Evaluation of the Effectiveness of the Social Competence Promotion Program for Young Adolescents for Substance Use Prevention in Chile

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Chilean adolescents face problems in their mental health and risk behaviors, which compromise their development. Among these behaviors, substance use has become a significant public health problem, given its magnitude and the treatment gap encountered when a dependency disorder has already been inst...

Chilean adolescents face problems in their mental health and risk behaviors, which compromise their development. Among these behaviors, substance use has become a significant public health problem, given its magnitude and the treatment gap encountered when a dependency disorder has already been installed. In Chile, both prevention and treatment were among the Sanitary Aims of the 2010-2020 decade. For many years, different governmental and non-governmental institutions have implemented preventive initiatives in the school population. Still, to date, there are no studies in Chile that show the effectiveness of a universal preventive program implemented in educational settings, using a randomized controlled clinical trial design. This study consists of evaluating the effectiveness of the Social Competence Promotion Program among Young Adolescents (SCPP-YA), which aims to postpone the onset of substance use and reduce their consumption. This is a randomized controlled clinical trial with two arms, including students of 6th grade from high socioeconomic vulnerability schools in Santiago. Ten schools will be randomly allocated to the intervention group and the control group in a 1:1 ratio. Assessments of students will be carried out at baseline, post-intervention, and 12 months after the end of the intervention. The primary outcome is the incidence of tobacco consumption in the last month. The SCPP-YA consists of 10 student sessions providing self-regulation strategies, promotion of prosocial skills, and a method of problem-solving. Additionally, it includes a 6-session module specially designed for substance use prevention. These 16 sessions will be implemented during the academic year (2020) and complemented with three booster sessions the following year (2021). The investigators expect that students in the intervention group will delay the onset of any substance use, especially tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana when compared with students in the control group.

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