A feasibility trial to examine the social norms approach for the prevention and reduction of licit and illicit drug use in European University and college students

Claudia R Pischke,Rafael T Mikolajczyk,Yildiz Akvardar,Christiane Stock,Ferdinand Salonna,Guido Van Hal,Hajo Zeeb,Ondrej Kalina,John Mcalaney,Francisco Guillén-Grima,Bart Vriesacker,Stefanie M Helmer,Olga Orosova,Bridgette M Bewick

doi:10.1186/1471-2458-12-882

Abstract

BackgroundIncorrect perceptions of high rates of peer alcohol and tobacco use are predictive of increased personal use in student populations. Correcting misperceptions by providing feedback has been shown to be an effective intervention for reducing licit drug use. It is currently unknown if social norms interventions are effective in preventing and reducing illicit drug use in European students. The purpose of this paper is to describe the design of a multi-site cluster controlled trial of a web-based social norms intervention aimed at reducing licit and preventing illicit drug use in European university students.Methods/DesignAn online questionnaire to assess rates of drug use will be developed and translated based on existing social norms surveys. Students from sixteen universities in seven participating European countries will be invited to complete the questionnaire. Both intervention and control sites will be chosen by convenience. In each country, the intervention site will be the university that the local principal investigator is affiliated with. We aim to recruit 1000 students per site (baseline assessment). All participants will complete the online questionnaire at baseline. Baseline data will be used to develop social norms messages that will be included in a web-based intervention. The intervention group will receive individualized social norms feedback. The website will remain online during the following 5 months. After five months, a second survey will be conducted and effects of the intervention on social norms and drug use will be measured in comparison to the control site.DiscussionThis project is the first cross-national European collaboration to investigate the feasibility of a social norms intervention to reduce licit and prevent illicit drug use among European university students.Final trial registration numberDRKS00004375 on the ‘German Clinical Trials Register’.

Highlights

Incorrect perceptions of high rates of peer alcohol and tobacco use are predictive of increased personal use in student populations
This project is the first cross-national European collaboration to investigate the feasibility of a social norms intervention to reduce licit and prevent illicit drug use among European university students
In the past three decades, a multitude of public health strategies targeted toward the prevention of drug use among young adults emerged in the United States of America (USA) and the European Union (EU)

Summary

Introduction

Incorrect perceptions of high rates of peer alcohol and tobacco use are predictive of increased personal use in student populations. Correcting misperceptions by providing feedback has been shown to be an effective intervention for reducing licit drug use. It is currently unknown if social norms interventions are effective in preventing and reducing illicit drug use in European students. The purpose of this paper is to describe the design of a multi-site cluster controlled trial of a web-based social norms intervention aimed at reducing licit and preventing illicit drug use in European university students. Licit and illicit drug use remains a major public health threat in Europe. The use of multiple drugs at the same time (i.e., polydrug use) is widespread in Europe with the majority of drug use combinations including alcohol [1]. No largescale study has compared single and polydrug use by college and university students living in different EU countries

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