Topic 4 Components of the School- Based Prevention Program
DEVELOPMENT OF THE PROGRAM
I Research
- This is the first step and it consists of the examination of the target group. The steps are:
- Situation analysis
- Examination of the target group
- Examination of the attitudes of the target group towards smoking/ alcohol use/ internet use
- Examination of the factors influencing the programs
- Examination of existing human and material resources
- The creation of prevention programs must reflect the understanding of the process that leads to problem development, the risk and the protective factors.
- Important to measure the target population’s needs.
- The needs should be examined through the use of the indicators:
- The prevalence of smoking
- the age when the first cigarette was smoked
- the prevalence of alcohol use
- Prevalence of binge drinking
- age of the first alcohol use
- prevalence of problematic internet use
- the number of hours of screen time per day.
I Research – Data Gathering
- School level surveys
- Community level data from the local or national institutes of public health.
Important note: If the data is gathered through a survey, the survey should be carefully designed to include an adequate sample of the target population or, if possible, the entire population. The best practice is to use already validated questionnaires used in your community, such as the questionnaires by the World Health Organization, or the Health Surveys by the Institute of Public Health.
II Decide on the Methods to be Used in the Prevention Program
- behavioural,
- policy based,
- environmental,
- educational,
- organizational change.
Behavioural Interventions
- Interventions based on a social cognitive theory known to be effective
- Try to accomplish change in:
- the social cognitive beliefs
- motivation
- social support
- Planning
- Interventions routed in the health-risk communication were also successful in accomplishing the behavioural change, e.g. the graphic images on tobacco products
Policy Based and Environmental Interventions
- Changes in architecture, or promotion of social support.
- Policies have been also proven to be effective in the prevention:
- increase in price and taxes
- policies that regulate the density of shops selling alcohol or hours selling alcohol,
- increase in minimal drinking age
- reduction of advertisements
- The main problem- usually policy interventions are poorly implemented
III Creation of Educational Materials– Steps
- Preparation
- Design
- Plan for dissemination
Preparation
- Cooperation with
- experts
- children
- adolescents
Design
- Design should:
- Reflect the community
- Reflect target group
- Should be appropriate for the target’s population age
- Should be appropriate for the target’s population gender
- Should be appropriate for the target’s population culture
- Should be appropriate for the target’s population location.
- Be attractive
- Be flexible
- Be applicable
- Offer a participatory approach so that the members of the target population can also be involved.
Plan for dissemination
- Plan should be:
- Validated by experts
- Validated at the policy-shaping levels
- Validated on a sample of the target population
- Frequently evaluated.
IV Teachers Training
- Teachers’ participation should be voluntary.
- Their competencies should be individually assessed and strengthened.
- Teachers should serve as role models.
V Evaluation
- Flexible
- Stable
- Reliable
- Frequent
- What the programs should accomplish
- How it was implemented
- What was done
- Which were the results.
- The processes (tasks implemented, which is the target group, resources used)
- The outcomes (what was achieved, etc)
VI Dissemination and Communication Strategies
- The leisure and cultural activities can be implemented to enable community integration.
- The media should be included in the process of design, promotion and throughout the program.
- Disseminate the program through union, school council and teachers associations.
- Raise public awareness.