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Brief Summary

GUIDELINE TITLE

Interventions in schools to prevent and reduce alcohol use among children and young people.

BIBLIOGRAPHIC SOURCE(S)

  • National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE). Interventions in schools to prevent and reduce alcohol use among children and young people. London (UK): National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE); 2007 Nov. 45 p. (Public health guidance; no. 7). [23 references]

GUIDELINE STATUS

This is the current release of the guideline.

BRIEF SUMMARY CONTENT

 
RECOMMENDATIONS
 EVIDENCE SUPPORTING THE RECOMMENDATIONS
 IDENTIFYING INFORMATION AND AVAILABILITY
 DISCLAIMER

 Go to the Complete Summary

RECOMMENDATIONS

MAJOR RECOMMENDATIONS

This document constitutes the Institute's formal guidance on interventions in schools to prevent and reduce alcohol use among children and young people. It also looks at how to link these interventions with community initiatives, including those run by children's services.

The evidence statements that underpin the recommendations are listed in appendix C of the original guideline document.

School-Based Education and Advice

Recommendation 1

Who is the target population?

Children and young people in schools.

Who should take action?

Head teachers, teachers, school governors and others who work in (or with) schools including: school nurses, counsellors, healthy school leads, personal, social, and health education (PSHE) coordinators in primary schools and personal, social, health. and economic (PSHE) education coordinators in secondary schools.

What action should they take?

  • Ensure alcohol education is an integral part of the national science, PSHE and PSHE education curricula, in line with Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) guidance.
  • Ensure alcohol education is tailored for different age groups and takes different learning needs into account (based, for example, on individual, social, and environmental factors). It should aim to encourage children not to drink, delay the age at which young people start drinking, and reduce the harm it can cause among those who do drink. Education programmes should:
    • Increase knowledge of the potential damage alcohol use can cause—physically, mentally, and socially (including the legal consequences)
    • Provide the opportunity to explore attitudes to—and perceptions of—alcohol use
    • Help develop decision-making, assertiveness, coping, and verbal/non-verbal skills
    • Help develop self-esteem
    • Increase awareness of how the media, advertisements, role models, and the views of parents, peers, and society can influence alcohol consumption
  • Introduce a "whole school" approach to alcohol, in line with Department for Children, Schools and Families guidance. It should involve staff, parents, and pupils and cover everything from policy development and the school environment to the professional development of (and support for) staff.
  • Where appropriate, offer parents or carers information about where they can get help to develop their parenting skills. (This includes problem-solving and communication skills, and advice on setting boundaries for their children and teaching them how to resist peer pressure.)

Recommendation 2

Who is the target population?

Children and young people in schools who are thought to be drinking harmful amounts of alcohol.

Who should take action?

Teachers, school nurses, and school counsellors.

What action should they take?

  • Where appropriate, offer brief, one-to-one advice on the harmful effects of alcohol use, how to reduce the risks, and where to find sources of support. Offer a follow-up consultation or make a referral to external services, where necessary.
  • Where appropriate, make a direct referral to external services (without providing one-to-one advice).
  • Follow best practice on child protection, consent, and confidentiality. Where appropriate, involve parents or carers in the consultation and any referral to external services.

Partnerships

Recommendation 3

Who is the target population?

Children and young people in schools.

Who should take action?

  • Head teachers, school governors, healthy school leads, and school nurses.
  • Extended school services, children's services (including the Children's Trust/children and young people's strategic partnership), primary care trusts (PCTs), drug and alcohol action teams, crime disorder reduction partnerships, youth services, drug and alcohol services, the police, and organisations in the voluntary and community sectors.

What action should they take?

Maintain and develop partnerships to:

  • Support alcohol education in schools as part of the national science, PSHE, and PSHE education curricula
  • Ensure school interventions on alcohol use are integrated with community activities introduced as part of the "Children and young people's plan"
  • Find ways to consult with families (parents or carers, children and young people) about initiatives to reduce alcohol use and to involve them in those initiatives
  • Monitor and evaluate partnership working and incorporate good practice into planning

CLINICAL ALGORITHM(S)

None provided

EVIDENCE SUPPORTING THE RECOMMENDATIONS

TYPE OF EVIDENCE SUPPORTING THE RECOMMENDATIONS

The type and quality of supporting evidence is identified and graded for each recommendation (see Appendix C in the original guideline document).

IDENTIFYING INFORMATION AND AVAILABILITY

BIBLIOGRAPHIC SOURCE(S)

  • National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE). Interventions in schools to prevent and reduce alcohol use among children and young people. London (UK): National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE); 2007 Nov. 45 p. (Public health guidance; no. 7). [23 references]

ADAPTATION

Not applicable: The guideline was not adapted from another source.

DATE RELEASED

2007 Nov

GUIDELINE DEVELOPER(S)

National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) - National Government Agency [Non-U.S.]

SOURCE(S) OF FUNDING

National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE)

GUIDELINE COMMITTEE

NICE Project Team
Public Health Interventions Advisory Committee

COMPOSITION OF GROUP THAT AUTHORED THE GUIDELINE

NICE Project Team Members: Mike Kelly, CPHE Director; Simon Ellis, Associate Director; Dr Louise Millward, Lead Analyst; Dr Hilary Chatterton, Analyst; Dr Una Canning, Analyst; Dr Caroline Mulvihill, Analyst; Dr Bhash Naidoo, Technical Adviser (Health Economics)

Public Health Interventions Advisory Committee (PHIAC) Members: Professor Sue Atkinson, CBE, Independent Consultant and Visiting Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London; Mr John Barker, Associate Foundation Stage Regional Adviser for the Parents as Partners in Early Learning Project, DfES National Strategies; Professor Michael Bury, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, University of London and Honorary Professor of Sociology, University of Kent; Professor Simon Capewell, Chair of Clinical Epidemiology, University of Liverpool; Professor K K Cheng, Professor of Epidemiology, University of Birmingham; Ms Joanne Cooke; Director, Trent Research and Development Support Unit (RDSU), University of Sheffield; Dr Richard Cookson, Senior Lecturer, Department of Social Policy and Social Work, University of York; Mr Philip Cutler, Forums Support Manager, Bradford Alliance on Community Care; Professor Brian Ferguson, Director of the Yorkshire and Humber Public Health Observatory; Mr Howard Gilfillan, Former Head Teacher, Branksome Comprehensive School, Darlington; Professor Ruth Hall, Regional Director, Health Protection Agency, South West; Mr Alasdair Hogarth, Head Teacher, Archbishops School, Canterbury; Ms Amanda Hoey, Director, Consumer Health Consulting Limited; Mr Andrew Hopkin, Assistant Director, Local Environment, Derby City Council; Dr Ann Hoskins, Deputy Regional Director of Public Health, NHS North West; Ms Muriel James, Secretary for the Northampton Healthy Communities Collaborative and the King Edward Road Surgery Patient Participation Group; Professor David R Jones, Professor of Medical Statistics, Department of Health Sciences, University of Leicester; Dr Matt Kearney, General Practitioner, Castlefields, Runcorn and GP Public Health Practitioner, Knowsley; Ms Valerie King, Designated Nurse for Looked After Children for Northampton PCT, Daventry and South Northants PCT and Northampton General Hospital. Public Health Skills Development Nurse, Northampton PCT; (CHAIR) Professor Catherine Law, Professor of Public Health and Epidemiology, University College London Institute of Child Health; Ms Sharon McAteer, Public Health Development Manager, Halton and St Helens PCT; Mr David McDaid, Research Fellow, Health and Social Care and Personal Social Services Research Unit (PSSRU), London School of Economics and Political Science; Professor Klim McPherson, Visiting Professor of Public Health Epidemiology, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Oxford; Professor Susan Michie, Professor of Health Psychology, BPS Centre for Outcomes Research & Effectiveness, University College London; Dr Mike Owen, General Practitioner, William Budd Health Centre, Bristol; Ms Jane Putsey, Lay Representative. Chair of Trustees of the Breastfeeding Network; Dr Mike Rayner, Director of British Heart Foundation Health Promotion Research Group, Department of Public Health, University of Oxford; Mr Dale Robinson, Chief Environmental Health Officer, South Cambridgeshire District Council; Ms Joyce Rothschild, School Improvement Adviser, Solihull Local Authority; Dr Tracey Sach, Senior Lecturer in Health Economics, University of East Anglia; Professor Mark Sculpher, Professor of Health Economics, Centre for Economics (CHE), University of York; Dr David Sloan, Retired Director of Public Health; Dr Dagmar Zeuner, Joint Director of Public Health, Hammersmith and Fulham PCT

Expert cooptees to PHIAC: Mrs Joan Harris, School Nurse, Bath and North East Somerset PCT; Ms Sarah Smart, Development Manager, PSHE Subject Association

Expert testimony to PHIAC: Professor Ian Gilmore, President, Royal College of Physicians; Mr Andrew McNeill, Director, Institute of Alcohol Studies; Ms Rhian Stone, Independent Public Policy Consultant; Dr Linda Wright, Alcohol Health Promotion Researcher and Writer

FINANCIAL DISCLOSURES/CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

All members of the Public Health Interventions Advisory Committee are required to make an oral declaration all potential conflicts of interest at the start of the consideration of each public health intervention appraisal. These declarations will be minuted and published on the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) website.

Members are required to provide in writing an annual statement of current conflicts of interests, in accordance with the Institute's policy and procedures.

Potential members of the Public Health Programme Development Groups (PDG), and any individuals having direct input into the guidance (including expert peer reviewers), should provide a formal written declaration of personal interests. A standard form has been developed for this purpose which also includes the Institute's standard policy for declaring interests. This declaration of interest form should be completed before any decision about the involvement of an individual is taken.

Any changes to a Group member's declared conflicts of interests should also be recorded at the start of each PDG meeting. The PDG Chair should determine whether these interests are significant.

If a member of the PDG has a possible conflict of interest with only a limited part of the guidance development or recommendations, that member may continue to be involved in the overall process but should withdraw from involvement in the area of possible conflict. This action should be documented and be open to external review. If it is considered that an interest is significant in that it could impair the individual's objectivity throughout the development of public health guidance, he or she should not be invited to join the group.

GUIDELINE STATUS

This is the current release of the guideline.

GUIDELINE AVAILABILITY

AVAILABILITY OF COMPANION DOCUMENTS

The following are available:

Print copies: Available from the National Health Service (NHS) Response Line 0870 1555 455. ref: N1346. 11 Strand, London, WC2N 5HR.

PATIENT RESOURCES

None available

NGC STATUS

This summary was completed by ECRI Institute on January 29, 2008. The information was verified by the guideline developer on February 1, 2008.

COPYRIGHT STATEMENT

This NGC summary is based on the original guideline, which is subject to the guideline developer's copyright restrictions.

DISCLAIMER

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