Teen alcohol programme has 'no effect': study
A nationwide programme aimed at tackling drinking among young people has 'no effect' at all on drinking habits, according to a new study.
The Örebro Prevention Programme (ÖPP) is used in at least 190 Swedish municipalities to get young people to drink less. But an evaluation of 40 different schools came to the conclusion that the program had no effect at all on young people's drinking habits.
"We can not find any effects on young people's drinking. Nothing in regards to the frequency of binge drinking, no change in first intoxication nor weekly consumption," said researcher Maria Bodin at the Karolinska Institute who carried out the study on behalf of Stad, Stockholm's drug and alcohol prevention programme to the Svenska Dagbladet (SvD) daily.
The ÖPP was used in 190 of 290 Swedish municipalities in 2008 and the number has increased since then.
The researcher Nikoalaus Koutakis at Örebro University, who developed the ÖPP, is however critical of the study and pointed to previously positive assessments of the method.
The programme was developed at the end of 1990 by Koutakis and other researchers at Örebro university in response to statistics indicating that alcohol consumption among 16-year-olds had climbed for three consecutive years.
The ÖPP is aimed at parents of children aged 13-16-years-old and aimed at cutting binge drinking and delaying the first consumption of alcohol.
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The Örebro Prevention Programme (ÖPP) is used in at least 190 Swedish municipalities to get young people to drink less. But an evaluation of 40 different schools came to the conclusion that the program had no effect at all on young people's drinking habits.
"We can not find any effects on young people's drinking. Nothing in regards to the frequency of binge drinking, no change in first intoxication nor weekly consumption," said researcher Maria Bodin at the Karolinska Institute who carried out the study on behalf of Stad, Stockholm's drug and alcohol prevention programme to the Svenska Dagbladet (SvD) daily.
The ÖPP was used in 190 of 290 Swedish municipalities in 2008 and the number has increased since then.
The researcher Nikoalaus Koutakis at Örebro University, who developed the ÖPP, is however critical of the study and pointed to previously positive assessments of the method.
The programme was developed at the end of 1990 by Koutakis and other researchers at Örebro university in response to statistics indicating that alcohol consumption among 16-year-olds had climbed for three consecutive years.
The ÖPP is aimed at parents of children aged 13-16-years-old and aimed at cutting binge drinking and delaying the first consumption of alcohol.
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