Valutazione di efficacia di un programma scolastico contro fumo, alcol e droghe in Europa: primi risultati dello studio EU-dap (European Drug Addiction Prevention trial)

[Machine translation] Introduction: EU-DAP is a European multicenter study - promoted by the Epidemiological Observatory of Addiction of the Piedmont Region together with the Universities of Turin and Eastern Piedmont, and funded by the European Commission as part of the European Public Health Program. The objective is to evaluate the effectiveness of an innovative tobacco, alcohol and drug use prevention program based on “social skills”, social skills, administered during the 2004-2005 school year in 141 European schools (7th, 8th, 9th grade). The study is randomized and involves a control group. It is conducted in 9 centers in 7 European countries. Methods: Schools were randomized into 3 intervention groups (basic curriculum, peer curriculum, parent curriculum) and 1 control group (usual school curriculum). 7079 students were enrolled. Among them, 3547 included in one of the three intervention groups and 3532 included in the control group. The behaviors under study were evaluated at baseline (one month before the start of the intervention program) and at follow-up (three months after the end of the intervention program) through a self-administered questionnaire. The effect estimate was measured with a Multi Level regression model that took into account the study design with “cluster” sampling. Results: at follow-up, continuous smokers decreased among students in the intervention groups compared to those in the control group (OR=0.85; 0.65-1.10); likewise, regular smokers (OR=0.88; 0.71-1.08) or daily smokers (OR=0.74; 0.55-0.99). The EU-DAP project is the first European program for evaluating the effectiveness of a substance use prevention intervention, which involved 7 EC Member States, 9 European centers and 8 different languages. The intervention seems to show positive effects, at least in the short term, on tobacco use.