young people smoke?”. The results in the graph above show that amongst those who replied, most people believe increased tobacco prices will not impact on how much young people smoke, and a sizable proportion don’t know. But what does the research say?


Tobacco has been taxed since almost as soon as it became popular in the western world. As consensus built about the harms of cigarette consumption, taxation was seen as a way of reducing smoking rates. Early on, there was little or no evidence to support this position. However, this has changed and there is now a significant body of evidence looking at the impact of taxation on rates of smoking. More recently still, the impact of cigarette taxation on young people’s smoking has been under the microscope.


Godfrey et al (2009) completed a significant systemic review of the literature on cigarette taxation and rates of smoking in young people. They found a number of methodological issues with many studies but after taking these into account, the authors did find evidence that increases in price do have an impact on cigarette smoking in young people. The authors found that price increases can reduce overall prevalence of smoking, as well as to reduce the total number of cigarettes consumed by those who continue to smoke. They also found that an increase in tobacco prices caused more people to attempt (and succeed) at quitting.


For more information, read the full article:


Godfrey, C., Rice, N., Slack, R., Sowden, A., Worthy, G. (2009) “A systematic review of the effects of price on the smoking behaviour of young people” Public Health Research Consortium: York

Free Forum: Self-Injury in Schools

The University of Queensland’s Centre for Suicide Prevention Studies is holding a free forum on the topic of self-injury in schools. This forum brings together some great minds to discuss the topic, including Graham Martin (Child and Youth Psychiatry, University of Queensland), Penny Hasking (Senior Lecturer, School of Psychology and Psychiatry, Monash University) Sarah Swannell (Senior Research Technician, Department of Psychiatry, University of Queensland) and Margaret Lee (Principal, San Sisto College).

The forum will be held at the Royal Brisbane Hospital, Herston on Tuesday July 27th from 6pm – 8.30pm. Tele-conference facilities are available for those who can’t attend in person. Contact h.valentine@uq.edu.au for more information or to RSVP.

Mental Health of Young People in Australia

The Australian Bureau of Statistics have published a report titled “Mental Health of Young People, Australia 2007” based on information from the 2007 National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing. The report contains information on the prevalence of mental health problems in young people, with some concerning results. It found that around one quarter of the young people sampled had a mental disorder in the previous 12 months. 15% of young people sampled met the criteria for an anxiety disorder, 6% were found to have affective disorders like depression, while 13% of young people aged 16 – 24 met the criteria for a substance use disorder.

To read more of the report, click here.

Homeless Information Portal

The Homeless Information Portal is a website designed to help workers access up to date information on support services available to people experiencing homelessness, particularly related to alcohol and other drug use issues. This fantastic website includes information on working with people who are intoxicated right through to information specific to young people experiencing homelessness. This is likely to become an essential resource for services working with people experiencing or at risk of homelessness due to alcohol and other drug use.

Check out the Homeless Information Portal here.

Police Powers: Your Rights

Young people who use alcohol and other drugs sometimes come into contact with police.   It’s often difficult for young people to understand the legal process and their rights in the justice system.  Caxton Legal Centre have released an updated, easy to read handbook called “Police Powers: Your Rights” which explains in plain English, what to expect when clients are dealing with police.   The booklet is concise and covers a number of topics relevant to young people.

Download the handbook here.

Community Services Information System: Open to the public

The Department of Communities have announced the public release of the Community Services Information System (COMSIS). The system provides access to information about local communities including demographics, education, employment, housing, income and disadvantage. There are tutorials available on the website to assist in using the site, which provides up to date information about the various needs of a particular community. This is a great resource for services wanting to plan for the future, as it identifies areas of high need by using Disadvantage-Need-Risk (DNR) rankings.

Check out COMSIS here.

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