Örebro Prevention Program
Problems addressed
Juvenile delinquency
Alcohol abuse
Low parental skills
Effectiveness

Promising

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Promising

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Life periods served
Teenagers (14 to 17 years)
Where the program was applied
Education establishment
Country of application
Sweden
Description

This is a family-centered school program to prevent alcoholism and criminal behavior among teenagers aged 13 to 16.
The program takes place every semester during parent meetings at the school, through a structured 20-minute presentation. The program team presents information about alcohol consumption and its possible short- and long-term consequences, such as violence, drug abuse, and unprotected sex.
Parents are then given concrete methods to establish rules regarding their children’s behavior in relation to alcohol and to involve their children in organized activities, giving them a prosocial activity instead of drinking with their friends.

Impact evaluations

An impact evaluation showed that parents participating in the program became significantly stricter in relation to the permissiveness of underage drinking by their children, their children were less likely to drink over the course of the follow-up period, and there were lower levels of criminal behavior [1].
The study had a quasi-experimental design with a sample of 339 parents and 393 adolescents assigned to the treatment group, and 312 parents and 418 adolescents assigned to the control group. The adolescents were in the ninth grade and were recruited from schools in rural, suburban, and urban areas in Örebro County, Närke [1].

Bibliographic reference

[1] Koutakis, N., Stattin, H. & Kerr, M. (2008). Reducing youth alcohol drinking through a parent-targeted intervention: The Orebro Prevention Program. Addiction (Abingdon, England), 103(10), 1629–1637. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1360-0443.2008.02326.x

Information source