Climate Schools Plus (CSP) Study

March 2018
Staff: 

NDARC:
Associate Professor Nicola Newton
Dr Cath Chapman
Associate Professor Tim Slade
Dr Louise Thornton
Ms Chloe Conroy
Miss Dana Leidl
Professor Maree Teesson

NDRI:
Professor Steve Allsop

Other Collaborators: 

Dr Ina Koning, Utrecht University, The Netherlands
Sara Hole, Parent Consultant

Project description: 

This study will investigate the first online alcohol and substance use prevention program targeted at both students and their parents. Students will receive the Climate Schools substance use modules during their health classes, while their parents will be asked to view webinars, rank rules and access their own modules and summaries in line with the student program content. The attitudes and behaviours of students and parents towards alcohol and cannabis will be assessed over three years, to investigate the influence of the Climate Schools Plus program on these outcomes.

Parents are key agents of adolescent socialisation, especially in the initiation and development of substance use and parenting interventions that have been identified as critical components of effective substance use prevention programs. Despite this, there is currently no Australian substance use prevention program that targets both students and parents, and no integrated model internationally that adopts an online delivery approach to overcome barriers to implementation and sustainability. Therefore, the current study will evaluate a novel approach to adolescent substance use prevention.

For full details of this project please visit the NDARC website.