The School Health and Alcohol Harm Reduction Project (SHAHRP)

Description

The School Health and Alcohol Harm Reduction Project (SHAHRP) is an evidence based classroom curriculum designed to reduce alcohol related harm among secondary school students. The key focus of the program is on the development of utility knowledge and harm reduction skills and strategies.

The SHAHRP lessons are conducted in three phases with eight lessons in the first year of the program, five booster lessons in the following year during phase two and four additional booster lessons in phase three, two years later. Student workbooks, a teacher manual and teacher training support the delivery of the SHAHRP lessons.

Evaluation Evidence

The SHAHRP study evaluated the program in a true experimental design with schools randomly assigned to intervention or control conditions. Over the period of the study (from baseline to final follow-up 32 months later), students who participated in SHAHRP had greater alcohol related knowledge, consumed less alcohol and were less likely to drink to harmful or hazardous levels, and experienced less harm associated with their own use of alcohol and less harm associated with other peoples use of alcohol, than students who participated in other alcohol education programs. These behavioural effects were maintained and/or increased up to one year after the final phase of the program.

Monitoring Recommendations

  • Monitoring and implementation advice is available from the program developers.

  • Boards should negotiate agreements to receive regular progress reports and request to observe some activities.

  • Monitoring information should include: program coordination; training delivery; and implementation of curricula.

  • Request pre-post monitoring of trends in student risk and protective factors, and compare to control schools where feasible.

Contact: 

For information on program training, or to order SHAHRP materials, contact the National Drug and Research Institute (NDRI) Secretary

W: http://ndri.curtin.edu.au/research/research-specific-sites/school-health-and-alcohol-harm-reduction-project

Program Details

Target Audience: 

11 - 14 years

Program Type: 

School focused programs

Target Risk Factors: 

  • Favourable parent attitudes to problem behaviour

  • Favourable attitudes to problem behaviour

  • Low social skills

  • Friends' use of drugs

Target Protective Factors: 

  • Social skills

Community Indicators: 

  • Low utilisation of alcohol harm minimisation strategies and skills

  • HIgh rates of youth alcohol misuse

  • Problems elevating in the high school years