ABSTRACT. In the last decades there has been a strong expansion of programs of developmental prevention of delinquent, violent and other antisocial behavior in many countries. Numerous programs have been implemented in families, kindergartens, (pre)schools, family education centers, child guidance clinics and other social services to reduce risk factors and strengthen protective factors. Most meta-analyses showed a desirable effect, however, they also revealed a lack of well-controlled evaluations with long follow-up periods and consistent behavioral outcomes. In addition, the majority of studies stem from North America and replication within and across different countries cannot simply be taken for granted. There are also challenges in reaching specific subpopulations, e.g. migrant and at-risk minority groups. Many evaluations are based on demonstration projects and most prevention programs that are implemented in practice do not have any systematic evidence base. The planned lecture will at first illustrate this background. Then I will present some prototypical findings from our Erlangen-Nuremberg Development and Prevention Study. A third part of the lecture will briefly review own and other research syntheses that address issues of generalizability and transfer. The final part of the lecture will discuss a constructive perspective by emphasizing the necessity of differentiation and sustainable multi-level prevention approaches in a complex and changing world.

ABSTRACT. The war conflict in Eastern Ukraine has tragically resulted in deaths and displacement of thousand people. The Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine has registered over 1.7 million IDPs. The total number of casualties is up to 30,729, with 9,333 deceased and 21,396 wounded (UN report). Inevitably, the psychological consequences for witnesses of war are enormous. All of that has great influence on mental health of many people. Ukraine is facing a significant increase in stress and trauma-related disorders.   It is difficult to be adapted into peaceful life for participants of war and witness of traumatic events, and even those who didn’t get psychological trauma. Change of values, roles, relationship, routine of life, - all of it is accompanied by painful feeling, worsening of psychological condition, lessening of level of social adaptation, depressions, anxiety disorders, emotional regulation disorders, alcohol/drug consumption. Problem of alcohol consumption is quiet large in our country. Alcohol use is spread much among veterans returned back home from a war. Being in the war and after demobilization alcohol very often becomes the only way to cope with difficult emotions and traumatic memories, and dealing with ‘other’ reality. It is “a comfortable way to escape from real life”. War brakes human mind. The Ukrainian Catholic University is implementing programs for people suffering traumatic events. Programs propose new adaptive coping strategies for clients in coming back to peaceful life or adapting in new places. Psychosocial work is held in individual and group format. Programs assist in integrating traumatic memories and in having qualitative life, and promote posttraumatic rising. Cooperation is also set with school’s psychologists in the alcohol preventive work at local schools. Difficulties in realizing programs: no culture of mental health in society; lack of funds in programs financing; no effective preventive mechanisms on national level.

ABSTRACT. “Nino & Nina" is an early intervention programme that promotes personal and social skills in children (3-6 years old). After being applied in Portugal for 8 years, “Nino & Nina” has now been developed in Spain as a “pilot experience” (2013-2015) in Oviedo and Tenerife, involving 50 teachers and more than 1,100 children and families. The Programme´s main goal is the promotion of safe, healthy and positive behaviour patterns in preschool children, before the risk of maladjusted behaviour occurs. For 2 years, Self-control, Discipline, Emotional Intelligence, Self-esteem and Social Skills are promoted in the children, through play, with appellative material structured in sessions, with activities, stories and games. In order to evaluate the programme, the teachers and pupils were given various tests (Pre-test and Post-test, comparing experimental and control groups) and a social impact evaluation model was also defined, based on the SROI system. The evaluation results reveal statistical differences between the groups in 3 of the variables worked on, teachers’ perception and children´s perception: - Self-Control. General linear model: F (1, 390)= 13,35 p ≤0,00**; - Emotional Intelligence. General linear model: F (1, 390)= 18,48 p ≤0,00**; - Self-esteem. General linear model: F (1, 390)= 25,11 p ≤0,00**;

The main limitation of the results was the evaluation methods used, based on perceptions. Sometimes the answers were not an accurate reflection of all the areas and results improved during the programme. Regarding the Social Impact Evaluation, 4 Outcomes were identified: 1) All teachers state that they will be using Nino & Nina in new groups of pupils; 2) All teachers state that they learnt new strategies, easy and structured ones to promote the children's skills; 3) All teachers observed improvement in their pupils in all the variables developed; 4) The majority of teachers successfully involved the families in the programme.

ABSTRACT. INTRODUCTION Cannabis is the most frequently used illicit drug among adolescents. In order to prevent initiation of use, risk factors should be identified.

OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study is to investigate risk factors for adolescent lifetime cannabis use and to evaluate differences by gender and socio-economic status.

METHODS This is a secondary analysis of the baseline survey of the EU-Dap (European Drug Addition Prevention) randomized controlled trial. The analytical sample included 7,028 students 12-14 years old from seven European countries who participated in the baseline survey of the trial and answered the questions investigating lifetime cannabis use. Socio-demographic characteristics, friends’ substance use, knowledge, attitudes and beliefs toward substances, risk perceptions, refusal and decision making skills, self-esteem, parental tobacco smoking and alcohol drinking and related permissiveness, and family climate were studied as risk factors for lifetime cannabis use through a forward multivariate logistic regression model.

RESULTS Having friends who use cannabis was the strongest risk factor for lifetime cannabis use (OR 9.08, 95% CI 5.93-13.89), followed by a low risk perceptions (OR 3.57, 95% CI 2.40-5.30) and low refusal skills toward cannabis use (OR 3.30, 95% CI 2.50-4.37). One-parent household (OR 1.61, 95% CI 1.07-2.41), parental permissiveness to smoke (OR 2.05, 95% CI 1.39-3.03) and parental smoking (OR 1.31, 95% CI 1.00-1.72) were associated with the risk. Low refusal skills toward tobacco and alcohol use, low negative beliefs toward cannabis, high positive attitudes toward drugs and knowledge about cannabis were also significantly associated with lifetime cannabis use. Differences by gender and socio-economic status were observed.

CONCLUSIONS Friends’ use, risk perceptions, refusal skills, attitudes and beliefs, but also parental behaviors play a great role in adolescents’ initiation of cannabis use. These factors should be taken into account in orienting future prevention programs.

ABSTRACT. INTRODUCTION Alcohol is the most widely available and most commonly used psychoactive substance among adolescents. Early onset of alcohol use contributes to the development of drinking outcomes, alcohol abuse and dependence. Heavy drinking is strongly influenced by parental alcohol use, perception of family approval, poor family management and family conflicts, perceived friends’ drinking and drunkenness as well as peer pressure to drink. Also individual factors such as positive and negative expectancies about alcohol, attitudes towards alcohol and ability to refuse are predictors of drinking behavior and binge-like episodes.

OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study is to investigate risk factors for adolescent lifetime drunkenness and to evaluate differences by gender and socio-economical status.

METHODS This is a secondary analysis of the baseline survey of the EU-Dap (European Drug Addition Prevention) trial. The analytical sample included 7,042 students 12-14 years old from seven European countries who participated in the baseline survey and answered the questions investigating lifetime drunkenness episodes. Socio-demographic characteristics, friends’ substance use, knowledge, attitudes and beliefs toward substances, risk perceptions, refusal and decision making skills, self-esteem, parental drinking and permissiveness, and family climate were studied as risk factors for drunkenness episodes through a forward multivariate logistic regression model.

RESULTS Having friends who get drunk was the strongest risk factor for lifetime drunkenness (OR 5.81, 95% CI 4.39-7.70) followed by low refusal skills toward alcohol (OR 2.26, 95% CI 1.90-2.69) and tobacco (OR 2.24, 95% CI 1.87-2.67) use. Family conflicts, parental smoking and parental permissiveness to drink, as well as positive attitudes toward drugs, low negative beliefs, high positive beliefs, low refusal skills, knowledge about substances and low respect for teacher were also associated with the risk of lifetime drunkenness. Differences by gender and socio-economic status were observed.

CONCLUSIONS Prevention programs should address the identified factors to prevent early excessive drinking.

ABSTRACT. INTRODUCTION Tobacco use among adolescents represents a major public health problem. Smoking initiation can be influenced by several factors such as peer smoking, social influences, individual risk conditions, parental tobacco smoking and related behaviors.

OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study is to investigate risk factors for adolescent lifetime tobacco use and to evaluate differences by gender and socio-economical status.

METHODS This is a secondary analysis of the baseline survey of the EU-Dap (European Drug Addition Prevention) randomized controlled trial. The analytical sample included 7,011 students 12-14 years old from seven European countries who participated in the baseline survey of the trial and answered the questions investigating lifetime smoking. Socio-demographic characteristics, friends’ substance use, knowledge, attitudes and beliefs toward substances, risk perceptions, refusal and decision making skills, self-esteem, parental tobacco smoking and permissiveness, and family climate were studied as risk factors for lifetime tobacco use through a forward multivariate logistic regression model.

RESULTS Low refusal skills toward tobacco use was the strongest predictor of lifetime smoking (OR 6.09, 95% CI 5.08-7.30), followed by having friends who smoke (OR 3.79, 95% CI 2.95-4.86). One-parent household (OR 1.44, 95% CI 1.14-1.82), parental smoking (OR 1.42, 95% CI 1.23-1.64), parental permissiveness to smoke out of home (OR 1.43, 95% CI 1.15-1.79), bad family relationship (OR 1.30, 95% CI 1.12-1.52) and low connectedness with parents (OR 1.24, 95% CI 1.02-1.51) proved to be associated with adolescent smoking. Wrong risk perceptions and beliefs, negative self-esteem, positive attitudes toward substances, negative decision making skills and low respect for teachers were also significantly associated with tobacco use. Differences by gender and socio-economic status were observed.

CONCLUSIONS The present findings identified some risk factors for lifetime smoking among European adolescents. Forthcoming prevention programs should address these factors in order to prevent smoking initiation.

ABSTRACT. Background: The social environment plays a crucial role in child development. At first, parents are key figures in their children’s lives. Later, peers become increasingly important. Parental influences remain substantial, yet now become intertwined with influences from peers. Several studies have shown that both social contexts during childhood and adolescence can have lasting effects well into adulthood. In this study we aim to investigate which social experiences during adolescence contribute to later functioning in young adulthood. This will be done by adopting a multidimensional approach on functioning; encompassing physical health, mental health, and socio-academic functioning.

Method: Potential predictors of multidimensional functioning were investigated in participants from the longitudinal population-based Dutch Tracking Adolescents’ Individual Lives Survey (TRAILS) study (N=2228). Functioning during late adolescence (mean age 22) was assessed through measures of mental health (i.e. affective problems, degree of positive and negative affect, happiness, satisfaction), social functioning, academic functioning (i.e. personal achievement, attention problems, education) and general health ratings. As main predictors we included measures of parenting, peer, and classroom experiences assessed during pre- and mid adolescence.

Expected results & Conclusions: Consistent with previous literature, we expect positive social relations in adolescence to be associated with more positive functioning in young adulthood and vice versa, negative social relations with worse functioning. Further, we expect to find buffering effects of positive social factors for negative social experiences during adolescence. Importantly, most studies so far have focused on associations of (adverse) social experiences during childhood and adolescence with later psychopathology. By combining information on both positive and negative ends of the spectrum the results of this study, therefore, will provide more insight into the contribution of the social environment to an individual’s overall functional state in late adolescence. Identified predictors of later functioning can be targeted in intervention and prevention studies to promote well-being.

ABSTRACT. European Assessment Protocol for Children’s SEL Skills - EAP_SEL project (Comenius Multilateral Project), whose results will be presented in this paper, represents the first effort to implement an evidence-based social-emotional skills curriculum in public schools in several different EU countries: Croatia, Italy, Slovenia, Sweden and Switzerland. Within a project, conducted from 2013 until 2016, four countries were implementing PATHS curriculum (Kusché & Greenberg, 1994) while Swedish partner was conducting program Socio-Emotional Training (Kimber, Skoog & Sandell, 2013). A quasi-experimental research study included sample of 876 children followed from the beginning of first grade to the end of their second grade of elementary school. Sample had somewhat equal numbers of boys (N=459) and girls (N=417). Also, about the half of the total sample was in intervention condition (N=449) and other half in comparison condition (N=427). In order to assess the benefits of interventions on children behaviors, a set of outcome measures have been used in all five countries assessing different behaviors - conduct problems, hyperactivity, impulsive behavior, peer problems, emotional symptoms, inattention, learning behavior, emotional regulation, prosocial behavior, aggression and withdrawn/depressed behavior. To test intervention effects, hierarchical linear models (Raudenbush & Bryk, 2002) were estimated, with children nested within school. Baseline levels of functioning were controlled. To determine whether PATHS and SET programme were effective for specific subgroups of children, moderation analyses were conducted. Results of analysis were positive showing effectiveness of SEL curriculums in preventing behavioral problems even if some of the country-specific results were fewer. A project results provide important information on the usefulness of social and emotional learning in Europe.

ABSTRACT. Participation in prevention studies often requires respondents to answer sensitive questions about their risk behavior, such as sexual experiences or substance use. Maintaining anonymity appears necessary not only to obtain valid answers but also to protect the participants and their environment. A self-generated identification code (SGIC) is an anonymous identifier generated from information available to the participant but not to the researcher on the basis of identical instructions for all participants. Linking data on individual level allows to employ statistic methods which outperform those with grouped or aggregated data. We conducted a feasibility study of matching subjects using an anonymous SGIC and assessed its methodological properties (variability, proximate relevance to the respondent, number of elements). Data comes from students who participated in a Czech school-based randomized controlled prevention trial. There were five waves of data collection conducted from September 2013 to December 2015 in 71 schools, with total of 11,361 valid questionnaires collected (initiated with 2,553 sixth-graders, average age 11.94 years, 50.4% female). We used a 9-character SGIC adapted from Galanti et al. (2007) and additional unique numerical control code (CC) associated with each subject (also anonymous). The school affiliation variable was also used in the linking procedure. Pairs were identified on the basis of unique matches of all nine or less (at least four) characters. The efficiency of the anonymous linkage was calculated for SGIC-only and SGIC+school linking. Then we calculated the precision, recall (sensitivity) and F-measure of SGIC-only and SGIC+school linking in comparison with CC linking. We identified a high number of unique matches while guaranteeing anonymity to the participants: 98.4% of possible matches for SGIC+school and 94.7% for SGIC-only linking across all waves were identified. General recommendations and adjusted forms for generating the SGIC are introduced.

ABSTRACT. Substance use & misuse by schoolchildren in Brazil constitutes one of the most important public health challenges. In 2012, a partnership between the Office on Drug Policy (SENAD) and the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ) was established in order to implement the project “Say Yes to Life” − SYL (aiming to prevent alcohol and substance misuse in schools). This abstract summarizes findings from the assessment of educators’ perceptions who were trained in the context of the 5th edition of the course/training sessions on Drug Abuse Prevention for Public School Educators (SENAD/MEC [Ministry of Education]) as regards to the use of the pedagogic materials as follows: Monica's pals, Monica Teen's pals, and Tina's pals “fanzines” (SYL’S key components), identifying their receptivity by educators who completed the course and training process. Based on the educators’ database (i.e. those who actually attended the Drug Use Prevention course/training sessions) the fanzine were sent to the educators. They were asked to answer an online survey from October 2013 to February 2014. Overall, 5,743 educators answered the survey. In general, educators evaluated the material as follows: 80.5% agreed that the language/approach fitted their needs and expectations and just 0.3% stated they believe they would have problems to use the material in the classroom, because of their own difficulties to deal with the theme 'alcohol and other drugs'. Most educators said they would use the materials of the SYL project in their classes, and approximately 27.0% said they would use the SYL project material in the school in the 2014 term. In sum, educators evaluated the material positively and ready to be incorporated into their regular classes.

ABSTRACT. The Strenghtening Families Program (SFP 10-14) is a drug abuse preventive program developed abroad and adopted by the Ministry of Health from Brazil to enhance evidence-based preventive practices. The present study examined the characteristics of the SFP 10-14 that has influenced its adoption in Brazil and analyzed the barriers and facilitators for its dissemination, adoption, implementation and sustainability. A qualitative study was performed based on Grounded Theory Methodology and Theory of Diffusion of Innovations from Everett Rogers. Semi-structured interviews were done with 6 participants in charge of administration, supervision and monitoring of the program from 2012 until 2015. Analysis of documents and observations of team meetings were also conducted. The SFP 10-14 has been perceived as advantageous, compatible with local needs and with preliminary positive results. On the other hand, its implementation has been faced problems related to its complexity and feasibility. Perspectives and challenges for its sustainability are discussed.

ABSTRACT. The increase in the harmful use of drugs in the state of Rio Grande do Norte,Brazil, accentuated by the absence of public policies and lack of coordination among institutional public responsable people dealing with this issue, the prosecutor chose the subject as a priority. The aim of this paper is to present the actions of the Transforming Destinations Project, which is an innovative starring role in the induction of policy of drugs. The work develops through the integration of Prosecutors of different regions and among the various public services networks. The execution takes place through coordinated, intersectoral and worked simultaneously in all axes recommended by the national legislation -Prevention, care and repression. As a result, the Public Ministry of the project, has promoted the qualification of debates around the theme and supported by international guidelines, has promoted intense direct adjustment with municipal and state executives and the national coordinators of the program Connection Prevention, enabling the implementation of drug abuse prevention projects in amplitude pioneer in the country. For Elos Game Project were qualified 180 (one hundred eighty) professionals. For #tamojunto project, 85 (eighty-five) professionals are already trained,reaching 711 (seven hundred and eleven) students. For the Project Familias Fortes(strong families), 228 (two hundred and twenty-eight) professionals are able to run the project, totaling 105 people attended. Before the absence in our state of normative acts that foresaw or disciplinassem authentic drug policy of systematization, was created by Law 10,036 / 2015 Police State System of Rio Grande do Norte Drugs (SISED / RN), composed of Committee Manager State Drug Policy, the State Council for Drug Policy (CONEN) and State Fund on Drugs (FUNED / RN). The Christmas cities (Law No. 6,604 / 2016), Mossoro (Law No. 3,379 / 2016), Macau (Law No. 1.170 / 2016) and Parelhas (Law No. 2440).

ABSTRACT. The Brazilian government, via its Office on Drug Policy (SENAD) in partnership with the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ) to develop and implement programs aiming to prevent substance use & misuse in different Brazilian municipalities. The Brazilian initiatives were based on international programs, tailored to the cultural and social specificities of the country and are listed as follows: “Elos” (based on the Good Behavior Game – AIR); “#Tamojunto” (based on Unplugged –EU-DAP); & “Famílias Fortes” (based on Strengthening Families Programme – Oxford Brookes University). The cross-cultural validation and careful implementation of prevention programs is key to their acceptability and potential impact in real-life situations. Unfortunately, the comprehensive assessment of such programs has been scarce and uneven in Brazil. This abstract summarizes the process of implementation of these 3 programs, in Rio Grande do Norte state, Brazilian Northeast, currently affected by the highest homicide rate all over the country. The program was anchored on a partnership between the state governor’s office, the attorney general’s state office and the mayors of three municipalities (Natal, Parnamirim e Mossoró) and comprised 3 phases: 1) Agreement between the partners; 2) Preparation; & 3) Implementation. The agreement between partners begins with formal presentation of programs followed by the meeting to establishment political consensus among managers. Preparation phase includes activities related to territory network. In this stage is carried out territorial diagnosis, which lets you scale how many people will be formed in each program and how many groups will be reached. The last phase is the staff training, seeking to have those enabled actors for the implementation of the program in schools and communities and organization of monitoring. Currently, perspective to reach in each program is: 2321 students with “Elos”, 1549 teenagers with “Tamojunto” and 72 families with "Famílias Fortes". The process is phase 3 of implementation.

ABSTRACT. Abstract

Most consumers are well aware that consuming high sugar food and drink is detrimental to health. Their conscious intention is to avoid sugary food and beverages but somehow very limited effects of this intention are seen on the actual behaviour and consumption of individuals. There is an urgent need to facilitate behaviour change that is not dependent on conscious intention. This might be achieved by non conscious motivational routes to influence the behaviour of individuals. This research aims at identifying behaviour change interventions wherein people adopt a change willingly and with pride, thus ensuring sustainability of the behaviour. This research hopes to contribute to public policy and social marketing.

1- Most of our thoughts and actions are intuitive. Salience refers to how visible or noticeable the information is. Salient information reduces cognitive load thus making choices easier. 2- Behaviour is influenced by cues in the environment which activate cognitive structures from past experiences

Objectives

This research aims to explore beverage choices made by people for self and significant others (child). The objectives of this research are: • To explore whether making the sugar information easily accessible (salience) and easy to understand will make the food choice a decision of reasoning rather than intuition. • To research if priming the individuals for enjoyment and responsibility will make the beverage choice a more effortful process, thus directing increased attention towards the sugar content.

Theoretical basis 1. Heuristics and biases (Tversky and Kahneman, 1974). 2. Nonconscious influences on behaviour (Bargh and Chartrand,2000; Custers and Aarts,2005). Pretest – online experiment with N=164 participants conducted wherein salient sugar information was presented in understandable currency (candies, cookies, sugar cubes, teaspoons and no sugar information). Statistically significant results were obtained and teaspoon emerged as the clear winner as it was widely understood and comprehended.

ABSTRACT. Middle adolescence being a critical period for loss of motivation and school dropout, parents may help prevent these issues by engaging in monitoring behaviors. Monitoring is a reciprocal process involving the parent and the child, and it includes three central components. Parental solicitation consists in directly asking teenagers for information about their life, parental control involves the enforcement of rules around the youth activities, and child disclosure is the spontaneous sharing of information by the adolescent with his or her parents. We conducted three yearly assessments starting when our 434 participants were on average 14 years old and attended public schools in the province of Quebec, Canada. We hypothesized that changes in parental solicitation, parental control and child disclosure are interrelated, such that (1) high solicitation predicts increases in child disclosure over time and (2) high control predicts decreases in child disclosure over time. Because parents’ soliciting of information shows that they care about their child’s life, we hypothesized that high solicitation also increases intrinsic motivation in school. Monitoring was measured using a scale from Keijser and Poulin (2013), and intrinsic motivation was assessed with the Motivation in Education Scale (Vallerand et al., 1989). Analyses controlled for participants’ gender. Structural equation modeling yielded adequate model fit: χ2 (40) = 53.76, p = .06, CFI = .98, RMSEA = .03. As expected, solicitation led to an increase in child disclosure from age 14 to age 15 and again to age 16. Unexpectedly, parental control at age 15 increased child disclosure by age 16. Also, solicitation led to increased intrinsic motivation, but only from age 14 to age 15. In conclusion, promoting communication skills that allow for successful parental solicitation should be considered as a part of programs that promote academic success and school persistence in secondary school students.

ABSTRACT. In 2012, Washington State legalized recreational use of marijuana through Initiative 502. As a provision of Initiative 502, the Washington State Department of Health was mandated to develop and implement media-based education campaigns across television, internet, radio, print, and out-of-home advertising, that provide medically and scientifically accurate information about the health and safety risks posed by marijuana use. Intersecting with this policy change, we also see shifting demographics within the United States in general, and Washington State in particular. As of July 1st 2015, the Hispanic population within the United States was 56.6 million (17.6% of total population). This represents an increase of 1.2 million persons from 2014. It is projected that the Hispanic population will represent 28.6% of the US population by 2060 (United States Census, 2016). Within Washington state, the Hispanic/Latino population was 12.4% in 2015, an increase from 11.2% in 2010. Although the state of Washington is tasked with implementing marijuana education campaigns to reach the entire state population, little is known about health communication preferences among rural Hispanic/Latino individuals, especially those who are predominately or exclusively Spanish speaking.

The current study sought to obtain information about health communication preferences among rural Hispanic/Latino adults in central and eastern Washington state. We are currently collecting survey data from 260 individuals and key informant interviews from 6 highly integrated and influential community members. Preliminary data suggests that respondents obtain general health information and marijuana health information from different types of sources, with doctors, nurses, and pharmacies being the most frequently used source of general health information, but the internet, newspapers, and friends and family being the top sources of health information about marijuana. Most sources of health information about marijuana were reported as being used infrequently. Public health and policy implications will be discussed.

ABSTRACT. Introduction: Non-substance addictive behaviours such as problematic gambling, shopping or internet use among adolescents have been growing public health concern. However, the knowledge on risk and protective factors associated with these relatively new problems is still limited. Aim: The study aim was to analyze the association between adolescent gambling, shopping and internet use and related socio-demographic, individual, and social risk and protective factors. Method: Data were collected from a random sample of 14-19-year old students attending Warsaw middle and high schools (N = 1488). The self-administered anonymous questionnaire had been completed during school lessons. Results: Approximately 16-17% of adolescents had symptoms of problematic internet use and shopping and 6% indicated problems associated with gambling. Regression analyses results indicated that problematic internet use was associated with following risk factors: mental health problems (elevated stress and symptoms of depression), sensation seeking, passion for computer games and for shopping as well as friends’ acceptance of risky behaviours; problematic gambling was associated with sensation seeking, aggressive behaviours, low educational achievements, passion for computer games and for shopping and friends’ acceptance of risky behaviours, and problematic shopping was assiociated with: elevated stress, cigarette use, problematic internet use, cyberbullying and gambling. Moreover problematic shopping was associated with time spent in shopping centres and amount of pocket money. Family and peer support and constructive ways to use leisure time appeared to be protective factors for examined non-substance addictive behaviours

This presentation was prepared within a frame of research project supported by a grant from the Polish National Bureau for Drug Prevention (the Gambling Problem Solving Fund of the Ministry of Health)

ABSTRACT. Background: Rumination, especially its sub-factor brooding is thought to facilitate the development and continuation of depressive symptoms. It has been linked to other forms of psychopathology including problem drinking and binge eating. Such behaviors might be used in order to suppress or avoid ruminative thoughts. In case of problematic gambling an association with depressive disorders is well established. However, no data exists analyzing the interplay with rumination.

Method: Data were collected within the Pathological Gambling and Epidemiology Project (PAGE). Participants were drawn from the general population and from populations with a high risk of gambling problems. The sample consists of 506 (99 female) participants in the age of 14 to 64 years fulfilling at least one DSM-IV criterion for pathological gambling. Sociodemographic data, gambling behavior and depressive symptomatology were assessed with standardized clinical interviews. Brooding was measured with a paper-pencil questionnaire (RSQ-10-D). To assess the influence of brooding on gambling related problems a multiple linear regression with a forward backward variable selection was performed. Logistic regression was performed to analyze symptom remission.

Results: Brooding was associated with the severity of gambling problems (β = .159, p = .000) when controlling for gender, depressive symptomatology, education and employment status. People with higher brooding scores are also less likely to show remission from gambling problems (adj. OR = 0.93, p = 0.01) holding marital status, employment status, age and migration experience constant.

Discussion: Brooding and depression may constitute independent risk factors for gambling disorders. Therefore, interventions may target reduction of brooding to prevent or relieve gambling problems.

ABSTRACT. Several studies to date suggest that active engagement is a factor facilitating adolescents’ successful adjustment to the social and psychological challenges related to their age (Mahoney & Stattin, 2000; Eccless et al., 2003; Darling, 2005). This paper discusses the findings from a 2014 study on Romanian adolescents, indicating that actually participation in extracurricular activities is not a protective factor for all the four risk behaviors analyzed: smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol, using drugs, having sex before the age of 16. Data was collected in five large cities, from adolescents aged 10 to 18, through 1870 questionnaires, 30 in-depth interviews and 6 focus groups. The study „Social Norms influencing Risk Behaviors of Romanian Adolescents” was funded by UNICEF Romanian Office.

ABSTRACT. Background: Current evidence revealed that motivational interventions based on computer expert-system technology can effectively reduce alcohol use in entire populations. However, concurrent depressive symptoms may impede health behavior change. Within the research consortium AERIAL (Addiction: Early Recognition and Intervention Across the Lifespan; Grant No. FKZ01EE1406F) we developed a fully automatized intervention system that simultaneously targets depression preventive behaviors in addition to alcohol consumption. In preparation of an efficacy trial we conducted a pilot-study to test (1) the feasibility of a proactive, primary care based screening program for the recruitment of participants and (2) the acceptability of the intervention for the target population.

Method: Recruitment took place on three sites across Germany. Consecutive patients of general hospitals and general medical practices were systematically screened for hazardous alcohol use and depressive symptoms. In addition volunteers were recruited via media solicitation. The intervention development was guided by the intervention mapping approach. The depression part of the intervention addressed five strategies to prevent depressive states: 1) dealing with negative thoughts, 2) value oriented activities, 3) exercising, 4) stress management, 5) help seeking. Counselling letters and weekly SMS messages were delivered over a period of 6 months.

Results: Among patients eligible for the screening program, 88.6% (N=2886) participated. Of those eligible for study inclusion, 65.9% consented to receive the intervention. Among those, 82.5 % finished the first intervention assessment.

Discussion: The proactive screening program was found to be feasible, however subsequent attrition across different steps of the intervention is critical for achieving a population impact. The inclusion of feedback from potential users of representative samples at an early stage of the intervention development may improve the likelihood of later translation to prevention practice.

ABSTRACT. Background: Non-participation can bias the outcome in intervention studies. We examined individual-related characteristics associated with non-participation in a study aiming to increase physical activity and to reduce sedentary time in leisure time. Methods: Based on information of a prior study that investigated the reach of different population groups within a computerized cardiovascular risk factor screening followed by facultative blood pressure measurement (N=1231), a total of 378 randomly selected individuals were invited to participate in a feasibility study of a tailored counseling letter intervention. Eligibility criteria included: no history of cardiovascular events (myocardial infarction, stroke) or vascular interventions, age ≥ 42 and ≤ 65 years, self-reported body mass index ≤ 35 kg/m², and resident in a pre-defined zip-code area. Participants of the feasibility study agreed to attend a cardiovascular examination programme and to wear an accelerometer for seven days at baseline and at 12-month follow-up. Comparison of characteristics of non-participants (N=200; mean age of 50.98 years; SD=6.35; 33.50% men) and participants (N=176; mean age of 52.28 years; SD=6.13; 36.36% men) were analyzed using multivariate logistic regression. All analyses were stratified by sex. Results: Non-participation was significantly associated with smoking (OR=2.53; CI=1.49-4.30), education (reference group <10 years vs. =10 years: OR=.40; CI=.18-.86; and vs. >10 years: OR=.24; CI=.09-.59), and female gender (OR=1.83; CI=1.01-3.35). Data analysis stratified by sex confirmed smoking (men: OR=3.14; CI=1.30-7.59; women: OR=2.17; CI=1.11-4.24) and education (reference group <10 years vs. >10 years: men: OR=.22; CI=.05-.97; women: OR=.22; CI=.07-.76) as predictors of non-participation. Non-participating men had higher systolic blood pressure (OR=1.03; CI=1.00-1.05) than participating men. Conclusion: Smoking, low education, and female gender were associated with non-participation in our analysis. For men only, systolic blood pressure was a predictor for non-participation. To optimize recruitment strategies of intervention studies, consideration of these individual-related factors is suggested.

ABSTRACT. Introduction Depending on how the problem is defined, between 5-20% of all Swedish children grow up with parents having alcohol problems which put them at risk for many negative consequences. Most Swedish municipalities therefore provide support, but less than 2% are reached, mainly due to difficulties in the identification and recruiting process. Delivering intervention programs to this target group via the Internet is a promising strategy. We have therefore translated a Dutch web-based preventive intervention and are currently evaluating the intervention.

Methods This study uses a two-armed RCT including at least 140 15–25 year olds allocated into an intervention group or a control group. Participants are recruited via ads on social media. Inclusion criteria comprise having a parent with mental health and/or substance use problems. Those having symptoms of severe depression are excluded. Assessment consists of a baseline measurement (t0) and three follow-ups after six (t1), 12 (t2), and 24 months (t3). Measures include the YSR, CES-DC, the Ladder of Life, Brief-COPE, WHOQOL-BREF, and AUDIT-C.

Results The study was initiated during April 2016 and so far about 800 individuals have completed the screening. A large proportion is not eligible to participate due to high scores on the depression scale and is referred to other care. A total of 30 participants have completed the t0-assessment. The study is ongoing and during the fall 2016 efforts will be made to increase the number of participants. Preliminary results from the t1-assessment will be available during the fall 2016.

Conclusions There is an urgent need to develop and evaluate web-based preventive interventions targeting adolescents having parents with substance use or mental health problems. This study therefore makes an important contribution to this novel field of research.

ABSTRACT. Youth street work in Koper, Slovenia, started to develop recently, around five years ago, when some examples of good prevention practices, which were in line with the recommendations from the EU Action Plan on Drugs (2009-2012), were implemented. Youth street work in Koper has since been carried out by NewPrevent association, which is developing particular youth preventive programmes tailored to the needs of the local community. NewPrevent is a civil society organization, a community of youth street workers and a network of volunteers, operating under the auspices of the Svit Society from Koper. The main goal of NewPrevent is to promote healthy lifestyles among youth.

The aim of NewPrevent is to identify and to swiftly respond to the needs of local communities in the field of prevention work for youth. NewPrevent has a flexible and iterative approach when developing particular, community-located prevention programmes for youth. One of the most important factors that contributes to the success of the prevention programmes is to establish a genuine relationship not only with target groups, but also with the local community where the prevention programmes are being implemented.

With the poster, NewPrevent would like to present some of its research and its fieldwork, which is the basis for the development of prevention programmes for youth. When NewPrevent started to implement youth street work in Koper in 2012, there was very little known about lifestyles and cultural habits of local youth and how do they spend their free time. The lack of information was one of the leading reasons for the decision of NewPrevent to start research and fieldwork, which today represents the basis for monitoring risk factors and for planning and developing of its innovative prevention programmes for youth.

ABSTRACT. Social competence is part of emotional intelligence that refers to the effective functioning in the social context (Stump et al., 2010). Social contex plays a very important aspect in the process of understanding the relationship between social competence and depression in the time of major changes that are affecting Europe, such as a large refugee crisis that has repercussions on most of the European countries and their politics. Social competence offers a framework to understand some protective factors in times of such a huge changes. Despite the great diversity among the different groups, common themes emerge regarding these people's efforts to adapt to the new environment and society. Levels of psychological stress are high amog both native and immigrant population, and people are becoming even more vulnerable (Fong, 2004). In this context it is interesting to reflect on those suffering from depression that actively participate in different social contexts and form a part of urban culture. The aim of this paper is to observe and evaluate social competence of patients diagnosed with depression taking into account their views and perceptions of their own social competence. The study included 100 participants, who were hospitalized at University Psyhiatric Hospital Vrapče at the time of the survey. Considering the results of our research we can conclude that the individualization of treatment programs can strengthen the level of social functioning of patients. Strengthening of social competence and individualization of tretment and adaption programs can be viewed as a protective factor and a necessary part of the process of prevention of depression relaps among native, imigrant and refugee population.

ABSTRACT. UNODC has an ongoing global initiative promoting the implementation of effective prevention interventions in line with the UNODC International Standards on Drug Use Prevention particularly in low and middle income countries. In this regard, the UNODC collaboration with Lions Club International Foundation has availed the possibility to pilot an adapted version of Lions Quest Skills for Adolescence (LQSFA) in elementary schools in Serbia, FYRO Macedonia and Montenegro. The pilots were implemented in the academic year 2014-2015 (Serbia) and the academic year 2015-2016 (FYROMacedonia and Montenegro) in partnership with the respective Ministries of Education.

Overall, 85 schools from the 3 countries of concern participated in the process and a total of 231 teacher were trained on the programme. A total of 5,041 students took part of the pilot, out of which 2954 elementary age students received LQSFA (cases) and 2087 students did not (control). The average age of these students was 13.3 years. All student received a pre-post questionnaire assessing different indicators of concern: use, opportunities to use and intention to use substances as well as normative belief, refusal skills, attitudes and perception of harm towards substances.

This abstract will presents changes (pretest/posttest) on these indicators as documented across this pilot in cases and controls by gender. Such results will document information on the adaptability, fidelity, affinity and effectiveness of such school based and life skills focused interventions from low or middle income countries where such data remains very limited (particularly from case-control modality of implementation).

ABSTRACT. The results of the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD) for 2011 show that Croatia is one of the European countries with a rising trend when it comes to the prevalence of drug use among youth. During 2015 in all health institutions in Croatia, 7533 persons were registered for recieving treatment for substance abuse addiction, of which 484 (6,3%) were under the age of 20 (Hrvatski zavod za javno zdravstvo, 2016). The National Strategy for Combating Drug Abuse 2012 – 2017 (Vlada Republike Hrvatske, 2012) stresses the important role of using prevention on all levels in strategic efforts to combat drug abuse. But in the implementation of said strategy, most of the efforts are directed towards universal prevention programs directed at the general population of children and youth (Ured za suzbijanje zlouporabe droga, 2015). More and more focus is now being put towards the development of selective and indicated prevention programs because those programs are severly lacking in the entire country. According to the Database of projects and programs administered in the field of combating drugs abuse that is run by the Office for Combating Drugs Abuse, among the 130 prevention programs, there are only 17 selective prevention programs, which indicates the need for further development of these programs. Also, the Croatian prevention field is characterized by a hyperproduction of programs that lack logic modeling and rigorous evaluation and there is a lack of proper analyses of these programs. This paper will provide an analysis of the current state of selective prevention practice in Croatia, offer a comprehensive theoretical model of the development of addiction problems in adolescence from a perspective of developmental psychopathology, and provide some guidelines for the further development of selective prevention policy and practice in the field of substance abuse prevention.

ABSTRACT. Despite recent decreases in drug use among secondary students (ESTUDES, 2016), Spain continues to have some of the highest prevalence rates of legal and illegal drug use in Europe (European Drug Report, 2016) along with narrowing gender differences in use. The Spanish National Plan on Drugs emphasizes the need for evidence-based drug use prevention programs targeting adolescents. This presentation reports on a pilot study to implement and assess the USA-based Mantente REAL (keepin’ it REAL) program in the Spanish context. The Mantente REAL curriculum teaches adolescents a repertoire of strategies used commonly and effectively by youth (Refuse, Explain, Avoid, Leave-REAL) to make healthy decisions in difficult and risky situations, such as receiving offers of drugs and alcohol. The study objectives were to assess the effectiveness of the program in preventing or reducing alcohol and drug consumption, determine the feasibility of implementation in Spanish schools, and identify where the curricula should be culturally adapted for greater effectiveness. The sample included four public secondary schools in Seville (Spain) from similar socio-economic status neighborhoods, with two schools assigned randomly to receive Mantente REAL and remaining schools serving as a control group. Student participants (N=274) were in their third grade of secondary studies (mean age=14.7, gender balanced). Self-administered pretest and posttest surveys in all schools measured alcohol and drug use behaviors and attitudes. The pretest demonstrated the need for prevention: last-30 day prevalence rates were 40% for alcohol, 19% for heavy episodic drinking, 20% for tobacco, and 11% for marijuana use. To assess program effectiveness we report relative changes (Mantente REAL versus controls) in drug use behaviors and norms using baseline adjusted regression models in Mplus with FIML, and estimated effect sizes (Cohen’s d). We also report on recommended adaptations to the program using focus-group data collected from program participants (students and teacher-implementers).

ABSTRACT. Background. France has one of the highest smoking prevalence in Europe (28.8% of daily smokers among 15-75 years). One of the objectives of the French plan to reduce smoking is to help those daily smokers to quit. Smoking cessation quitlines are considered as effective interventions for motivated smokers. Created in 1998 and run by Santé publique France, the national public health agency, the french quitline has significantly evolved since its launching in accordance with the growing body of knowledge regarding quitlines’ effectiveness and organization. It has recently been evaluated. Methods. Since April 2013, all quitline callers who were in contact with a counsellor are called back 6 months later. The main objective is to measure the abstinence rate and the factors associated with abstinence. Results. Between September 2012 and July 2014, counsellors of the quitline took care of 13,161 smokers. Young people, unemployed people as well as manual workers are underrepresented compared to the population of French smokers. Among those accepting to be called back after 6 months, more than a fifth (21.9%) report being abstinent for at least 7 days (unreachable individuals or those refusing to answer are considered to be still smokers). The abstinence rate reaches 32.4% among smokers who were initially trying to quit and 19.3% among the other smokers. This rate is lower among the most tobacco-dependent and increases with the number of follow-up calls with a counsellor. Discussion. The results are consistent with those of other European or American quitlines. They suggest that the quitline is an effective help for smokers, in particular for those who are already trying to quit when they first contact the service. In order to reduce social inequalities, it could be useful to enhance advertisement for this, almost free, service among unemployed and manual workers who are currently under-using it.

ABSTRACT. Alcohol misuse is a pressing area of public health concern, particularly for young adults who are most at risk of alcohol-related harm. More than half of young people now attend university and a key part of this transition in a student’s life involves alcohol-related recreational activities. In the UK, on-campus alcogenic environments (e.g. Student’s Union venues, shops, residential halls) are some of the main locations in which young people can access alcohol. While these contexts are important for young people, both in terms of the physical and social action opportunities that they afford them, a growing number of research studies have associated features of these environments with problematic alcohol-related behaviour. For example, increased consumption and harm has been associated with certain types of events, promotions, crowding, noise levels and other functional features. A marked increased in pre-loading behaviour also suggests that many individuals are intoxicated before entering premises, which complicates premise management. The clustering of on and off-licensed premises with residential properties makes university campuses unique, but also problematic in terms of alcohol-related issues. Additionally, while universities are dedicated to improving the student experience by running enjoyable and sustainable events, they have an ongoing duty of care for their students. As on-campus contexts provide an important opportunity to understand drinking behaviour, this pilot study aimed to understand on-campus consumption using archival on and off-licensed sales data, event attendance records, alcohol-related incidences, observation and photographs. Preliminary findings, including features identified as potentially aggravating problematic alcohol-related behaviour will be identified, alongside challenges and implications for future work.

ABSTRACT. Background: Digital alcohol interventions have advantages over traditional face-to-face brief interventions in terms of anonymity, cost, and potential reach. In recent years there has been a sharp rise in such products, but the market is unregulated and many remain untested. Design and Methods: In this randomised controlled trial, 402 participants aged 18-30 completed baseline questionnaire measures and were then randomly allocated to complete one of two digital interventions or a control group. Four weeks later they completed follow up measures. Primary outcomes were AUDIT-C, drinking harms and preloading. Interventions: One intervention provided participants with personalised normative feedback about their drinking, including about calories consumed and money spent. The other presented a series of socially embarrassing scenarios that may occur when drinking, and participants were scored according to if/ how recently they had been experienced. Results: There was a significant decrease in all outcome measures between baseline and follow up in the sample, but no significant differences between the conditions. Post-hoc sub group analyses found that for lower risk drinkers, being allocated to the social embarrassment intervention was associated with a greater number of reported minor harms at time two. Discussion: Overall, digital interventions in this study had no effect on risky drinking and alcohol related harms compared to controls. Reductions in outcome measures in the study period could be attributed to the mere measurement effect, the timing of the study, and regression to the mean. An increase in the reporting of minor harms by low risk drinkers could be artefactual, due to reporting bias caused by exposure to the embarrassing scenarios. These findings highlight the need for caution and rigorous testing of digital interventions throughout their development, to ensure they are effective and to discount the likelihood of iatrogenic consequences.

ABSTRACT. Objective: Low socio-economic status is related to impaired health, an elevated risk of all-cause mortality and alcohol-attributable mortality. This might be partially caused by higher proportions of health risk behaviors in low socio-economic status groups. In this study, we aimed to investigate the influence of socio-economic factors on heavy drinking over the course of the week. Method: As part of the randomized controlled “Trial on proactive alcohol interventions among job-seekers, TOPAS”, 1,282 18 to 64 years old job-seekers with at-risk alcohol use were systematically recruited at three job agencies and reported number of drinks consumed on each day in the past week. Latent growth curve models represented variations of heavy drinking over the course of the week. School education and duration of lifetime unemployment were tested as socio-economic predictors (model 1). In model 2, further adjustment was made for socio-demographic variables, namely age, sex, and living in a steady partnership. Results: In model 1 a weekly rhythm with constant low alcohol use on working days, escalation on Friday and a further increase on weekends was found in the total sample. For those with longer duration of lifetime unemployment, higher initial alcohol use on Sundays (p<0.001) and less increase of alcohol use on Fridays (p=0.001) was found. In model 2 socio-economic predictors were no longer significant. Sex and age were the only variables that had a significant impact on alcohol use trajectories. Conclusions: Although longer duration of lifetime unemployment was associated with higher initial alcohol use, socio-economic factors do not appear to affect alcohol use trajectories over the course of the week, when adjusted for socio-demographic variables. Funding: German Research Foundation (FR2661/1-1, FR2661/1-2), German Cancer Aid (108376, 109737, 110676, 110543, 111346)

ABSTRACT. Among young people aged between 15 and 29 years, traffic accidents are the number one cause of death in the world. Raising awareness on the importance of safe driving practices and prevention programmes targeting youth are therefore extremely important not only short-, but also long term. The VOZIM organization, based in Slovenia, has partaken in organizing workshops that primarily target teenagers. Through the »I still drive, but I can't walk« programme, lecturers are raising awareness on the importance of road safety through life stories of traffic accident victim with spinal injury (paraplegic and quadriplegic). The involvement of real life stories and seeing the lecturer and their life before and after obtaining serious injuries in a traffic accident has a large impact on participants and can potentially alter their driving habits. In order to evaluate the short and long term effectiveness of the workshops, a comparison of safe driving practices among attendees of the workshops and the general population was performed. The base for comparison was the widely used »Driver behaviour questionnaire« (DBQ), which was used to measure driving practices of each participant. The results confirm that drivers that listened to the lecture »I still drive, but I can't walk« are generally safer drivers compared to the control group. They also have higher awareness of possible dangers in traffic. Those drivers that attended »I still drive, but I can't walk« workshops are satisfied with its effects and support the idea that all novice drivers should hear these workshops, which points to opportunities for developing a wider prevention programme based on real life stories of traffic accident survivors.

ABSTRACT. KiVa, the Finnish school based anti-bullying programme, was introduced into Wales in 2012. Research conducted in Finland, established a large and robust evidence base for the programme. The programme bases its content on the principle that bullying is a group phenomenon. Participant role research has indicated that bystanders act as “reinforcers” contributing to the persistence of the bullying behaviour. By changing the behaviour of bystanders the bully’s motivation is lowered, rewards are reduced and consequently bullying behaviour decreases. Presently there is growing evidence of the programme’s transportability. The programme includes universal actions, the core of which are class lessons, and indicated actions, specific strategies to deal with confirmed bullying incidents.

Introduction of KiVa into Wales provided an opportunity to observe and examine the implementation of the programme. Units 1 and 2 of the KiVa programme curriculum were delivered to pupils aged 7-11 years, the UK age range for Key Stage Two pupils. The programme’s indicated actions were used throughout the school when dealing with highlighted bullying incidents.

This paper presents a case study, from one primary school, reporting contextually rich information from interviews and class observations. The KiVa programme was implemented in the school from September 2013. Significant reductions in annual pupil survey self-reported victimisation and bullying after one year of implementation, and further reductions after two years are reported. The implementation process, experience, and impact of the programme will be described from the perspective of the head-teacher, teaching staff, and pupils and factors deemed likely to have contributed to the excellent outcomes will be highlighted.

ABSTRACT. Background. While cigarette use is declining among adolescents, use of other products, like e-cigarettes, is on the rise. However, research on adolescent use - outside of the U.S. - is scarce. Thus, we aim to investigate the use of cigarettes, e-cigarettes, and hookah in German adolescents. Method. The cross-sectional sample consists of 4,120 adolescents (M=15.61years, SD=0.73; 52% female) from two Federal States (Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony). We gathered data on lifetime use of cigarettes, e-cigarettes, and hookah via self-reports. We examined differences in sociodemographic data, and sensation seeking between use patterns via multinomial logistic regressions. Results. About 55% of the sample report any lifetime smoking or vaping (43% ever used cigarettes, 38% e-cigarettes, 37% hookah). Overall, about 16% report single use (9.0% cigarettes, 3.5% e-cigarettes, 3.6% hookah), 14% dual use (5% cigarettes and e-cigarettes, 5% hookah and e-cigarettes, 4% hookah and cigarettes), and 25% poly use (cigarettes, e-cigarettes, hookah). Compared to abstainers, users were consistently older (RRRage=1.22-1.67), reported higher sensation seeking (RRRsese=1.61-2.27), and lower socio-economic status (RRRSES=1.41-2.79). This was also observed for poly use compared to single (RRRage=1.38, RRRsese=1.41, RRRSES=1.97) and dual use (RRRage=1.25, RRRsese=1.33, RRRSES=1.32). Dual users reported a lower socio-economic status than single users (RRRSES=1.50). Discussion. In Germany, cigarettes remain prominent among adolescents; however, use rates of e-cigarettes and hookah are nearly as high, about a quarter has even used all three products. Further research is necessary to investigate potential differences between user groups, in order to foster prevention and health care efforts. Conclusion. Smoking and vaping is continuously present among German adolescents, with e-cigarettes, and hookah becoming increasingly popular. Since a substantial amount of adolescents has tried all three products, it is indispensable to monitor trajectories of use, and mould prevention accordingly. Funding: Federal Centre for Health Education on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Health.

ABSTRACT. This session will provide an overview of the partnership between American Institutes for Research (AIR), Mentor UK and Manchester University as part of the current Good Behavior Game (GBG) UK Randomized Control Trial (RCT). The project offers primary schools the opportunity to implement GBG in their classrooms while participating in ongoing research designed to measure the impact of GBG in UK schools.

The Good Behavior Game (GBG) is an evidence-based strategy teachers use to help children develop skills such as teamwork and self-regulation. Children receive positive reinforcement for promoting and following behavioral expectations, and practice monitoring and managing their own behavior and supporting the positive behavior of their classmates.

GBG is one of the few preventive interventions aimed at aggressive and disruptive behavior that has shown short- and long-term impacts in rigorous randomized field trials. Research shows that children introduced to GBG in first and second grade show less aggressive and disruptive behavior through later primary school. Furthermore, children who participated in GBG in early primary school experienced more physical and mental health benefits in early adulthood compared with children from the same primary schools who were not exposed to GBG.

During this two-year trial, GBG will be delivered to more than 2,000 children and 37 primary schools across the North of England. Our goal is to share some of the early findings and lessons learned from the first year of implementation. Colleagues from the Mentor team will share some implementation data and discuss next steps for Year 2 of the RCT.

ABSTRACT. “HaLT” is one of the most broadly applied German alcohol-specific prevention program for teenagers under 18 years of age and is currently implemented in 155 locations across Germany. It was initiated 2002 by “Villa Schöpflin”, centre for drug prevention (Lörrach, Germany), against the background of growing numbers of adolescents in need of emergency medical care following an episode of acute alcoholic intoxication (AAI).

HaLT involves two strategies: First, “HaLT reactive”: This is a brief bedside intervention including a psycho-social risk assessment for adolescents hospitalized due to AAI. The interview is usually conducted by a social worker based on the principles of Motivational Interviewing. The goal is to enhance the adolescent’s motivation to change risky drinking behavior. The emergency setting offers an opportunity to reach at-risk alcohol consuming adolescents in a potential “teachable moment”. Furthermore, an individual counselling is offered to the parents and they are provided with general information on alcohol-related risks.

Second, “HaLT proactive”: This is a structural regional prevention component that I) sensitizes adults to the risks of alcohol consumption, II) encourages adults to set a good example to adolescents and III) reminds adults to act in compliance with the German law for the protection of the youth. For that purpose, HaLT proactive gets in contact with local actors such as the police, schools, associations, festival organizers, retail shops and restaurants/bars in order to gain them as multiplicators.

During the implementation process HaLT was evaluated by Prognos AG (Basel, Switzerland). Furthermore, HaLT and specific aspects of HaLT have been subjects to several scientific German studies.

ABSTRACT. This poster session will provide an overview of the American Institutes for Research Good Behavior Game (GBG) research and implementation projects. Implementation of the Good Behavior Game, an evidence-based prevention program, has shown correlation with a reduction in drug, alcohol, and tobacco use, particularly for males who enter school with early indicators of aggressive and disruptive behavior. During this poster session, presenters will provide an overview of the core elements of GBG and will answer questions regarding adaptation of GBG (distance learning, walking school bus settings, and international contexts) and research outcomes of GBG studies.

ABSTRACT. According to the French national Medical Surveillance of Risks Exposure survey (SUMER), about 1 worker out of 10 is exposed to at least one occupational carcinogen. Disparities exist among the working population in regard to these expositions: even if 70% of the most exposed workers are the ones who have studied the least and who work as “manual workers”, the young individuals under training are among those who are the most at risk. The automotive sector is particularly exposed to occupational carcinogens with 81% of the employees being exposed to at least 3 carcinogenic agents. Collective and individual means of protection exist, yet people seem to have difficulty applying the recommendations made to ensure their safety. In 2009, The French Ministry of Education created a program to be developed within professional training school courses: “Prevention, Health and Environment”. The program aims to work on risk prevention in general; however, discrepancies exist between what is supposed to be learnt and what is applied at work. A 3 phase project was created to improve occupational carcinogen awareness: 1) to make an exploratory analysis of the role of carcinogen prevention within professional training; 2) to develop a preventive tool that can easily be integrated into the school environment ; 3) to test the efficiency of the tool. The 1st phase of the project has been completed. A questionnaire was sent to teachers specializing in automotive professional training, from 3 different schools. 72.7% of teachers feel concerned by the instruction of carcinogen prevention. They consider that ideally, this issue should be given twice as much consideration than it is currently given. Time is considered as a major obstacle to doing so. The 2nd phase of the project has started. Preventive tools will be developed and tested with teachers.

ABSTRACT. The open kindergarten is a low-threshold preventive pedagogical service embedded in the community’s Family's house. Preschool aged children accompanied by an adult can use the service during the opening hours and without registration. It is an informal meeting place with pedagogical guidance from teachers and other health care personnel that offer activities like sing-a-longs or playtime. The aim of the open kindergarten is to promote health and to support caregivers by providing a gathering place where they can strengthen their social network and receive information related to their child’s health and well-being. Additional goals are to stimulate positive interaction between children and their parents and early identification of challenges. Aim: To examine users’ experiences with the open kindergarten in Norway. Method: The sample presented here is a subsample of a larger study that examines employee well-being and user satisfaction in different municipal health care services in Norway. The results of this study are based on a questionnaire with 54 questions that was distributed to the caregivers by the employees in eight different open kindergartens. Results: Most of the 180 caregivers that answered the questionnaire were the children’s mother (83 %) who accompanied one child (83 %) to the open kindergarten. Most children (45 %) were between 0 and 12 month old. Overall, the majority of the parents (96 %) were very or extremely satisfied with the service. Almost all users were very satisfied with how the staff cares about the child. Furthermore, the vast majority felt supported in their role as a parent and that it is easy to socialize with other parents at the open kindergarten. Discussion: Overall, the users of the open kindergarten seem to be very satisfied with the service. The results suggest that the open kindergarten is a health promoting arena.

ABSTRACT. Introduction: Depression often has a marked impact on an individual’s mental and physical health leading to considerable impairment in several domains of quality of life. The relationship between tobacco consumption and depression has been well established. People with depression have more difficulties to quit smoking and are more likely to relapse. The aim of this study was to analyze the perception of quality of life in smokers with depression compared to those who did not.

Method: The sample was made of 255 smokers who received a psychological treatment to quit smoking (60.8% female; mean age = 43.78, SD = 11.30). At pre-treatment we assessed lifetime and current treatment for depression and perceived health status with the visual analogue scale of the EQ-5D. Treatment outcomes were analyzed at the end of treatment and at 3 months follow-up. Abstinence was corroborated through carbon monoxide in expired air (CO < 10).

Results: Smokers lifetime treated for depression (t = 2.65; p <.01) and those who were in treatment (t = 3.49; p <.01) had a poorer perceived health status tan people who never received treatment for depression. Logistic regression analysis was realized for predicting smoking status. We found that people with poorer perceived health status had a higher likelihood for being smoker at the end of treatment (OR = 0.98) and at 3 months follow-up (OR = 0.98).

Conclusion: The results of this study showed that smokers treated for depression had poorer perception of their health status. This variable related to the quality of life of the smoker was more relevant than receiving treatment for depression in order to predict smoking cessation treatment outcomes.

ABSTRACT. Introduction: People with depression have more difficulty quitting smoking and are more likely to relapse. The aim of this study is to analyze if people who quit smoking through a psychological treatment and remain abstinent present significant differences regarding post-treatment depressive symptomatology compared to relapsers at 3 months follow-up. Method: The sample consisted of 438 participants who achieved abstinence after a psychological treatment for smoking cessation (61.2% women; mean age = 41.66, SD = 10.99). Beck Depression Inventory-II was used to assess depressive symptoms at the beginning and at the end of treatment. Abstinence was corroborated through carbon monoxide in expired air (CO < 10). At 3-months follow-up, 44.2% of participants were smoking again. Results: Relapsers obtained higher scores on BDI-II at the end of treatment (t = -2.01; p < .05) than those who continue abstinent at 3 months follow-up (6.22 vs. 5.19 respectively). No significant differences regarding to BDI pretreatment were found between those who remained abstinent and those who relapsed. Conclusion: The presence of depressive symptoms at the end of a treatment for smoking cessation can influence the probability of relapse. In that sense, evaluation of depressive problems at different moments of the process of smoking cessation seems to be important in order to prevent smoking relapse.

ABSTRACT. A functional serotonin transporter promoter (5-HTTLPR) polymorphism has been implicated in moderating vulnerability to stress related psychopathology upon exposure to environmental adversity. A short (S) allele of the SLC6A4 gene is related with anxiety related personality traits, depressive symptoms and suicide following adverse early experiences or stressful life events in childhood. The S allele is also associated with stress reactivity, impulsive and aggressive behavior, novelty seeking and poor delay-of-gratification behavior, alcohol dependence, tobacco and drug use, conduct problems and delinquent behavior. This study seeks to determine the prevalence of genetic polymorphism of 5-HTTLPR, and DNA methylation profiles of the 5-HTTLPR promoter, among opiate drug addicts and among control group of healthy individuals. Furthermore, the aim is to determine interactions of the genetic and epigenetic profiles and psychosocial conditions and outcomes, such as parental bonding, childhood maltreatment, stress exposure and coping skills, personal psychopathology and substance abuse. A blood sample of 4 ml for DNA extraction, was taken from 135 drug addicts engaged in treatment at Institute for Public Health, Rijeka and 149 control subjects- students and employees of University of Rijeka and Institute for Public Health, Rijeka. All subjects filled up standardized questionnaires: Personality assessment Inventory; Brat impulsivity scale; Risk Taking Scale; Childhood Trauma Questioner; Connor-Davidson resilience scale ; Parental Bonding Instrument; Drug Use Disorders Identification Test; Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test. Preliminary results show significant differences between the two groups regarding the genotype as well as interactions between the genotype, and psychosocial conditions and outcomes. To elucidate this relations better, both genetic and epigenetic variations affecting the transcriptional efficiency of the SLC6A4 gene are to be analyzed. Understanding of the gene x environment interactions and the processes that facilitate it add up to the discussion on how to build up individualized prevention and treatment intervention.

ABSTRACT. Needs and resources assessment of 27 prevention projects (25 non-governmental organizations) was conducted within the project “Enhancing the quality of drug prevention interventions in Croatia” (2013-2014). Project was conducted in the partnership of the Office for Combating Drugs Abuse of the Government of the Republic of Croatia, Faculty of Education and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Zagreb, and non-governmental organizations in Croatia. European Drug Prevention Quality Standards (EDPQS) were used as a basis for the assessment. Special attention was put on the programmes development, their implementation and evaluation. Analysis was based on the available projects documentation, visits to the non-governmental organizations and unstructured interviews with project providers. Results showed that some of the strengths of the prevention programmes are linked to the various methods used in programme delivery, use of epidemiological data with the purpose of needs assessment, positive relationships as a basis for prevention programmes, incorporated process evaluation, effective dissemination of the result, etc. The biggest challenges are focused on building a logic model of an intervention that is based on the comprehensive needs and resources assessment in regard to the targeted group(s). In addition, structured monitoring of implementation is often missing, as well as an outcome evaluation. Some of the recommendations for the improvement of prevention practice are developed, and these are focused on capacity building, especially in the field of professional competencies for development, as well as implementation and evaluation of drug prevention programmes. As a conclusion remarks of this presentation, the next steps in the aforementioned process of Croatian drug prevention improvement will also be discussed.

ABSTRACT. The HIV Attitudes Scale (HIV-AS) is a brief multidimensional tool to measure HIV/AIDS related attitudes among adolescents, widely used in Spain. Because of the high risk of HIV in adolescents in Portugal and the scarcity of multidimensional measures to assess attitudes towards HIV-related aspects, reliable and valid instruments are essential for understanding sexual risk behaviors in this population. The aims of this study were to validate the Portuguese version of the HIV-AS and analyze its psychometric properties with Portuguese adolescents. Factor structure, internal consistency, and temporal stability were examined. Participants were recruited from 10 high schools located in 6 cities of Portugal: 71.8% Funchal, 9.9% Santa Cruz, 8% Santana, 3.7% São Vicente, 3.3% Ponta del Sol, and 2.2% Machico. Analyses were conducted based on a sample of 624 adolescents aged 15-18 (M = 17.06; SD = 0.79). Results of confirmatory factor analysis using EQS 6.1 confirmed the four-factorial structure of HIV-AS, including attitudes towards obstacles to safe sex, HIV testing, condom use and, people living with HIV/AIDS. Reliability of the Portuguese version of the HIV- AS was excellent (α = .82), while temporal stability was moderate (r =. 51). The Portuguese version of the HIV-AS seems to be a valid and reliable tool to assess important dimensions of attitudes towards HIV-related aspects in adolescent population of Portugal. More research is needed to consolidate these findings and to generalize them to other populations and countries.

ABSTRACT. Promoting sexual health in adolescents in an important public-health goal; however, there are few published mediation analyses studies on sexual health promotion interventions. The program ¡Cuídate! for adolescents in Spain has proven to be effective to promote a health sexuality; however, the mechanisms underlying its effects to promote long-term consistent condom use are still unknown. This study aimed to identify mediators of the intervention’s effects compared to a control group. The potential mediators were Theory of Planned Behavior constructs that the intervention targeted, including knowledge about HIV and STIs, attitudes towards condom use, self-efficacy, perceive norms, and intention. Primary outcome was self-reported consistent condom use by 24 months post-intervention. This study comprised 940 adolescents aged 14-16. The mean age was 14.81 (SD = 0.77) and 50% were males. They were students enrolled in 9th and 10th grades at 12 high schools located in the north, east, and south of Spain. Participants completed baseline, immediate-posttest, 12-month and 24-month follow-up assessments. Each school was randomly assigned to the intervention or the control group. Mediation analyses using the product-of-coefficients approach in a generalized-estimating-equations framework revealed that ¡Cuídate! positively affected consistent condom use indirectly through the knowledge on HIV and STIs in serial with the intention to use condoms. Findings underscore the importance of targeting knowledge on HIV and STIs in adolescents through sexual health promotion interventions to promote condom use intention and consistent condom use.

ABSTRACT. The aim of this poster is to present metric characteristics of the Family Resilience Assessment Scale (FRAS) on Croatian sample. Sixbey (2005) developed the Family Resilience Assessment Scale to aid in understanding how families deal and cope with adversity. The process of validation involved translating the scale to Croatian and back-translating it to English. The translation was reviewed (involving two independent researchers) in order to ensure that content validity was not lost in the translation process and that the scale had cultural validity for the Croatian context. In the research, parents of first grade schools students from secondary schools Ivan Svear in Ivanic Grad and The First high school in Zagreb were included in research (N=219, 53.9% of mothers and 46.1% fathers). Factor analysis of shortened version of the instrument (54 variables) point to six-factor solution that explains 48.89% of the variance: Family communication and problem solving, Making sense of adversity, Neighbors support, Family spirituality, Family connection and Security and support in the community. Obtained factor solution was similar to the original model (Sixbey, 2005). Reliability of four scales is satisfactory (α from .65 to .92), while two scales have lower reliability (Making sense of adversity, α= .58, Neighbors support, α= .60). Descriptive data indicate a negative asymmetry of results distribution on all factors, and high results values that may indicate low sensitivity of the instrument. Proposals for instrument improvement will be discussed in the poster.

ABSTRACT. Recent findings indicate that intervention systems for children, youth and adults with behavioural problems should focus simultaneously on the individual with the problem and his/her family. Therefore, gaining new knowledge on families at risk and development of new interventions and services present a permanent research and professional challenge. The overall objective of the research is to identify characteristics of specific groups of families at risk, their resilience, readiness for change, readiness for intervention; and life satisfaction, as a set of new, under-researched processes that could be of importance for complex family interventions planning. Specific objectives, on one hand, relate to the family at risk research methodology development and, on the other hand to determine the relationship between the aforementioned characteristics of families at risk, which were never researched in Croatia. The study sample includes 200 families at risk, with at least one family member who is, due to behavioural problems, a beneficiary of interventions in the area of education, social welfare, mental health and/or justice in the City of Zagreb and Zagreb County. Outcomes of the research contribute to development of guidelines for complex family at risk interventions planning based on beneficiary perspective and scientific data. In the poster project plan will be presented: theoretical construct, sampling, data collection and analysis methods, ethical issues etc.

ABSTRACT. Introduction: The Italian nationwide smoking ban entered into force in 2005 partially contributed in increasing the adoption of household smoking bans (HSB). Aim of this study was to determine whether youths living with HSB were more likely to develop antismoking attitudes and less likely to progress to smoking. Methods: we conducted a longitudinal, 12-year, 2-wave study on a sample of 3,091 Italian youths aged 6-14 years in 2002; 1,763 (57%) were re-interviewed in 2012-2014. We used logistic regression to investigate HSB effects on youth anti-smoking attitudes and smoking behaviours. Results: Youths living with HSB significantly increased from 60% at baseline to 76% at follow-up (p<0.001), particularly those living with ≥1 smoking parent (from 22% to 47%, p<0.001). Youths with no HSB at baseline were more likely to become established smokers at follow-up (OR=2.15; 95%CI=1.47-3.14), even with smoking parents (OR=1.83, 95%CI=1.09-3.10). Youths with HSB at baseline but no HSB at follow-up were more likely to become experimenters or established smokers compared to youths with HSB in both waves (OR=1.86, 95%CI=1.23-2.81; OR=2.38, 95%CI=1.52-3.73, respectively). The effect was greater in youths with no HSB in both waves (OR=1.67; 95%CI=1.01-2.76, OR=5.85; 95%CI=3.35-10.24, respectively), as if there was a dose-response relationship. Moreover, youths with no HSB in both waves were more likely to overestimate adult smoking prevalence (OR=2.14; 95%CI=1.39-3.29), and to consider smoking as social acceptable (OR=1.81; 95%CI=1.04-3.15). Conclusions: HSBs recorded in 2002 had a significant impact in protecting youths from becoming established smokers in the 10-12 subsequent years, even in homes with smoking parents.

ABSTRACT. In promotion of positive youth development, as well as prevention of risk behavior, many different media can be used as a tool to deliver contest. It can be education, training, literature, dance, drama, music, etc. In this poster focus is on music and music education as a way to promote positive youth development. Influence of music on different aspect of human development is known for many years. Positive youth development, as a new way of understanding youth development that focus on youth potentials and strengths, opens the door to the music as a media to promote healthy development of youth, as well as environment they live in. El Sistema movement is a music education program with the goal of youth positive development promotion and increasing equal opportunities for children in risk/vulnerable children (Tunstall, 2012). During the years, El Sistema has expanded through the world. El Sistema based programs are close to the positive youth development philosophy and have proven effects in building self-esteem, prosocial values, responsibility, bonding, competence, resilience, academic achievement, employability, conflict resolution, social involvement, etc. (Cuesta and al., 2007, Michael, 2012, Glasgow Centre for Population Health, 2015). Evaluation results also showed that there is an influence on communities such programs were implemented in (1) creating more, better paid jobs in a strong, sustainable economy, (2) building a fairer community and tackling inequality and (3) passing power to people and communities (Glasgow Centre for Population Health, 2015). Programs inspired by El Sistema all over the world have given good results regarding influence in individual level as well as influence in community level. Croatian program SoDo inspired by El Sistema will be presented in the poster as well as other initiatives close to its philosophy.

ABSTRACT. Prevention programs that have proven their effectiveness and are ready for dissemination still have another barrier to take: An effective and sustainable implementation.

This presentation will give a brief introduction into the field and science of implementation and then describe the trial of a program-specific implementation framework in a German community. An evidence-based program (Triple P) has been chosen to be offered to families as an early intervention model and become a part of the existing service structure. To support the process of program implementation and maintenance, the Triple P Implementation Framework, based on international implementation research, is used. The Framework specifies five phases corresponding to key decision-making and activity sequences that reflect the flow of effective implementation. Each phase contains a set of critical activities to be addressed by an organisation or community. Implementation consultants work with the community to ensure that the implementation process is smooth, timely, and responsive to the contextual needs and constraints of the implementing community. Based on the principles of self-regulation and minimal sufficiency, the level of support depends on the capacity and needs of the community.

The implementation support is funded by the "DFK - Stiftung Deutsches Forum für Kriminalprävention". Lessons learned are shared in an open web blog (www.wegweiser-prävention.de) and in this presentation. To our knowledge, this is the first trial of a precise and program-specific implementation model in Germany.

ABSTRACT. Background: In the Czech Republic the role of any sexual education is underestimated. Even though the topics of sexual and reproductive health and rights are included in the school curriculum, in the reality teacher frequently avoid teaching then – current researches suggest that teacher lack the means and methods what and how to teach, especially young pupils.

The poster offers an overview of teaching and methodological materials and other relevant documents regarding (holistic) sexuality education that are currently available for teachers and researches in the Czech Republic. The overview is the first step in the applied research aiming to detect the needs of the target population (teachers, trainers, pupils, parents) and develop the methodics for holistic sexuality education for 1st to 3rd grade pupils(6 - 9 years old). Draft design of the research will be included in the poster presentation.

ABSTRACT. This study analyzed township differences in teenage birth rates and associated factors in Taiwan. Birth rates among 15-19 year-old females were compared across 359 townships every 5 years from 1995 to 2010. The data came from Taiwan Demography, The City and County Statistics, and Census. Measures included population density, the percentage of aborigines, the percentage of people over 65 years old, divorce rates, the percentage of people with college degrees, the number of physician per 10,000 people, and social welfare spending. This study used Geographic Information System (GIS) to create maps and Local Indicators of Spatial Association (LISA) to identify clusters. We estimated the influence of township-level factors on teenage birth rates using spatial regression models and conducted the analyses separately by year. The study results showed that teenage birth rates declined from 22.5 per 1,000 in the year of 1995 to 4 per 1,000 in the year of 2010. In the year of 1995, the percentage of elderly, divorce rates, and the percentage of aborigines were positively associated with teenage birth rates, whereas population density and the percentage of college educated people were negatively associated with teenage birth rates. The number of significant factors associated with teenage birth rates decreases along the year. In the year of 2010, only the percentage of aborigines and the percentage of college educated people were positively and negatively associated with teenage birth rates, respectively. The coefficients for the spatial lag were significant and positive in all models. The positive spatial lag terms indicate that teenage birth rates are determined by the spillover effects between neighboring townships. This study findings offer the potential to more appropriately prioritize public health resources for preventing teenage birth rates. Future research and policy should focus on improvement in regional equity as well as fulfillment of regional needs.

ABSTRACT. Maternal health behaviours appear to be associated with pregnancy complications, birth outcomes, and infants’ childhood and adult health. Emergent evidence indicates that trait mindfulness is associated with lower incidence of “unhealthy” behaviours and indicators of physiological disease, and with better psychological health.

Might trait mindfulness be associated with maternal health behaviours? A cross-sectional survey was used to collect health behaviour and trait mindfulness data from 318 pregnant women. There were no significant relationships between maternal health behaviours and trait mindfulness. There were small to moderate relationships between subjective wellbeing, health behaviour motivation, and trait mindfulness.

Might mindfulness training be a feasible maternal behaviour change intervention? The development of a novel mindfulness-based maternal behaviour change intervention called Mind the Bump was guided by the Behaviour Change Wheel handbook. An uncontrolled evaluation with 32 pregnant women indicated that it was moderately feasible in terms of recruitment, retention, and acceptability. Adherence was low to moderate. There were pre-post increases in self-reported mindfulness and subjective wellbeing. Self-reported maternal health behaviours did not improve.

ABSTRACT. Introduction: Alcohol intoxication and related problems among spectators at sporting events is of great concern in Sweden and other countries. This matter has been on the agenda for Swedish policy makers, authorities and key stakeholders, demanding action to be taken. Environmental prevention strategies have a promising potential to reduce these problems. However, knowledge is lacking about the extent of these problems and intervention rates towards obviously alcohol-intoxicated spectators.

Objective: The objective of this study is to examine the occurrences of overserving at licensed premises inside and outside arenas hosting football matches, and allowed entry of obviously alcohol-intoxicated spectators into the arenas.

Method: This cross-sectional study assessed the frequency of denied alcohol service and denied entrance to arenas of trained actors portraying a standardized scene of obvious intoxication, monitored by observers. The setting is two arenas in the largest city in Sweden and one in the second largest city, hosting games in the Swedish Premier Football League (SPFL), including entrances and licensed premises inside and outside the arenas.

Results: The rates of refusal of service were 67% (n = 151) at licensed premises outside the arenas, and 25% (n = 237) at premises inside the arenas. The rate of denial of entrance to the arenas was 11% (n = 102).

Conclusions: Results reveal that overserving and allowed entrance of obviously intoxicated spectators are problematic and may contribute to an overall high level of intoxication among spectators. Thus, intervention strategies aimed at lowering the intoxication level among spectators is needed and could include community mobilization, training, policy, and increased enforcement.

ABSTRACT. Gambling is one of the most prevalent recreational activities among adolescents worldwide with rates of problem gambling being at least four times higher than in adults. Despite many studies have shed light on several demographic and gambling correlates among adolescents, few studies provide information regarding gender differences in this population. This study aimed to explore gender differences in both gambling and sociodemographic characteristics among a sample of adolescents. Participants were 1,767 Spanish adolescents (53,8 % boys) that filled out a survey battery by means of electronic tablets. Chi-square and T-tests were conducted in order to explore differences by gender. A binary logistic regression analysis with the best subset variable selection was conducted in order to explore factors differentiating at-risk/problem gamblers separately for males and females. Results showed that males were more likely to report at-risk/problem gambling than females. Likely, a significantly higher proportion of females were non-problem gamblers. Males were more likely compared to females to report last year gambling prevalence of poker (χ2 =81.094, p<.001), other casino games (OCGs) (χ2 =13.209, p<.001), lottery (χ2 =7.357, p<.007), and sport-betting (χ2 =52.723, p<.001). Regression analysis showed that sensation seeking [OR = 1.341, CI = (1.019-1.765)], is a significant predictor of at-risk/problem gambling status among females. Regarding male gender, poker predicted being at-risk/problem gambler [OR = .219, CI = (.059-.811)]. These results show that gender differences in gambling are relevant when both prevention and treatment strategies are developed.

ABSTRACT. In the recent years, it appeared in Poland (and the world) a new threat which are called: designer drugs, legal highs, smart drugs, herbal highs. As the public answer have been designed and implemented both legal and administrative actions and educational efforts. The wave of poisonings in the summer of 2015 years led to increased interest in the educational program "Taste of life that - a debate about designer drugs". This program was for the several years successfully used in schools and was directed to the young people from the age of 13 as the universal program. However, users of legal highs are in the majority the members of the increased risk group, using already also alcohol , nicotine and other drugs. So arise the question of the adequacy of the program in relation to this specific audience. The author of the program has conducted a standard programs with the pupils from universal level group (young people from middle school class I) and with pupils from the higher risk (young people from special center for difficult youngsters). In the second group pupils used afterburners very frequently in comparison with a universal group. Surprisingly, in both cases, the program has been well received, although at higher risk group the relevant indicators were significantly lower. It has been shown usefulness of this type of scenario in the selective level of prevention, which is very important from the point of view of the current needs of prevention in the country. This widens the capabilities of choice for preventive strategies in this area.

ABSTRACT. Many health concerns have emerged since electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) have been launched. Recent evidence has proposed the use of e-cigarettes as a harm reduction strategy. Nonetheless, scarce data exits regarding its efficacy and abuse liability. The aim of this study is to explore nicotine dependence levels in a sample of experienced e-cigarette users (n= 48) and to compare them with current tobacco cigarette smokers (n=50). We conducted several face-to-face interviews in order to assess sociodemographic and dependence related characteristics in both e-cigarette users and in smokers. Adapted versions of both the Fagerström test for nicotine dependence (FTND) and the nicotine dependence syndrome scale (NDSS) were used to analyze nicotine dependence in each of the groups. Biochemical markers of carbon monoxide and urinary cotinine analysis were also collected. Results showed that e-cigarette users scored lower than cigarette smokers in both FTND and all NDSS subscales. Biochemical measures of both carbon monoxide and cotinine were also lower in e-cigarette users. Our findings extend previous research on e-cigarette use and nicotine addiction and suggest that e-cigarette users are less dependent on nicotine than current tobacco cigarette smokers. These results suggest that the use of e-cigarettes might be a harm reduction intervention among smokers who are not successful in quitting. Further prospective studies are needed to better ascertain their addictiveness potential, comparing those smokers who switched to e-cigarettes from smoking cigarettes, and those who had never been tobacco cigarette smokers.

ABSTRACT. Introduction: Heavy alcohol use and violent behaviours at sporting events are of increased concern in Sweden and other countries. The relationship between alcohol use and violence has been confirmed, and can be explained by the level of intoxication. Environmental prevention strategies may be promising to reduce these problems. Knowledge on intoxication levels among spectators at sporting events, is, however, rather scarce. Objective: The objective of this study is to assess the level of alcohol intoxication among spectators at Swedish football matches. Methods: The study uses a cross-sectional study design. The setting is two arenas in the largest city and capital of Sweden (Stockholm) and one arena in the second largest city (Gothenburg), hosting matches in the Swedish Premier Football League (SPFL). Spectators are randomly selected and invited for anonymous study participation. Alcohol intoxication is assessed with a breath analyser for Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC)levels, and data on gender, age, and recent alcohol use are measured through face-to-face interviews. Results: In total, 4352 BAC-samples were collected (response rate: 72%). The proportion of males was 83% and the mean age was 38 years (range 16-94 years). The mean BAC level among spectators with a BAC level above 0% (n= 2025) was 0.062%, whereas the mean BAC level among spectators with a BAC level above ≥ 0.1% (n = 386) was 0.134%. Male gender, lower mean age, attending a derby, self-reported alcohol use prior to having entered the arena, attending a weekend match, and being a spectator at a supporter section were factors that were significantly predicative of a higher BAC level. Conclusions: The results reveal that BAC levels are high among spectators at Swedish football matches. We aim to reduce the BAC levels by implementing a number of environmental prevention strategies such as Responsible Beverage Service training.

ABSTRACT. Preventing the use drugs in countries of low and middle income, as Brazil, is still being discussed in the framework of actions and programs, putting in question the challenge of setting up as a system, regulated by policies with infrastructure and services. This study, a literature narrative review, reflects on the diffusion of innovation and best practice in prevention in public policies, especially on the challenges of disseminating of prevention evidence-based programs on social vulnerability contexts, as in the case of Brazil. The main challenges of implementing evidence-based practices in the context of Brazilian public policies are: the integration of the different sectors in a networking context; public investment is focused on treatment and not in prevention; low capacity of human resources qualified; the belief that manualized programs are uncreative; resistance to programs imported from other countries; spontaneous adjustments in the planned prevention activities based more on good intentions than on evidence; low investment in research efficacy and effectiveness; lack of process monitoring; low local investment capacity for sustainable, long-term, preventive actions; insecurities by approach of the implementers of drug use in trafficking contexts; and laws and normative beliefs based on punishment and prohibitionist. There is a need to induce the public policy decision makers incorporate the evidence-based practices to prevent the use of alcohol and other drugs, as well as investment induction in new evidence from the evaluation of actions and programs. There is a challenge between research and public policy management, with its different times and priorities and, above all, there is a challenge of ensuring that in addition to the study of the impacts is necessary to study the processes that support efficiencies in order to make the replicable actions and supported by models of dissemination to maintain quality.

ABSTRACT. Background The WHO shows that in Italy the loss of almost 70% of years of life is due to the cardiovascular diseases and cancers. Whereas the Italian population is aging with a significant increase of non-communicable chronic diseases, it seems a priority to try to reduce the incidence of such diseases or at least to delay its onset. In order to address this scenario, a “Prevention-Lab” was set up in Piedmont. Aims Identifying priority prevention interventions for the Piedmont region: burden of disease, most relevant risk factors, effectiveness of prevention interventions and their cost-benefit ratio, in order to drive regional policies. Methods The Prevention-Lab brings together multidisciplinary expertises: politics, public health, economy, law, sociology. The activities are managed through regular meeting, and driven by an analysis of the diseases and their main risk factors. Effective interventions were identified and then used to build some scenarios of intervention, with analysis of cost-benefit. Results The Lab, started in December 2015, will be active until the end of 2018. The first four causes of disability on which it was decided to intervene are: cardiovascular diseases (15.6% of total DALYs), cancer (18%), musculoskeletal diseases (13.8%) and mental illness (9%). To reduce the risk factors (hypertension, smoking, alcohol-abuse, physical-inactivity and poor-diet) about 50 effective interventions were combined in different scenarios, in order to estimate their impact (in terms of DALYs avoided) and costs. Conclusion The use of resources in prevention should not only be interpreted as expenditure, but also as an investment and an avoided cost. Prevention allows to gain years of healthy life, potentially reducing or postponing disability and health care costs. To achieve such goals, a multidisciplinary approach is needed. The Prevention Lab enhances cooperation between the various stakeholders for the realization of a prevention policy.

ABSTRACT. Certain personality traits have been studied to explain drinking habits. Gray‘s (1987) reinforcement sensitivity is a biologically based model of personality that has linked individual-level traits to drinking outcomes. Behavioral activation system (BAS) influences sensitivity to rewards, whereas the behavioral inhibition system (BIS) is to underlie sensitivity to punishment. A lot of research is done trying to explain the relationship between motivational systems and drinking behaviour. One of mediated pathways – via alcohol expectancies (Mileviciute, 2015; Wardell, Read, Corlder, Merrill, 2012). Alcohol expectancies act in memory as representations of an individual‘s acquired information regarding the outcomes of alcohol use. Positive drinking expectancies are associated with excesive and abusive drinking patterns of students (Baltrusaitytė, Bulotaite, 2011; Browne at al., 1985). The main aim our our study - to test how specific motivational systems – BAS and BIS influence alcohol expectancies and drinking behaviour of university students. 205 students from Vilnius University took part in the study. 86, 8% - female and 13, 2% male. Measures: Timeline Follow Back Calendar, Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), BIS/BAS questionnaire (Carver & White, 1994), The Comprehensive Effects of Alcohol Questionnaire (CEOA) (Fromme, Stroot & Kaplan, 1993). Our results revealed, that students with high BAS profiles reported more frequent alcohol use and consumption of more alcohol units per month. Also they have more positive alcohol expectancies. BIS has different effect on various types of positive and negative drinking expectations. Although our sample of students was limited in number, more females participated, still some reccommendations for prevention can be done.

ABSTRACT. Introduction: Under the Public Health Initiative programme area financed by the Norwegian Financial Mechanism one of the outcomes is improved access to and quality of health services which will be achieved through developing better out-patient and web-based mental health services. In terms of mental health problems, awareness, reliable information, early detection and integration of services between health care, social and education sector are of utmost importance.

Objective: The aim is to describe an integrated system how children mental health services are developed and mental health literacy is improved in Estonia.

Methods: The proposal is a descriptive analysis of an ongoing development of children´s mental health services and mental health system in Estonia.

Results: By developing children mental health centres, out-patient mental health cabinets and web-based mental health services shortages of the service delivery were improved. For example in 2015 451 professionals from the centres, cabinets and other relevant sectors have been involved with the trainings. In addition 1489 boys and 737 girls benefited from the integrated mental health services and approximately 3251 children and youngsters got help through e-counselling services. Moreover several self-help tools were developed, for example smartphone applications for preventing common mental health problems, interactive cognitive trainings, videos and animations.

Conclusion: Considering the small area of Estonia and the number of children and youngsters not all specific services must be made available in every region. However, it is essential to provide correct and reliable information on mental health, foster preventive and self-help interventions and ensure capability of first contact care to detect mental health problems as early as possible. Additionally web-based mental health services are cost-effective and easily accessible to the numbers of users which will help to decrease the pressure to the health care system, foster help-seeking behaviour and decrease stigmatization of mental health problems.

ABSTRACT. In November 2016, Santé publique France, the French National Public Health Agency, will launch a national campaign aiming at triggering quit attempts among smokers: “Moi(s) sans tabac”. This campaign is inspired by the English ‘Stoptober’, which generated 350,000 additional quit attempts in 2012. Moi(s) sans tabac sets smokers the objective of being smoke-free for one month. After this period, smokers are five times more likely to become permanent ex-smokers. Moi(s) sans tabac will be preceded by a mass media campaign in October encouraging people to participate in the program and to register on a website. Once they are registered, smokers will be directed to a quitline and an interactive mobile phone-based coaching, and will be able to order a self-help kit. Besides, “ambassadors” were recruited in each of the 13 metropolitan French regions to coordinate local interventions, train and support stakeholders and complete a detailed reporting of all local interventions. The evaluation of the project will consist in a process evaluation and an effectiveness evaluation. A post-test will be implemented just after the campaign among 2,000 people to measure recognition, understanding and participation. Qualitative interviews of health professionals will be conducted to collect their perceptions towards the intervention and the perceived impact on their practices. Registration data, use of cessation services and orders of self-help kits will be available at national and regional level. The effectiveness evaluation will be principally based on a specific analysis of the Health Barometer, an annual random survey on health behaviors on more than 15,000 respondents. The 2017 version will allow to test the association between exposure, the level of regional and local interventions and quit attempts in the last quarter of the year. Finally, the trend in quit attempt rates will be analyzed from a monthly tracking survey implemented in May 2014.

ABSTRACT. Although knowledge about effective interventions for children and adolescents is regularly made available, most child and adolescent mental health services in Norway are not evidence based. One reason for this might be that practitioners and decision-makers do not know which interventions have scientific evidence for effectiveness. This may be because the knowledge of which interventions are effective is too difficult or time-consuming to access through tradition research literature. The knowledge transfer process is important to bridge the gap between research and practice to improve usual care.

Aim To facilitate evidence-based practice dissemination in the field of child and adolescent mental health in Norway.

Method The Norwegian web-site, Young Mind (Ungsinn in Norwegian); www.ungsinn.no, has been developed to give access to information about psychosocial interventions and evaluate their level of evidence. The web-site contains information about programs available in Norway. Each program presentation includes a description of the intervention followed by an empirical review and a classification based on available evidence in the Nordic countries. Young Mind is based on criteria listed by Society for Prevention Research and other international systems of grading evidence used in databases and systematic reviews.

Results To date, 46 interventions have been reviewed and classified and the number of page views has risen from 15000 in the first year, 2009, to 53000 in 2015. The website has recently been accredited as a scientific journal and 25 authors and reviewers have been trained in applying the classification system.

Discussion Identifying the most effective evidence-based practices within child and adolescent mental health services is challenging. To facilitate dissemination of evidence-based practices, strategies must include efforts to make information about rigorous research readily available to the field. The Norwegian website www.ungsinn.no may facilitate effective dissemination and implementation of evidence-based interventions.

ABSTRACT. Introduction Substance use prevention in Sweden is mostly, at municipality level, administrated by alcohol-, narcotics-, doping- and tobacco (ANDT) prevention coordinators and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Even though the municipality coordinators and NGOs are using established preventive methods there is very little evidence of the effectiveness, in a Swedish context, of these efforts. To stimulate a progress of more evidence-based prevention, the Swedish government in 2002 initiated funds for projects working with substance use prevention. The purpose of the funds were to create better circumstances for evidence-based implementation of effective preventive methods. Since 2014 the criteria for these development funds have progressed even more towards focusing on prevention effectiveness and scientific evaluation. In 2015 the Swedish government allocated SEK 40 million.

Method: The development funds are distributed yearly and the applying projects are assessed in a structured process including set templates, predefined project criteria and are evaluated by experts. All projects are assessed for their ability to measure effectiveness and projects including collaboration between NGOs and researchers are prioritized.

Results: In 2015 The Public Health Agency distributed grants to 44 ANDT development projects, five of these projects included an efficacy evaluation. NGOs account for 21 per cent of funded projects. In 2016, funds were distributed to 14 new projects (43% were administered by NGOs), three projects included an efficacy evaluation while 11 received funding for a preparative year to set up a full scale efficacy evaluation.

Conclusion: The ANDT development funds have contributed to a diversity of organizations involved in substance use prevention. The last years of alteration towards a more scientific and outcome oriented approach, does not seem to limit the allocation of funds to NGOs. The Public Health Agency has also initiated a process towards developing targeted funds to projects and methods, identified as in need of further evaluation.

ABSTRACT. Attitudes towards drug use are predictors of current and later adolescent drug use (SAMHSA, 2015). Examination of drug attitudes by gender should be also incorporated given the lack of data on impact of prevention interventions by gender (Kumpfer, 2014, UNODC, 2016). In the current study, we analyzed the long-term attitude change after participating in an evidence-based family prevention program, the Family Competence Program (FCP), which is a cultural adaptation of SFP for Spanish families (Orte, et al, 2008). The data analysis included 78 adolescents that had completed the program and a control group. The standardized measure was the Drugs Attitudes Questionnaire, a Spanish validated questionnaire and used as a reference by the Spanish National Plan Against Drugs. Three measurement points were taken including the pre-test, post-test, and 24-month follow-up. Main results indicate that significant reductions in attitudes towards drug use were achieved for both boys and girls as well as perceptions of the availability of drugs and harmfulness of drug use by the end of the program, but not at the 24-month point. There were no significant differences in amount of positive change for girls compared to boys, despite findings that SFP is more effective for girls (Magalhaes & Kumpfer, 2014).

ABSTRACT. The Program of Family Competences for families of adolescent children from 12 to 16 years old (PCF in Spanish) is the Spanish adaptation of the Strenghtening Families Program (SFP) (Kumptfer & DeMarsh, 1985, Kumpfer et al. 1989). The programe aims at increasing parental competences, enhancing social skills and diminish behavioural problems among vulnerable families. Developers qualifications are a key element in the educative action of family interventions and specific formation is therefore an important part in the adaptation process and to assess the efficiency of the program. The developers’ curriculum is also permanently monitored in order to adjust it to the perceived needs of the professionals. This paper presents some results of a study of the needs of the developers relating competences, skills and attitudes that boost the educative practice in the PCF. The study considers a qualitative approach, with 16 deep interviews and 4 discussion groups to developers who participated at the 4 last implementations of the PCF in 2015. The results of the interviews provide information about developers’ perceptions regarding the key competences needed for the implementation of the program. The analysis indicates that knowlegdment and previous experiences in social skills management are some of the key elements professionals consider as the most important and needed to develop their task as facilitators. Attitudes towards the development of bonds with participants and other colleagues are highlighted. They consider that the professional should be able to be open-minded in order to accept and include the different ways to understand different problematic situations that have to be faced during the delivery of the programme. Capacites such as willingness to learn, being natural, having sense of humour, capacity to listen, capacity to moderate debates, clarity in their expositions, being close of the participants are some of the mentioned skills.

ABSTRACT. Background: The federal initiative promotes support offered by family midwives and nurses in early childhood intervention. So far, the initiative has contributed to the fact that many municipalities in Germany provide support for burdened families with young children in order to help them to cope with every-day life and child raising issues (primary or secondary prevention). This investigation aims at proving scientific insight into the effectiveness of the support of family midwives and nurses. Methods: To answer this question the National Centre on Early Prevention conducted an online survey. In a two-wave longitudinal study, n=190 family midwives and nurses took part and reported data concerning parental resources and parenting skills of n=937 families. At first the psychometric criteria of the outcome assessment (“Systematic Exploration and Process Inventory for health professionals in early childhood intervention services, SEVG)” were examined (factorstructure, reliability). In a second step longitudinal data were analyzed using RMANOVA. Results: Families with relatively higher resources and lower stresses benefit from the support of family midwives and nurses, whereas families under more extreme stresses and strains do not seem to benefit to the same extend. Nevertheless, for majority (87.6%) of the latter families, midwife and nurse services were still beneficial, as the professionals were able to arrange more adequate (more intense) support offered by the child and youth welfare system in Germany. Furthermore the factorial structure and the reliability of the SEVG could be confirmed. Discussion: Families in stressful living circumstances seem to benefit from family midwife and nurse services. However further research proposals (i.e. CTs) are requested, whereby the appropriate outcome variables to measure the effect should be selected. In this context psychometric quality of the SEVG psychometric quality can be applied as (very) good since the development of valid and reliable assessments is essential for investigate preventive interventions.

ABSTRACT. A preliminary condition for developing sustainable prevention is to ensure that all those who are involved in the implementation of the intervention program – i.e., the target group (e.g., school students), the relatives (e.g., parents, siblings), those who are supposed to implement the intervention (e.g., teachers), etc. – that prevention of the given problem is possible. The current research, composed of three studies, explored the reliability and validity of a new scale that measures people’s belief in the possibility of preventing adolescents’ risk behaviors. The Belief in Prevention (BiP) Scale is composed of 8 short episodes of adolescents’ risk-behaviors. Respondents are requested to indicate their belief in the possibility of preventing the given problem behavior, on a 6-point Likert Scale (1– not at all; 6– definitely yes) Study 1. Significant differences exist between adolescents, school teachers and parents (Total N = 958) in their (BiP) general belief (α = .82) regarding the possibility of preventing adolescents’ problem behavior. Study 2. High-BiP students studying in a high-school of the arts (N= 63) and high-BiP parents (α = .86) perceive school intervention for learning difficulties to be more helpful than low-BiP students and/or parents. Study 3. At-risk youth (N =98), especially males hold lower levels of BiP in comparison to normative youth (N=100). The three studies’ findings indicate that people hold an implicit theory of prevention that relates to variance in belief in the possibility of preventing adolescent problem behavior. Hence, it is possible that BiP level is a significant moderator/determinant in the construction of sustainable prevention. If so, (sometimes) preliminary interventions to promote the general belief in ability to prevent problems (BiP) are needed before proceeding into either efficacy or effectiveness trails.

ABSTRACT. Public concern has recently emerged regarding the potential increase of gambling related problems among the young population. Few have explored specific characteristics of gamblers as a function of gambling venues within adolescents. This study sought to analyze last year prevalence of gambling among a sample of adolescents, as well as sociodemographic and gambling-related characteristics as possible predictors of at-risk and problem gambling. The sample comprised 1,313 adolescents (aged 14-18 years). Participants were asked to respond several questions regarding their gambling behavior. Chi-square and ANOVA tests were performed in order to explore differences between groups, and a set of multinomial regressions established significant severity predictors. The prevalence of at-risk and problem gambling was 4% and 1.2%, respectively. Regression analyses showed mixed-mode gambling [OR = .302, (CI = .140 - .653)] and the presence of relatives with gambling problems [OR = .162, (CI = .042 - .629)] as predictors of being an at-risk gambler. Mixed-mode of gambling access [OR = .197, CI = (.058 - .663)], family structure (living with no parents [OR = 11.631, CI = (1.621 - 83.474)]; monoparental family [OR = 3.406, CI = (1.058 - 10.970)] and last year prevalence of Electronic Gambling Machines (EGMs) [OR = .145, CI = (.048 - .435)] were significantly associated with problem gambling. Our findings extent previous research on gambling among adolescents by exploring gambling behavior according to different modes of access. Although the prevalence of exclusive online gambling among the total sample was low, these results support the need of considering specific subgroups of gamblers and their specific related features when conducting prevention protocols for adolescents.

ABSTRACT. Introduction Drinking is viewed by young people as a predominantly social activity which provides an opportunity for entertainment and bonding with friends. Using Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus, field and capital, we explored young people’s attitudes and beliefs around alcohol use behaviour and the role of peers, with a view to informing the development of preventive interventions. Methods Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 28 young people aged 18-20, who were participating in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). Audio data were transcribed verbatim, coded and analysed inductively using a constant comparative approach. Results Friends were integral in drinking experiences and drinking with friends was equated with fun and enjoyment. The acquisition and maintenance of social capital was a motivator to drinking: alcohol consumption boosted confidence, enabled the development of new social connections, social bonding, and joining in with experiences. There was evidence that peer behaviour influenced individual behaviour, although this diminished somewhat as young people moved through adolescence and exerted greater control over their drinking. We found little evidence of peer pressure or peer selection. Critically, however, wider cultural norms played the predominant role in shaping drinking behaviour, such that the effects of peers lay in a broader context. In Bourdieu’s terms, internalisation of a broadly accepting culture around drinking led habitus to generate dispositions and inclinations that tended towards an expectation of drinking and a normalisation of the behaviour. Alcohol was pervasive, with drinking a regular, somewhat patterned activity, which ‘unthinkingly’ occurred. Conclusions Applying Bourdieu’s theory suggests that a shift in the nature of alcohol use among young people, requires a disruption to the social world and cultural norms. In this way, our data suggest that population-level interventions that regulate alcohol consumption are likely to facilitate behaviour change among young people by driving a response in habitus.

ABSTRACT. The effects of interventions are strongly associated with their application in the same way that the interventions were designed and validated; while the interventions’ effects can be diminished if changes occur during application. Despite of the importance of fidelity of the implementation to increase the effectiveness of preventive interventions, there are scarce studies in Spain that measure the fidelity of implementation of school-based HIV risk reduction interventions. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to examine the level of fidelity (understood as dose and adherence) of the Spanish version of ¡Cuídate! program in scholars; and evaluate the effects of the program based on the degree of fidelity of implementation. A total of 626 adolescents aged between 14 and 16 years (47.1% boys) were evaluated. Of them, 48.72% received the intervention and the 51.28% served as a non-intervention group. Participants responded self-reports to evaluate knowledge on HIV and STIs, attitudes related to HIV, condom use intention, and sexual behaviors at pretest, posttest, and 12 months follow-up. Findings showed an elevated fidelity of implementation of the program. The group receiving the program more faithfully was more likely to present higher level of knowledge of HIV and STIs, more favourable attitudes toward HIV, and increased condom use in penetrative sex. This study provides valuable support to the positive effects of the implementation of preventive programs with the highest fidelity.

ABSTRACT. Youth with mild to borderline intellectual disabilities (MBID–IQ 55-85) with comorbid externalizing problem behaviour are highly at risk for adverse future development. Therefore, reducing these behavioural problems is of great priority in the Dutch healthcare system. Due to the specific characteristics of this target group (i.e. low IQ, problems in social information processing, aggressive behaviour) usual intervention and prevention programmes should be adjusted and targeted to the specific needs of adolescents with MBID and their families. Currently, only one intervention programme targeted at this group has found to be effective in the reduction of externalizing problem behaviour in adolescents with MBID (Schuiringa, 2016). “Standing Strong Together” (SST) intervenes in the aggression-related behavioural problems of adolescents with MBID to prevent adverse development. This intervention targets both parenting skills in therapeutic sessions for parents, as well as the resolution styles of the adolescents in social situations in sessions for adolescents with MBID. In this presentation, secondary analyses of the effectiveness study and a follow-up study will be discussed, with special focus on the importance of the therapist-client relationship. Where the effectiveness study focused on decreasing problem behaviour, improving parenting skills and parent-child relationships, the follow-up study focused on enhancing these outcomes by an intensified therapist-training. Generally, we hypothesized that therapist skills and therapist-client relationship would moderate the effect of SST on externalizing problem behaviour in children with MBID. While previous research has often shown the importance of therapist-client relationships in general treatment effectiveness, it is important to confirm this hypothesis also for SST, which is especially targeted on adolescents with MBID. Observations of sessions were coded and therapist-client relationships were validated based on these observations. These dyadic and nested data require specific data-analysis techniques. While these data-analyses are still ongoing, preliminary results of the project will be shared during this presentation.

ABSTRACT. Introduction: Evidence regarding the predictors of waterpipe use in young adulthood is scarce. We investigated if early onset of alcohol drinking, tobacco and illicit drug use is associated with waterpipe smoking in young adulthood. Methods: In the BROMS cohort study, 3020 children aged 11-12 years were recruited in 1998 in the County of Stockholm and followed up until 2011 on eight subsequent surveys. The sample in this study comprised 1228 individuals who participated both in the baseline and in the last follow-up survey. Past month and past year waterpipe use was self-reported at age 24-25, while age at initiation of other substance use was derived from self-reports on earlier surveys. Logistic regression was used to calculate the odds ratios of waterpipe use conditionally on age at initiation of other substances. Results: Compared with no drunkenness episode by age 18, a first one by age 15 increased three to four times the odds of using waterpipe more than once in the past year (age 13 or below: OR = 4.13, 95% CI [1.74, 9.78], age 14-15: OR = 3.35, 95 % CI [1.50, 7.46] ). The likelihood of young adulthood water-pipe use was higher for cigarettes smokers and lower for snus users who initiated by age 13 compared with those who did so at age 18 or after, but the estimates were not statistically significant. Early illicit drug onset was rare (0.3%) in this sample. Conclusion: Among Swedish adolescents early onset of drunkenness predicts recurrent waterpipe use in adulthood. Implications: Waterpipe use among Swedish youths may be part of a general pattern of early poly-substance use behavior. Preventive and educational programs should address this behavior as part of a global developmental phenotype, avoiding the segmentation and the “hazard oriented” approach that has been traditionally used for the prevention of cigarette smoking.

ABSTRACT. Self-determination theory (SDT) is a comprehensive motivational theory that has not been tested much in the context of cannabis consumption. The aim of this research was to check the moderating role of self-determination in the relationship between some personality traits and frequency of cannabis consumption. In the sample of 438 students (37.9% males and 62.1% females; mean age M=19.62 SD=0.826) that live in student dormitories in Zagreb the following instruments were applied: Self-Determination Scale (Sheldon & Deci, 1993), International Personality Item Pool (IPIP50) - extraversion, conscientiousness and neuroticism subscales; and the question on the number of days person has consumed cannabis in the lifetime. Before analysis, all the variables were centered. Hierarchical regression analysis was conducted with a number of days person consumed cannabis in a lifetime as a criterion, personality traits and self-determination as predictors in the first step and their interactions in the second step. If occurred, observed simple effects were checked with additional hierarchical analysis and the interaction effects were examined with post –hoc testing (multiple hierarchical analyses). There is a significant interaction effect of self-determination and extraversion on the frequency of cannabis consumption. The whole model explained 5.4% of variance of cannabis consumption, out of which the interaction effect explained 3.1%. Among participants that were average and high in self-determination, increase in extraversion was followed with an increase in cannabis consumption, and the effect was stronger among students with higher self-determination. These effects are not present among students that were low in self-determination. Findings of this research have important implications on prevention practice, since they show that students that seem to function well are not necessarily sufficiently equipped for life challenges. Results also show dynamic in which self-determination, as a protective factor, in combination with extraversion, transforms into a risk factor for cannabis consumption.

ABSTRACT. Impulsivity and Sensation Seeking are key variables for risk behaviors such as substance abuse. Exploring both the predictive power of impulsivity and sensation seeking on substance abuse and the reciprocal influence of abuse on these measures, is an important outcome for prevention. The aim of this study is to test the influence of impulsivity, sensation seeking and alcohol abuse among adolescents along two years. The sample was made of 1178 adolescents (mean age 12.97, SD = 0.53) from 16 Spanish High schools. Students were assessed once a year during three years. They performed both a behavioral task (Delay Discounting, DD) and self-reports (Barratt Impulsiveness Scale, BIS, and Impulsive Sensation Seeking, ImpSS). Impulsivity measures were the logk for the DD, and total scores for the BIS and ImpSS subscales. Alcohol abuse at the second and third waves was assessed through the Rutger’s Alcohol Problem Index (RAPI). Structural Equations Modelling was performed to assess the mutual influence of both Impulsivity and Sensation Seeking, and alcohol abuse. The overall models fit were good for all the measures: BIS, Imp, SS and logk (CFI ≥ 0.95). Cross-lagged paths from BIS, Imp and SS to RAPI one and two years later were all significant (p < .01), while cross-lagged paths in the opposite direction were all non-significant (p > .05). None of the DD paths reach significance levels (p > .05). In summary, self-reported impulsivity seems to be more useful to predict alcohol-related problems than behavioral tasks. Most importantly, the presence of alcohol abuse and related-problems seems not to have a significant effect on their levels of impulsivity or sensation seeking. These results could be useful when designing strategies for preventing drug involvement among adolescents.

ABSTRACT. The ancient idea of prevention has become a vivid scientific discipline in recent years. This has occurred due to several complementing reasons, including: The adoption of a rigorous methodology; the incorporation of socio-political concerns as a legitimate component in prevention efforts; the dominant focus on matters of utility; etc.. Naturally, globalization – i.e., broadening the perspective of prevention scientists and practitioners, to include the efforts, effectiveness and efficacy of preventive interventions that are taking place around the globe – is a necessary step that Prevention as a Science has to address. Yet, finding the tender balance between making generalizations, as a universal science, and paying homage to local circumstances, differentiating between nations, cultures and times, turns to be a major challenge to prevention scientists and practitioners. Several examples of such a balance will be presented, as emerging from international contributions to the coming Cambridge Handbook of Prevention Science.

ABSTRACT. Interventions intending to modify health-related behaviors at the population level are typically complex and pose several challenges to evaluation. This explains why sound evaluation of the outcomes of these interventions is uncommon, albeit widely advocated. Methodologic challenges and cues to address these challenges are reviewed and exemplified by a group of researchers from the Department of Public Health Sciences of Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, with extensive experience in the design, conduction and evaluation of lifestyle modification interventions. Topics addressed concern in particular: the importance of an intervention’s background theories in outcome evaluation; how to proceed beyond experimental studies; the need of studying intermediary end-points and intervention implementation; and how to proceed from scientific results to judgment of applicability and dissemination.

Note. This presentation is part of the proposed symposium on: "Global perspective on Prevention Science in a Changing World"

ABSTRACT. In recent decades, the development of the nightlife economy has produced and impressive change in the socialization of young people. This leads to a number of risk behaviors related to substance abuse, violence, sexual behavior, ...Traditional risk factors, policies or prevention intervention previously linked to problematic people, are not applicable to the youngsters partaking in nightlife.

Although further research is needed, we have already studies with special attention to those policies and interventions that have shown positive outcomes or have been evaluated as good practice. The success of these prevention initiatives will depend on maintaining a fair balance between conflicting interests and needs, and getting support from all involved stakeholders to adopt evidence-based practices

ABSTRACT. Research on stress and stress prevention among German teachers will be presented within the theoretical framework of the conservation of resources theory (COR-theory, Hobfoll 1998). Empirical studies basing on COR-theory might pave the way for identifying the most critical resources for teachers’ well-being and stress prevention. Pedagogical autonomy, one key resource of German teachers and part of the traditional German school culture for decades, refers to the ability of teachers to decide what educational contents, teaching methods, etc. to use in their classroom. In the current waves of school development, however, German schools were encouraged to develop an atmosphere of openness, cooperation and teamwork for implementing reforms to the whole school as an organization. This illustrates a shift of the room for autonomy away from individual teacher autonomy to collectively autonomy of the whole teaching staff. Current stress prevention programs for German teachers have yet to identify strategies to promote both, individual as well as collective autonomy fed by cooperation and social support. First results indicate that self-reflection and self-efficacy are potential variables to maintain autonomy in cooperative school settings. Concepts for the development of stress prevention programs will be discussed.

ABSTRACT. A summary of the major themes and challenges related to implementing prevention research and applications in countries and regions represented in the Handbook will be highlighted. In addition, to differences represented across the countries, common cross-cultural issues that many countries face in order to implement prevention science initiatives will be summarized. Examples such as securing necessary funding for prevention, training of prevention specialists, and developing and implementing rigorous research protocols to measure the efficacy of prevention applications will be presented. Finally, to strengthen Global collaborations and partnerships, recommendations will be presented for a Global Call to Action for prevention science is described.

Note. This presentation is part of the proposed symposium on: "Global perspective on Prevention Science in a Changing World"