Education sector responses to substance abuse refers to the way in which the education sector strategizes, developments and implements policies and practices that address the use of tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs in educational settings. [1]
Within the education sector, there is a diversity of actors and systems to address substance use. These are elements of an effective education sector response which include
Substance use is one of several important social and health issues that society calls on the education sector to address through the curriculum, along with other behavioural prevention areas, for example, mental health, sexual health, nutrition and bullying. In a curriculum, substance use prevention education is usually and most appropriately accommodated in a health-related subject area (variously termed healthy active living, health and family living, health and physical education, personal and social skills education, health and career education, life-skills education, etc.). [1]
Many schools choose also to supplement or replace the standard life-skills or other health-related curriculum with a manualized programme, i.e., a programme standardized through the creation of manuals and protocols for those who implement it. This has been shown by research to be effective in preventing substance use later in life and/ or supporting resilient mental health or acquiring life or academic skills. [2] [1]
Curriculum aiming to prevent substance use before the typical age of first use within the school system is directed at children who are around 6–12 years old. The typical age of first use of any substance will vary according to the national or local situation. Prevention education curriculum during this period is centred on what is referred to as ‘skills-based health education’. [3] [2] It aims to develop key personal and social skills such as those that support healthy emotional and social development during this period, and protect against later substance use. [1]
In addition to protecting against later substance use, skills-based education has also been shown to have a positive effect on general problem behaviours, commitment to school, academic performance, self-esteem, mental well- being, self-management and other social skills (besides Australia, Canada, Europe and the United States, the evidence also originates from Africa, Latin America and India). [4] [5] [2] [1]
Research has found that training increases the likelihood that a teacher will actually deliver skills-based prevention content, and do it in the way it was intended. Training can help teachers adapt programme methods to their own teaching styles and aptitudes, while retaining the core components of the programme. [1] [6]
At the school level, approaches to responding to substance use can be broken down into two categories: Universal prevention and selective and indicated prevention. [1]
Universal prevention aims to prevent substance use in the school population at large. This approach aims to reduce risks across the school or target age/ year group by providing knowledge and skills that are protective towards substance use, or by changing school policies and environment in ways that prevent and reduce substance use among all students. [1]
‚Selective and indicated prevention targets individuals or groups deemed at particular risk of initiating substance use or who are already involved in substance use behaviours. These approaches involve identifying at-risk individuals or groups and targeting prevention efforts towards them, or identifying those who are showing early signs of substance use and then intervening. [1]
Schools are experimenting with Mindfulness programs in classrooms to reduce stress and anxiety of students. Yoga and the practice of being present in one’s environment provide a life-long stress reduction tool and improve social, emotional, and physical health. [7] In addition to Yoga and Mindfulness, social emotional learning has been newly introduced into substance use prevention programs, with the goal of increasing self-awareness and reducing risky behaviors associated with substance use. [8]
Previous drug intervention programs involved “just saying no”, which offers no defense against temptation, other than a strong will to avoid peer pressure. [9] Mindfulness and other stress-reduction techniques offer a tool that combats the need for drug use by teaching individuals how to process emotions effectively rather than numbing emotions or stress with substances. [9]
In the United States, acceptance of meditation and yoga programs in public schools is needed, as there is some resistance from parents and those who feel these practices have religious origins, violating religious freedoms provisions under article 1, section 4 of the California Constitution guided under the First Amendment. In the case of Sedlock V. Baird, the Appellate court rejected Sedlock's claim of unconstitutional yoga teaching in the district of Encinitas, CA, deeming yoga as non-religious. These practices are worth pursuing in the education sector, as there is scientific evidence emerging of the health benefits, along with the argument that any reasonable students would not be swayed for or against religion through these exercises. [10]
While mediation and yoga may be controversial, there is a strong case for some form of life skills training to strengthen teen's resistance to drug use. Mentor programs also act as preventative maintenance in guiding the youth away from maladaptive behaviors. A core issue of addiction is that it is often learned behavior from family exposure, and the cycle persists. [11] Mentorship programs along with meditation, yoga, and social emotional learning in schools show great promise for breaking the cycle of addiction in families.
School health services are most commonly led by nurses, but doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists, dentists, social workers and counsellors may also be involved. By virtue of their professional training, nurses are very well positioned to provide a central role with school-based health services and with substance use prevention. Their professional role permits them to: [1]
At the national level, education sector involvement is most effective in the context of a long-term integrated substance use prevention and control system or strategy that targets various ages and levels of vulnerability through a full range of sectors. A majority of countries have national policies or strategies/ action plans concerned with tobacco and the reduction of supply and demand of drugs, and many have a separate alcohol policy or strategy. However, the trend is toward comprehensive and balanced policies or strategies that integrate the various substances. [1]
Current substance use control strategies increasingly understand substance use to be first and foremost a health issue that is best addressed through a range of demand reduction measures including early intervention; treatment; rehabilitation; recovery and social reintegration measures; and measures to minimize the public health and social consequences of substance abuse. [12] All of these functions, including prevention, can fall within the purview of a public health system. [1]
The national education sector derives a clear mandate to respond to substance use through policy language that typically calls the sector to take responsibility for promoting ‘health and safety’, ‘healthy lifestyles’ or ‘life- skills’ among students. For example, within the Eastern European and Central Asian region, most countries address the primary goal of substance use prevention by establishing education laws that oblige schools to build skills and foster a culture of healthy lifestyles and safe behaviour among children and young people. [13] Within this context, national education sector substance use prevention policy has taken a number of forms, and can be categorized as follows: [1]
National substance policies may mandate school policies to prevent substance use and its health and social consequences within schools. This typically includes bans on substances (use, selling, and advertising) on school premises or surrounding properties. School rules relating to substance use often include the behaviours of teachers and other adults, and policies regarding dealing with substance use-related incidents. [1]
National education policies may enshrine the duty of schools to provide health and/or substance use-related education and training. Such training is often incorporated within other subject headings such as science or physical education, or in free-standing health or personal skills curricula. This often implies that prevention methodologies and contents are part of the mandatory teacher training. [1]
National policies may mandate the implementation of school health services. These services allow for the provision of an accessible range of health services including preventive, routine, and acute health services for students. They may include a range of personnel, including school nurses, advisors and counsellors, and mental health professionals. The services provided often contribute to preventive education, the development of school health and substance use policies, early identification and interventions, and connections with the social and health sectors. [1]
School substance use prevention can be encouraged and guided by quality standards. They are increasingly available (e.g. European drug prevention quality standards; [14] Canadian Standards for School-based Youth Substance Abuse Prevention), [15] and typically advocate for evidence-based programming, sound planning, and design, comprehensive activity, monitoring, evaluation, professional development, and sustainability. Quality standards help to support national policy initiatives and guide schools in meeting their mandate to promote health and prevent substance use. [1]
Some countries participate in global or regional monitoring or conduct national-level monitoring of substance use prevalence among children and adolescents. This is not an education sector activity per se but it does indicate that the issue is a priority, providing a measure of endorsement and most importantly, guidance, for school prevention activity. [1]
A number of international statutes stipulate the responsibility of various sectors, including the education sector, to prevent and minimize harm from substance use among children and young people. Most relevant are the following: [1]
This article incorporates text from a free content work. Licensed under CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0( license statement/permission ). Text taken from Education sector responses to the use of alcohol, tobacco and drugs , 30-37, 41, 44, 53, UNESCO, UNESCO. UNESCO.
Harm reduction, or harm minimization, refers to a range of intentional practices and public health policies designed to lessen the negative social and/or physical consequences associated with various human behaviors, both legal and illegal. Harm reduction is used to decrease negative consequences of recreational drug use and sexual activity without requiring abstinence, recognizing that those unable or unwilling to stop can still make positive change to protect themselves and others.
Drug Abuse Resistance Education, or D.A.R.E., is an education program that tries to prevent use of controlled drugs, membership in gangs, and violent behavior. It was founded in Los Angeles in 1983 as a joint initiative of then-LAPD chief Daryl Gates and the Los Angeles Unified School District as a demand-side drug control strategy of the American War on Drugs.
School violence includes violence between school students as well as attacks by students on school staff and attacks by school staff on students. It encompasses physical violence, including student-on-student fighting, corporal punishment; psychological violence such as verbal abuse, and sexual violence, including rape and sexual harassment. It includes many forms of bullying and carrying weapons to school. The one or more perpetrators typically have more physical, social, and/or psychological power than the victim. It is a widely accepted serious societal problem in recent decades in many countries, especially where weapons such as guns or knives are involved.
Alcohol education is the practice of disseminating information about the effects of alcohol on health, as well as society and the family unit. It was introduced into the public schools by temperance organizations such as the Woman's Christian Temperance Union in the late 19th century. Initially, alcohol education focused on how the consumption of alcoholic beverages affected society, as well as the family unit. In the 1930s, this came to also incorporate education pertaining to alcohol's effects on health. For example, even light and moderate alcohol consumption increases cancer risk in individuals. Organizations such as the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism in the United States were founded to promulgate alcohol education alongside those of the temperance movement, such as the American Council on Alcohol Problems.
Drug education is the planned provision of information, guidelines, resources, and skills relevant to living in a world where psychoactive substances are widely available and commonly used for a variety of both medical and non-medical purposes, some of which may lead to harms such as overdose, injury, infectious disease, or addiction.
Brief intervention can often be referred to as screening and brief intervention (SBI) or, in England, identification and brief advice (IBA). Brief interventions are a technique used to initiate change for an unhealthy or risky behaviour such as smoking, lack of exercise or alcohol misuse. This page primarily describes brief interventions as applied to alcohol. As an alcohol intervention it is typically targeted to non-dependent drinkers, or drinkers who might be experiencing problems but are not seeking treatment. It is an approach which aims to prevent the acceleration or impact of alcohol problems, and/or to reduce alcohol consumption. It can be carried out in a range of settings such as in primary care, emergency or other hospital departments, criminal justice settings, workplaces, online, university/college settings, and other settings.
Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) is a sex education instruction method based on a curriculum that aims to give students the holistic knowledge, attitudes, skills, and values to make healthy and informed choices in their sexual lives. The intention is that this understanding will help students understand their body and reproductive processes, engage in safer sex by reduce incidents of contracting sexually transmitted infections (STIs) such as HIV and HPV, reduce unplanned and unwanted pregnancies, as well as lowering rates of domestic and sexual violence.
The Australian National Council on Drugs (ANCD) describes itself as "the principal advisory body to Government on drug policy and plays a critical role in ensuring the voice of the community is heard in relation to drug related policies and strategies." The Council occupies a unique position by virtue of its role in enhancing the partnership between the government and the community. It has pivotal advisory, advocacy and representative functions, with a significant role to provide government Ministers with independent, expert advice on matters related to licit and illicit drugs.
The Drug Resistance Strategies Project (DRS), a program funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), teaches adolescents and pre-adolescents how to make decisions and resist alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs (ATOD).
Substance abuse prevention, also known as drug abuse prevention, is a process that attempts to prevent the onset of substance use or limit the development of problems associated with using psychoactive substances. Prevention efforts may focus on the individual or their surroundings. A concept that is known as "environmental prevention" focuses on changing community conditions or policies so that the availability of substances is reduced as well as the demand. Individual Substance Abuse Prevention, also known as drug abuse prevention involves numerous different sessions depending on the individual to help cease or reduce the use of substances. The time period to help a specific individual can vary based upon many aspects of an individual. The type of Prevention efforts should be based upon the individual's necessities which can also vary. Substance use prevention efforts typically focus on minors and young adults – especially between 12–35 years of age. Substances typically targeted by preventive efforts include alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, inhalants, coke, methamphetamine, steroids, club drugs, and opioids. Community advocacy against substance use is imperative due to the significant increase in opioid overdoses in the United States alone. It has been estimated that about one hundred and thirty individuals continue to lose their lives daily due to opioid overdoses alone.
With less than 0.1 percent of the population estimated to be HIV-positive, Bangladesh is a low HIV-prevalence country.
Communities That Care (CTC) is a program of the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) in the office of the United States Government's Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). CTC is a coalition-based prevention operating system that uses a public health approach to prevent youth problem behaviors such as violence, delinquency, school drop out and substance abuse. Using strategic consultation, training, and research-based tools, CTC is designed to help community stakeholders and decision makers understand and apply information about risk and protective factors, and programs that are proven to make a difference in promoting healthy youth development, in order to most effectively address the specific issues facing their community's youth.
Life skills are abilities for adaptive and positive behavior that enable humans to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of life. This concept is also termed as psychosocial competency. The subject varies greatly depending on social norms and community expectations but skills that function for well-being and aid individuals to develop into active and productive members of their communities are considered as life skills.
Relapse prevention (RP) is a cognitive-behavioral approach to relapse with the goal of identifying and preventing high-risk situations such as unhealthy substance use, obsessive-compulsive behavior, sexual offending, obesity, and depression. It is an important component in the treatment process for alcohol use disorder, or alcohol dependence. This model founding is attributed to Terence Gorski's 1986 book Staying Sober.
School-based prevention programs are initiatives implemented into school settings that aim to increase children's academic success and reduce high-risk problem behaviors.
Climate change education (CCE) is education that aims to address and develop effective responses to climate change. It helps learners understand the causes and consequences of climate change, prepares them to live with the impacts of climate change and empowers learners to take appropriate actions to adopt more sustainable lifestyles. Climate change and climate change education are global challenges that can be anchored in the curriculum in order to provide local learning and widen up mindset shits on how climate change can be mitigated. In such as case CCE is more than climate change literacy but understanding ways of dealing with climate
Prevention of mental disorders are measures that try to decrease the chances of a mental disorder occurring. A 2004 WHO report stated that "prevention of these disorders is obviously one of the most effective ways to reduce the disease burden." The 2011 European Psychiatric Association (EPA) guidance on prevention of mental disorders states "There is considerable evidence that various psychiatric conditions can be prevented through the implementation of effective evidence-based interventions." A 2011 UK Department of Health report on the economic case for mental health promotion and mental illness prevention found that "many interventions are outstandingly good value for money, low in cost and often become self-financing over time, saving public expenditure". In 2016, the National Institute of Mental Health re-affirmed prevention as a research priority area.
School violence prevention through education is the attempt to reduce violence and bullying through comprehensive approaches and interventions within the education sector. It aims to create a safe and non-violent learning environment. Acceptable practices include strong leadership; a safe and inclusive school environment; developing knowledge, attitudes, and skills; effective partnerships; implementing mechanisms for reporting and providing appropriate support and services, and collecting and using evidence.
J. David Hawkins is an American sociologist, academic, and author. He is Emeritus Endowed Professor of Prevention and founding director of the Social Development Research Group in the School of Social Work at the University of Washington. His research focuses on the prevention of behavior problems in children and adolescents. He developed the Communities That Care prevention system with Richard F. Catalano.
Community crime prevention relates to interventions designed to bring reform to the social conditions that influence, and encourage, offending in residential communities. Community crime prevention has a focus on both the social and local institutions found within communities which can influence crime rates, specifically juvenile delinquency.