gms | German Medical Science

MAINZ//2011: 56. GMDS-Jahrestagung und 6. DGEpi-Jahrestagung

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Medizinische Informatik, Biometrie und Epidemiologie e. V.
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Epidemiologie e. V.

26. - 29.09.2011 in Mainz

Examining the social norms approach for the prevention and reduction of drug use in university and college students in six European countries: The Social Norms Intervention for the Prevention of Polydrug usE (SNIPE) project

Meeting Abstract

  • Claudia Pischke - Bremer Institut für Präventionsforschung und Sozialmedizin, Bremen
  • Stefanie Helmer - Bremer Institut für Präventionsforschung und Sozialmedizin, Bremen
  • Katharina Gallois - Bremer Institut für Präventionsforschung und Sozialmedizin, Bremen
  • Rafael Mikolajczyk - Bremer Institut für Präventionsforschung und Sozialmedizin, Bremen
  • Hajo Zeeb - Bremer Institut für Prävention und Sozialmedizin, Bremen

Mainz//2011. 56. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Medizinische Informatik, Biometrie und Epidemiologie (gmds), 6. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Epidemiologie (DGEpi). Mainz, 26.-29.09.2011. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2011. Doc11gmds247

doi: 10.3205/11gmds247, urn:nbn:de:0183-11gmds2471

Published: September 20, 2011

© 2011 Pischke et al.
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Outline

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Background: Previous studies investigating the role of social norms in relation to alcohol and tobacco use have shown that incorrect perceptions about the rates of consumption in the peer group are predictive of personal rates of consumption. Correcting these misperceptions by exposing individuals to actual norm messages may lead to reductions in drug use. In fact, previous research conducted in the US found that social norms interventions were successful in reducing licit drug use in university and college students. However, it is unknown whether social norms play a role regarding illicit and poly-drug use in European university and college students. Further, the efficacy of interventions using corrective social norms feedback to both reduce licit drug use and to prevent illicit and poly-drug use in this population is unexplored.

Objective: To describe the planned development, implementation and evaluation of a social norms e-health intervention aimed at reducing licit and/or preventing the use of illicit drugs in university and college students in the EU-funded SNIPE project.

Methods & intervention – Planned Work Streams: An online questionnaire based on existing social norms surveys used in American studies with respect to alcohol and tobacco misuse in college and university students will be extended for the assessment of illicit and poly-drug use and will be pre-tested in a small group of students in each of the 6 participating European countries. Subsequently, 1000 students will be recruited to the intervention and 1000 students to the non-intervention control groups in each country. All study participants will complete the online questionnaire assessing rates of drug use at baseline and 5-months follow-up. The baseline data on personal and peer drug use will be used to create social norms messages which will be employed in the e-health intervention that will be made available through a website portal. For the following 5 months, intervention group participants will receive individualized social norms feedback based on the expected discrepancy between perceptions of personal and peer group drug use. We expect to observe greater reductions in self-reported drug use in the intervention compared to the control groups at the 5-months follow-up.

Discussion: The SNIPE-project is the first cross-national European study to assess and reduce and/or prevent the consumption of licit and illicit drugs among university and college students using the social norms approach. This study will deliver important data on the feasibility of this approach in the European context.