From the 2024 Global Conference held in Thessaloniki, Greece.
Author: Dr. Fernando Salazar
Prevention of the use of psychoactive substances in schools is still widely addressed by providing information on the risks of substance use, usually with untrained external actors to schools, and with practices that are not articulated with school curricula, which may be manifested in the rejection of the interventions and increase of psychoactive substance use observed in adolescents. This situation is also happening in Peru. On the other hand, prevention currently has the support of the knowledge of the science of prevention and international quality standards that provide us with effective strategies that can help the healthy development of children and adolescents. A prevention model based on the Universal Prevention Curriculum (UPC) School-based interventions for Implementers and UNODC quality standards was developed in 31 schools in Peru from 2018 to 2021, by the Cayetano Heredia Peruvian University. School teachers were trained to implement interventions following the UPC sequence, and logic models were developed to link training, implementation, and results. The short-term results sought were the readiness of the school community for prevention; building leadership teams for prevention; development and implementation of a school policy for the prevention of psychoactive substance use; implementation of positive school climate practices; and implementation of a school curriculum for prevention. The entire process was followed by a monitoring and technical assistance team to ensure fidelity to the design of the interventions and their adaptation to the local environment. The evaluation of the intervention was done with an RCT design, and at the end of the intervention alcohol, tobacco, and perceived use of marijuana were lower. These results support the use of prevention science and quality standards for guiding effective interventions.