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BMC Public Health
Published in: BMC Public Health 1/2015

Open Access 01-12-2015 | Research article

Preventing alcohol use with a universal school-based intervention: results from an effectiveness study

Authors: Henriette Kyrrestad Strøm, Frode Adolfsen, Bjørn Helge Handegård, Henrik Natvig, Martin Eisemann, Monica Martinussen, Roman Koposov

Published in: BMC Public Health | Issue 1/2015

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Abstract

Background

The effectiveness of the universal school-based alcohol prevention program “Unge & Rus” [Youth & Alcohol] was tested by an independent research group. The program aims to prevent alcohol use and to change adolescents’ alcohol-related attitudes. The main outcome measure was frequency of monthly alcohol use, favorable alcohol attitudes, perceived behavioral control (PBC), positive alcohol expectancy and alcohol-related knowledge.

Methods

Junior high school students (N = 2,020) with a mean age of 13.5 years participated in this longitudinal pre, post and one-year follow-up study with a quasi-experimental design, involving an intervention group and a comparison group recruited from 41 junior high schools in Norway. Multilevel analysis was used to account for the repeated observations (level 1) nested within students (level 2) who in turn were clustered within school classes (level 3).

Results

Results showed an increased level of alcohol-related knowledge in the intervention group (p < .005) as compared to the comparison group at one-year follow-up. However, no significant difference in change was found between the intervention group and the comparison group in frequency of monthly alcohol use, alcohol-related attitudes, PBC or alcohol expectancy at one-year follow-up.

Conclusions

This study offers adequate data on the effectiveness of a school-based alcohol prevention program widely implemented in Norway. Under its current method of implementation, use of the program cannot be supported over the use of standard alcohol curriculum within schools.
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Metadata
Title
Preventing alcohol use with a universal school-based intervention: results from an effectiveness study
Authors
Henriette Kyrrestad Strøm
Frode Adolfsen
Bjørn Helge Handegård
Henrik Natvig
Martin Eisemann
Monica Martinussen
Roman Koposov
Publication date
01-12-2015
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Public Health / Issue 1/2015
Electronic ISSN: 1471-2458
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-015-1704-7

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