A feasibility trial to examine the social norms approach for the prevention and reduction of licit and illicit drug use in European University and college students.
BACKGROUND
Incorrect perceptions of high rates of peer alcohol and tobacco use are predictive of increased personal use in student populations. Correcting misperceptions by providing feedback has been shown to be an effective intervention for reducing licit drug use. It is currently unknown if social norms interventions are effective in preventing and reducing illicit drug use in European students. The purpose of this paper is to describe the design of a multi-site cluster controlled trial of a web-based social norms intervention aimed at reducing licit and preventing illicit drug use in European university students.


METHODS
An online questionnaire to assess rates of drug use will be developed and translated based on existing social norms surveys. Students from sixteen universities in seven participating European countries will be invited to complete the questionnaire. Both intervention and control sites will be chosen by convenience. In each country, the intervention site will be the university that the local principal investigator is affiliated with. We aim to recruit 1000 students per site (baseline assessment). All participants will complete the online questionnaire at baseline. Baseline data will be used to develop social norms messages that will be included in a web-based intervention. The intervention group will receive individualized social norms feedback. The website will remain online during the following 5 months. After five months, a second survey will be conducted and effects of the intervention on social norms and drug use will be measured in comparison to the control site.


CONCLUSIONS
This project is the first cross-national European collaboration to investigate the feasibility of a social norms intervention to reduce licit and prevent illicit drug use among European university students. FINAL TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: DRKS00004375 on the 'German Clinical Trials Register'.
BIPS - Institute for Epidemiology and Prevention Research, Achterstraße 30, 28359, Bremen, Germany. pischke@bips.uni-bremen.de
Claudia R
CR
Pischke
Hajo
H
Zeeb
Guido
G
van Hal
Bart
B
Vriesacker
John
J
McAlaney
Bridgette M
BM
Bewick
Yildiz
Y
Akvardar
Francisco
F
Guillén-Grima
Olga
O
Orosova
Ferdinand
F
Salonna
Ondrej
O
Kalina
Christiane
C
Stock
Stefanie M
SM
Helmer
Rafael T
RT
Mikolajczyk
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D013287:Illicit Drugs; D008297:Male; D012931:Social Environment; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014495:Universities; D055815:Young Adult
D013287:Illicit Drugs