Abstract
Injury is a leading cause of adolescent deaths, with risk-taking associated with a sizeable proportion of injuries and many of those risks undertaken in the presence of peers or with peers’ knowledge. Novel ways to promote safety are required and using the peer-relationship may be an important mechanism for prevention. This study reports on the implementation evaluation of the Skills for Preventing Injury in Youth (SPIY) program. SPIY is a high-school program designed to reduce injury by encouraging peers to look out for one another and prevent risk-taking, complemented by developing peer helping and first aid skills as well as school connectedness. 152 students and 12 teachers who delivered SPIY participated in separate 30 min focus groups and reported on students’ understanding of peer protective behaviour and the program implementation (adherence, dose, quality of program delivery, and participant responsiveness). Students reported on many approaches to protecting friends and both students and teachers reported they found the program interesting, interactive, and able to be delivered. Peer protection messages were relevant and acceptable to teachers and students in a risk-taking harm reduction program to reduce adolescent injury.
Highlights
Injury has a major and preventable impact on the health of young people
This study reports on the implementation evaluation of Skills for Preventing Injury in Youth (SPIY) and in particular how young people understood the key peer protection messages in the program
Students in the schools that implemented SPIY had a mean age of 13.46 years just prior to the implementation of SPIY, 85.1% identified their country of birth to be Australia and 3.7% identified that they were Australian Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples
Summary
Injury has a major and preventable impact on the health of young people. In Australia, injury accounts for more deaths than all other causes combined among 12–24 year olds and can leave serious and long term conditions [1]. In the U.S, nationally representative data from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey shows 24% of high school students reported they were involved in a physical fight [2]. While alcohol use has declined in the past decade, there were still 29% of adolescents who reported use in the past 30 days [3]. Australia shows a decline in adolescent drinking and reports of use in the past week are at 15% of high school students recorded in Australia’s largest national survey of adolescent substance use [4]. While rates of all risk-taking behaviours have decreased in recent decades, injury is still the leading cause of morbidity and mortality among adolescents [1]. Continued small group role play and work in pairs to consider support seeking Choking, CPR. Problem solving and support seeking–identifying facilitators and barriers to help seeking in different contexts (with peers and adults)
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