Impatto dell’applicazione del programma Unplugged sull’uso di tabacco, alcol e sostanze tra gli adolescenti italiani

[Machine translation] Objectives: Evaluate the impact of the national dissemination of the Unplugged school program on the use of tobacco, alcohol and substances among Italian adolescents Methods: Unplugged is a program based on the Social Influence model, created by a group of European experts as part of the European eu-DAP project. Following the experimental evaluation that demonstrated that the program is effective in preventing substance use among adolescents, a phase of dissemination began in many countries, coordinated by the EuDAP Faculty according to a cascading model in which international trainers were responsible for the training of national trainers, these in turn local trainers, and finally local teachers. Through various national funding, this model has led to the formation of a network of national Unplugged trainers and the implementation of the program in first and second grade secondary schools in many Italian regions. The estimate of the impact of the dissemination of the program on adolescent health is provided starting from the following data: a) the coverage of the territory obtained thanks to the constant monitoring of training activities by OED Piemonte; b) the application rates of the program following training courses, obtained through a specific survey carried out by contacting teachers in the year 2010; c) the number of the adolescent population in the various Italian regions; d) the effectiveness data for the Italian sample; e) i updated regional usage prevalence data. Results: Through various national funding, a national network of Unplugged trainers has been established from the following regions: Valle D'Aosta, Piedmont, Lombardy, Liguria, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Autonomous Province of Trento, Tuscany, Marche, Lazio, Abruzzo, Molise, Puglia, Calabria, Sicily. According to the effectiveness data of the European project for the Italian sample alone, the program reduces the proportion of 13-14-year-old children who have been drunk at least once in the last month from 14.7% to 8.9%. By applying the program implementation rate, and adjusting the prevalence based on the most up-to-date regional data, it is possible to estimate how many children did not get drunk even once thanks to Unplugged in that school year. The same will be replicated for tobacco and cannabis. Conclusions: Through dissemination programs, Unplugged has probably had an impact on the use of tobacco, alcohol and substances in Italy over the past ten years. For the purpose of impact assessment, the availability of data on the youth population is essential, but also the continuous monitoring of the application of the program on the territory.