A feasibility trial to examine the social norms approach for the prevention and reduction of licit and illicit drug use in European University and college students

BMC Public Health

Study Protocol

Stefanie M Helmer¹  Hajo Zeeb¹  Claudia R Pischke¹  Rafael T Mikolajczyk²  Ferdinand Salonna³  Ondrej Kalina³  Olga Orosova³  Francisco Guillén-Grima⁴  John McAlaney⁵  Bart Vriesacker⁶  Guido van Hal⁶  Christiane Stock⁷  Bridgette M Bewick⁸  Yildiz Akvardar⁹ 

[1] BIPS - Institute for Epidemiology and Prevention Research, Achterstraße 30, 28359, Bremen, Germany;BIPS - Institute for Epidemiology and Prevention Research, Achterstraße 30, 28359, Bremen, Germany;Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Braunschweig, Germany;Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany;Department of Educational Psychology and Health Psychology, PJ Safaric University, Kosice, Slovakia;Department of Health Sciences, Public University of Navarra, Navarra, Spain;Division of Psychology, University of Bradford, Bradford, UK;Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium;Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Esbjerg, Denmark;Leeds Institute of Health Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK;School of Medicine, Marmara University, Istanbul, Turkey;

关键词: Social norms;    Prevention;    Drug use;    Intervention;    University/College students;    Europe;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2458-12-882

 received in 2012-08-24, accepted in 2012-10-14,  发布年份 2012

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundIncorrect perceptions of high rates of peer alcohol and tobacco use are predictive of increased personal use in student populations. Correcting misperceptions by providing feedback has been shown to be an effective intervention for reducing licit drug use. It is currently unknown if social norms interventions are effective in preventing and reducing illicit drug use in European students. The purpose of this paper is to describe the design of a multi-site cluster controlled trial of a web-based social norms intervention aimed at reducing licit and preventing illicit drug use in European university students.Methods/DesignAn online questionnaire to assess rates of drug use will be developed and translated based on existing social norms surveys. Students from sixteen universities in seven participating European countries will be invited to complete the questionnaire. Both intervention and control sites will be chosen by convenience. In each country, the intervention site will be the university that the local principal investigator is affiliated with. We aim to recruit 1000 students per site (baseline assessment). All participants will complete the online questionnaire at baseline. Baseline data will be used to develop social norms messages that will be included in a web-based intervention. The intervention group will receive individualized social norms feedback. The website will remain online during the following 5 months. After five months, a second survey will be conducted and effects of the intervention on social norms and drug use will be measured in comparison to the control site.DiscussionThis project is the first cross-national European collaboration to investigate the feasibility of a social norms intervention to reduce licit and prevent illicit drug use among European university students.Final trial registration numberDRKS00004375 on the ‘German Clinical Trials Register’.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Pischke et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2012