UK children start drinking at a young age and the amount they drink has increased. More youngsters in the UK misuse alcohol than in most other European countries. People who start drinking at a younger age are more likely to have problems with alcohol when they get older. Mental and Behavioural Disorders Mental and behavioural disorders due to use of alcohol
Conditions
Interventions
The intervention is the Kids, Adults Together (KAT) Programme: primary school-based classwork and family activities designed to promote pro-social communication between parents and their children. KA
(ii) the family fun event, delivered in school, and involving children and parents in activities addressing key health messages around alcohol
and (iii) a ?goody? bag to take home containing fun items and educational leaflets, and an educational DVD for families to watch together after the fun event. The classroom work takes up to a week of
Sponsors
Cardiff University (UK)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Inclusion criteria
Inclusion criteria: Schools: 1. Primary schools in Newport, Gwent, UK 2. English medium 3. Commitment from head teacher Specific classes will participate in the trial in each school, normally from Years 5/6. All pupils in these classes will be eligible to participate in the trial. In intervention schools all pupils in the relevant classes will undertake KAT programme activities as part of their normal classroom work. Pupils will participate in the KAT programme regardless of whether they and/or their parents/carers participate in the trial. Parents and children will be invited to attend the fun events regardless of whether they participate in the trial. In intervention schools we will seek to recruit all parents and children from the school classes that receive KAT, regardless of whether parents and children attend the fun event. Children: 1. Members of classes in Years 4, 5 and 6 at primary school (mostly 9-11 years old) 2. Ability to communicate in English (with support if necessary) 3. Assent from children to take part 4. Parents do not object to child(ren)?s participation Parents: 1. Child has taken part in school 2. Consent to take part 3. Ability to communicate in English (with support if necessary)
Exclusion criteria
Exclusion criteria: Schools: Welsh (or other non-English) medium Children: 1. Absent from school during data collection 2. Unable to communicate in English 3. Parental refusal for child to take part Parents: 1. Child has not taken part in school 2. Unable to communicate in English 3. Not contactable by phone
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| In a potential effectiveness trial the primary outcome would be young people's age of first drinking alcohol (2 years past baseline). In this exploratory trial we will pilot the feasibility and acceptability of collecting these data from pupils at 6 month follow-up, along with other key measures of alcohol use, such as consumption frequency and levels of harmful drinking and drunkenness. An existing trial (of the Strengthening Families Programme 10-14) is collecting data on drinking behaviour from 11-15 year olds (at 24 month follow-up), which will inform the appropriateness of outcome measures as part of any eventual effectiveness trial of KAT, and will also be used to identify rates of prevalence of key drinking behaviours in KAT?s target population, and the potential effect sizes which KAT may be expected to produce. Use will also be made of the Health Behaviour in School Aged Children (HBSC) survey data for Wales, which will allow estimation of alcohol outcomes and their intra-cluster correlation at school level (Currie et al., 2008). In summary, key study outcomes will be: 1. Quality of programme implementation 2. Participant recruitment rates 3. Participant retention rates 4. Feasibility and acceptability to participants of measuring: 4.1. Age of alcohol consumption initiation (pupils) 4.2. Past month alcohol consumption frequency (pupils) 4.3. Past month drunkenness (pupils) 4.4. Pro-social communication in families (pupils and parents) 4.5. Parental drinking behaviours (parents) 4.6 Socio-economic status and educational background (pupils and parents) | — |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| The secondary outcome of a future effectiveness trial would be 6-month impacts of KAT on pro-social communication within families. Promoting pro-social communication is a key short-term programme aim, which in line with the Social Development Model is hypothesized to lead to the prevention of alcohol misuse. In this exploratory trial we will collect data from parents (4-6 month follow-up) on family communication, to provide a broad estimate of potential effect sizes, and the feasibility and acceptability of doing so. Measures of parents? drinking will be piloted. Data will also be collected from parents on educational qualifications and socio-economic status so that intervention take-up can be assessed. | — |
Countries
United Kingdom
Outcome results
None listed