A community action programme for reducing harmful drinking behaviour among adolescents: the Trelleborg Project.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate a 3-year community intervention programme by measuring changes in drinking patterns in a 15-16-year-old population.


METHODS
The action programme included five demand-reducing and one supply-reducing interventions. Cross-sectional, non-repeated data were collected from a questionnaire distributed in classrooms from 1999 to 2001 and 2003 (n = 1376, 724 boys and 652 girls; response rate = 92.3%). Stepwise logistic regression analyses were used to determine the relationship between different risk factors and excessive drinking, heavy episodic drinking, purchaser of alcohol and alcohol provided by parents. The results from the intervention community were also compared with similar Swedish cross-sectional data sets.


RESULTS
The results of our analyses indicated a decrease in harmful drinking behaviour in Trelleborg when comparing baseline with postintervention measurements. The comparison with other studies showed that the changes in these indicators were more rapid and consistent in Trelleborg. Finally, the multivariable logistic regression analyses showed that the outcomes were not likely to be attributed to changes in environmental factors.


CONCLUSIONS
We concluded that a community action programme based on the systems approach reduced hazardous alcohol consumption effectively among adolescents in Trelleborg.
Stafström
Martin
M
Department of Health Sciences, Lund University, Sweden. martin.stafstrom@med.lu.se
Ostergren
Per-Olof
PO
Larsson
Stig
S
Lindgren
Björn
B
Lundborg
Petter
P
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D019973:Alcohol-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D003153:Community Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015397:Program Evaluation; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology