The focus of indicated prevention is on individual people, therefore less emphasis is placed on assessing or addressing environmental influences, such as community values. Nevertheless, school and family are important intervention settings. Indicated prevention is only very recently gaining importance and no regular data collection from Member States is yet in place.

However, some of the intervention examples with the highest level in EDDRA and other examples from Member States illustrate the potential of indicated prevention. A literature and projects review on indicated prevention commissioned by the EMCDDA was published in 2009.

• School

• Community

• Family

Thematic paper: Preventing later substance use disorders in at-risk children and adolescents

School

Indicated prevention in school settings focuses predominantly on identification, intervention, support and sometimes referral of pupils withbehavioural problems (or even mental health problems), independent of whether they already use drugs.

Example from Spain - Santiago de Compostela University: “Let’s begin”: multi-component intervention for behavioural problems in primary education

The programme is aimed at children between the ages of 8 and 10 with disruptive behavioural problems in the classroom (impulsiveness, aggressiveness, attention problems, hyperactivity). It consists of component for parents (12 sessions: a training programme in educational techniques for parents), components for children (on emotions, cognitive skills for acquiring perspectiveand problem solving, social skills relating particularly to empathy, non-verbal communication and forming friendship) and components for teachers; providing them with the necessary skills to deal with the disruptive behaviour of children, promoting positive behaviour and improving communication with parents in order to establish coherent and coordinated action guidelines between home and school. Read more in EDDRA

Example from Netherlands and Belgium: Good Behaviour Game (GBG), a preventive classroom-based intervention for 7-10 year old pupils

Also this programme targets reduction of disruptive behaviour problems, of smoking and of alcohol problems at later age (10-13 years). In the study results, alcohol problems appeared to be comparable at pre-test among both the GBG-group and the non-participant group, whereas tobacco problems and disruptive behaviour problems were reduced. Read more in EDDRA

Community

Identifying and intervening with high risk youth on an individual level in community settings is more difficult. Anexample we couldmention are the emergency ward interventions for youngsters who have been hospitalised for excessivealcohol intake. Briefsessions with motivational interventions are mostly used. See HaLT – Hart am LimiT in Germany.

The programme Coping Power in the Netherlands targets children with disruptive behaviour in a clinical setting. Read more in EDDRA

Family

Indicated prevention for families concentrates predominantly on identifying, approaching and supporting families with children at risk, independent of whether there is drug use in the family.

The programme targets families with pre-adolescent children (aged between 9 and 13) with problems of adaptation and performance at school and early and persistent behavioural problems, which do not yet require a specialised therapeutic intervention. It consists of individual sessions foreither parents orchildren and sessions whereparents and childrentake part together.