School-based Drug Abuse Prevention Meeting, 2-5 September 2002, Vienna, Austria
From 2nd-5th of September, an expert and youth hands-on theme meeting on school-based drug prevention took place in Vienna, Austria, at UNDCP Headquarters. The aim was to tap the knowledge of expert researchers and youth groups working in school-based prevention to share the theoretical and practical aspects of this topic. The idea was to identify principles that have demonstrated some effectiveness in different places. Youth group representatives from Bulgaria, India, Indonesia, Italy, Kenya, Latvia, Russia, South Africa and Tanzania attended the meeting. UNDCP Vienna organized this meeting and working groups were facilitated by Gautam Babbar, Stefano Berterame and Giovanna Campello from UNDCP and by Rod Ballard (Queensland Education Department), who also conducted the literature review that was used as the background paper for the meeting.
The meeting set up small working groups of about 10 people, a combination of experts and youth representatives, who discussed the issues that need to be considered when planning and implementing school-based prevention programmes. Topics discussed included the role of schools in drug abuse prevention (what schools can realistically do), a review of "successful" and "unsuccessful" methods and approaches, student involvement, teacher training, school environment, sustainability, managing drug incidents, community engagement, parental involvement and methods for monitoring and evaluation. The last day and a half was spent discussing a set of principles for drug abuse prevention education in schools. A basic list was written by Rod Ballard and was discussed and modified by the working groups. These principles are meant to represent the main ideas and guidelines for a group wanting to set up a school-based prevention programme.
One main idea was that school-based drug abuse education should be part of a broader health curriculum and part of an overall healthy school, rather than an isolated topic. Interactive working methods were highlighted as being more effective if used in the correct context. Also, the importance of student involvement, as well as parent, teacher and community involvement and training, was emphasized by many. As a follow up to this meeting, Rod Ballard will develop a guide on school-based drug prevention, which will be the next in the series that already includes booklets on using sport and performance for prevention. The draft will be sent to the participants for comments before the final version is published.