Pompidou Group Conference Families, lifestyles and drugs

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• Pompidou Group ConferenceFamilies, lifestyles
  and drugs
• reaching families in preventionProgramme
• Abstracts
• Porto, Portugal, 19 - 20 November 2007

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The Gorilla in the Cupboard

• Ms. Barlow presented the importance of involving
  families in prevention through socializing and
  developing communication skills program.
  Interactive approaches which emphasize family
  relations, cohesion and management play the
  central role in effective prevention. Through
  early identification and intervention, effective
  treatment and specialist provisions, the program
  is working towards its goal of ameliorating the
  situation for families affected by drug misuse.

Joy Barlow MBE STRADA (Scottish Training on
Drugs and Alcohol) United Kingdom
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Social Marketing focussing on Health Issues

• This presentation focused on the study of
  effective ways to market health issues. This
  marketing was done through the research of Social
  Milieus which are comprised of groups of like
  minded people. The following indicators were used
  in order to research the sentiments of social
  milieus social status, working life
  achievement, leisure time, lifestyle, further
  education. Through the results of this research,
  the program is better able to adapt the makerting
  of health issues to specific target groups.

Prof. Dr. Heiner Barz Heinrich-Heine
Universität Düsseldorf, Germany
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Effectiveness of Substance Abuse Prevention

• Dr. Bühlers presentation focused on the
  effectiveness of substance abuse prevention
  programmes at different levels. Through the
  evaluation of different programmes, it was
  concluded that prevention should always be
  family-oriented and interactive programmes are
  generally more effective than non-interactive
  programs. Mass-media campaigns are not effective
  alone but must be paired with other components
  such as family-oriented programmes. The most
  affective drug prevention programmes are those
  that combine general as well as specific content
  and interactive solutions.

Dr. Anneke Bühler Institut für Therapieforschung M
unich, Germany
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The state of drug prevention in the European
Union connecting to Families

• The presentation featured European statistics on
  family involvement in school based prevention,
  both universal and selective, for varying target
  groups. An indicated prevention for family and
  schools featured programs for children in the
  8-10 and 4 -14 age ranges, psychiatric diagnosis,
  treatment, cognitive-behaviouristic interventions
  as well as training programs in educational
  techniques for parents. Mass Media was presented
  as a good medium mainly to target family rather
  than adolescents and children.

Gregor Burkhart European Monitoring Centre for
Drugs and Drug addiction
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Support and information key factors in
involving families in prevention

• Mr Catano stresses the importance of informing
  families about the major behavioural risks facing
  their children. He recommends to use various
  media to reach families, especially TV which
  could broadcast educational programmes in prime
  times. But combating risk behaviours must
  necessarily be combined with improving in
  families socio-economic and cultural conditions.
  
• It requires support and co-operation of
  different agencies schools, authorities, NGOs,
  etc. Involving young people in the community
  life, using peer groups in educational process is
  necessary if we want to change behaviour patterns
  of the young people.

Machado Caetano
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Universal Prevention
Ms. Annete Cina introduced the 3P (Positive
Parenting Programme), developed in Australia and
adapted and implemented in Switzerland. The
results of the research that was part of the
project showed that many more parents consider
children problematic than experts do. At the same
time a lot of parents claim to have stress with
children, meaning they would need the help of a
specialist, but only one out of ten would
actually go to a specialist.

Annette Cina Educational Programme for Parents
(PPP), Switzerland
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Concept for new TV format The upcoming Italian
Information Campaign parents and drugs

• Mr. Coletti explained the principles of the
  Italian annual TV campaign against drug-use and
  the changes it has witnessed since its inception
  in 1994. This year the campaign has redirected
  its focus onto adults, particularly parents after
  research by the USA National Institute on Drug
  Abuse (NIDA) indicated the ineffectiveness of
  campaigns directed at youth. The main aim of this
  new campaign is to suggest proper and useful
  techniques to those parents who have (or think
  they have) children who use or abuse drugs.

Maurizio Coletti Ministerio della Solidarieta
Sociale Italy
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Targeting Vulnerable Groups

• The presentation outlined some commonly held
  beliefs about drug usage such as drug misuse is
  more frequent among homeless, careless and
  deprived young people, children whose parents
  use/misuse drugs, school excluded young people
  and early sexually active young people. Although
  these are commonly held beliefs, the presentation
  went on to say that inclusion criteria are not
  seen a definitive pre-cursor to problematic drug
  use and also not all young people experiencing
  the same factors became users/abusers. .

Maurizio Coletti Ministerio della Solidarieta
Sociale Italy
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21st Century Lifestyles

• Mr. Ives emphasized the need to develop the
  skills of evaluation, utilize new technologies
  and integrate the ideas of others. To be most
  effective, Mr. Ives concluded that we must learn
  from the past, evaluate the programmes and ideas
  that have been effective and constantly assess
  programmes within the rapid and constant changes
  of the world today.

Mr. Richard Ives educari United Kingdom
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New Communication Technologies in Drug Prevention

• This presentation provided advice on how to use
  new communication technologies in order to
  increase the effectiveness of drug prevention
  programs and campaigns. New technologies allow
  access at all times and can be tailored for each
  user meeting his or her unique needs. The
  presentation highlighted the many uses the
  internet can have, from information sites to
  real-life social networks. To be effective,
  however, Mr. Järventaus stressed the importance
  of keeping websites up-to date and interactive,
  as well tailored for the target audience.

Antti Järventaus A-Clinic Foundation Finland
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Working with Migrant Communities

• Ms. Knobel presented a Swiss programme FEMMES
  TISCHE. This programme brings together people who
  raise children to talk about issues around
  education, family roles, society and health. The
  programme targets women from migrant communities.
  The informal contact, respectful and warm
  environment helps to improve the social network.
  The meeting takes place at home of the hostess
  with 6-8 persons. A host introduces the subject
  with a short video and then manages the
  discussions. Thanks to the homen evironment
  FEMMES TISCHE reaches women of all social strata,
  even those who do not participate in training
  activities traditional.

Karin Knobel CARITAS Femmes Tische Switzerland
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Families in Mission

• Dr. Melo highlighted the Portuguese programme
  Families in Mission, funded by the Focused
  Intervention Programme of the Institute of Drugs
  and Drug Addiction. The Missions objective is to
  evaluate the efficacy of selective family-based
  programmes. Within this study, the Searching
  Family Treasure and Missão C programmes were
  presented. Both initiatives focus on the family
  to decrease substance abuse through three
  sources, parents, children and the family as a
  whole.

Dr Ana Melo Gabinete Social de Attendimento à
Família in Viana do Castelo Portugal
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Future of Prevention
Family structure has changed over the last
decades. Lack of time spend by parents with
family is one of the major factors contributing
to risks which families face today. Three factors
which help to prevent drug abuse in families
family bonding (love and attachment), family
supervision, family norms (communicating positive
values). A good family skills programme should
address three areas family skills, parents
skills, childrens social skills. Professionals
should take the following 5 As into consideration
while developing good prevention programme
availability, accessibility, acceptability,
affordability and adaptability.
Convincing parents to participate in programmes,
positive stimulation, good logistic organization
and well-prepared evaluation were other tips
given by Mr. Mendes.
Fernando J. F. Mendes National Institute of Drug
Abuse Portugal
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Universal Prevention
Ms. Vergeer emphasized the role of
professionals working in projects and their
advantages over voluntaries. Ms. Vergeer claimed
also that the strategies should be based on
research. Small neighborhoods should be examined,
highest-risk factors identified and addressed by
the projects. One should not develop programmes
that are intuitive and are not supported by
theory.

Mieke Vergeer Communities that Care The
Netherlands