Extrait

Background and study aims The use of alcohol, tobacco and illegal drugs by young people impacts on their health in the short and long term, and is also associated with anti-social behaviour, crime and dropping out of school. Many of the factors which protect young people from misusing drugs and alcohol, or put them at greater risk of doing so, are linked to family life and parenting. The Strengthening Families Programme 10-14 UK (SFP10-14 UK) aims to strengthen these protective factors (parenting, family communication, and young people's resilience skills) and simultaneously reduce key risk factors that are located within families. Research in the United States has found some evidence that the SFP10-14 delays and reduces substance use (alcohol, tobacco and illegal drugs) by young people. This study will examine whether the results found in the US translate to a UK context. It will identify whether the programme delays or reduces substance use, and collect information that will help with wider implementation of the programme if successful. Who can participate? Families with a child aged 10-14. What does the study involve? All families are randomly allocated as a family unit to either receive the intervention or to join the control group. For most families, the research will involve each family member completing a questionnaire when we first visit you, and then again two years later. On average this visit will take 1-2 hours and a member of the research team visits the home on both occasions to collect this information. We will also phone parents/carers 9 and 15 months after they join the study to ask some questions about family life and the kinds of support services the family uses. The phone call will last about 30 minutes. If participants attend the Strengthening Families Programme, we may like to observe one or two of the Programme sessions which they attend. This will help us to understand how the Programme is being delivered and received. We will only observe the session if everyone who attends that session agrees. We will also ask about 20 families from each area to take part in focus groups. Families are free to decide whether or not they wish to take part. The questions asked in focus groups conducted with families who attended the programme will be about the SFP and their experience of attending. The questions asked in focus groups conducted with control group families will be about the kinds of services they use. The focus group will take about an hour for parents and about 45 minutes for young people. Focus groups will be audio taped (if families agree to this) or notes will be taken from which anonymous quotations may be used when we report the results of the research. If participants are happy for us to do so we also like to take a sample of saliva from the child/children at the end of the project which we will test to see how much tobacco smoke they have inhaled over the last few days. We will do this by asking them to place a cotton wool swab in their mouths for a few minutes. What are the possible benefits and risks of participating? Each family will receive regular updates about how the research is going and will find out the results from the project as a whole at the end. We hope that the information we will have collected by the end of the trial will help improve the provision of support services for other families and that families’ views and experiences will help inform future national policy. Families receive goodie bags when they begin taking part in the research. Families who take part in telephone interviews at 9 and 15 month follow-up will be entered into prize draws to win a family treat, and all adults and children who answer the questions at the end of the project (at 2 years) will be given a £10 voucher each as a way of saying thank you for your help. Families allocated to the intervention have the opportunity to attend the 7-week Strengthening Families Programme. There are no risks involved in the trial. Where is the study run from? The study is based in seven sites in Wales - Caerphilly, Merthyr, Wrexham, Swansea, Carmarthenshire, Flintshire and Rhondda Cynon Taf. The sites are centrally coordinated in Cardiff. When is the study starting and how long is it expected to run for? The study started in September 2009 and is expected to run until December 2014. Recruitment has now finished. Who is funding the study? The research is funded by the National Prevention Research Initiative and includes the cost of the delivering the programme in three local areas. The Welsh Government is funding the remaining cost of delivering the programme. Who is the main contact? Claire Thomas, Trial Manager Tel.: 02920 879053 [email protected]

Critère d'inclusion

• Substance misuse

Liens

• ictrp
• isrctn