[Prevention of drug abuse in the secondary school after the reform of the Spanish educational system. Implementation of several programs in the city of Barcelona, Spain].
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the adoption of 3 different school-based drug abuse prevention programmes in secondary schools, analyzing some features of their implementation and the relationship between the percentage of schools adopting each intervention and the prevalence of addiction to opiates at district level.


METHODS
Mail survey with telephone follow-up to the 235 secondary schools located in Barcelona, carried out at the end of 1997-1998 school-year. A bivariate analysis of correlations (Spearman) was performed to assess the association between the percentage of schools having adopted each of the 3 prevention programmes in each city district, and the previously reported estimates of the prevalence rates of opiate addiction.


RESULTS
44.7% of all schools completed the survey, 38 of them (16.2% of respondents) had offered 1 of the programmes within the school-year, 20 schools (19.0%) offered 2 programmes, and 4 schools (3.0%) the 3 programmes. Statistically significant correlations were found for the adoption of different programs between districts, but not for the percentages of schools offering prevention programmes and the prevalence of opiate addiction.


CONCLUSIONS
Social and health needs, indicated by prevalence rates of opiate addiction, do not explain geographic inequalities in the adoption of prevention programmes. The need for prevention programmes aimed at risk groups is discussed.
Suelves
J
J
Departament de Sanitat i Seguretat Social, Barcelona, 08028, España. jsuelves@dsss.scs.es
Romero
R
R
Sánchez-Turet
M
M
D000293:Adolescent; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003625:Data Collection; D006266:Health Education; D006801:Humans; D009293:Opioid-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D012574:Schools; D013030:Spain; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*