A randomized controlled trial was conducted with 6637 7th-and 8th-grade students in 72 public schools in 6 Brazilian cities to evaluate the effects of the European drug prevention program Unplugged, called #Tamojunto in Brazil. This article evaluates the effects of #Tamojunto on the prevention of bullying and physical violence. Baseline data were collected from both intervention and control groups prior to program implementation. Follow-up data collection was performed 9 and 21 months later. Generalized estimating equations were used to evaluate changes in the reporting of receiving or practicing bullying and physical violence over time. The program was found to reduce the likelihood of receiving bullying, particularly in the stratum of girls aged 13-15 years at the 9-month follow-up time point. The effect was not sustained at 21 months. There was no significant effect for practicing bullying and for receiving or practicing physical violence.

The revised Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire (rBVQ) is an internationally used instrument to identify bullying, but due to Brazilian students’ low proficiency in reading and writing, it had to be adapted for audio-guided use through smartphones. We investigated construct validity, using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), under a two-correlated factor solution. Participated 1,742 fifth graders and 2,316 seventh graders from 30 public schools in the city of São Paulo. We found excellent fit indices models for both grades (fifth grade: CFI=0.985, RMSEA=0.020; seventh grade: CFI=0.990, RMSEA=0.015), as well as factor loading higher than 0.4 for all items, indicating their relevance to the construct. The rBVQ demonstrated excellent psychometric properties and may help future studies that aim to investigate bullying in populations with similar profiles. In addition, this study innovates by evaluating an audio-guided instrument and using mobile technology.

Resumo O Programa Educacional de Resistência às Drogas (PROERD) é o programa escolar de prevenção mais disseminado no Brasil, seu atual currículo é baseado no programa norte-americano Keepin’it REAL (kiR). Não há na literatura evidência de efetividade do PROERD na prevenção ao uso de drogas, sendo necessários estudos complementares que auxiliem a compreensão desses achados. O objetivo do presente estudo é realizar uma síntese das evidências do efeito do currículo que deu origem ao PROERD: o kiR. Através de revisão sistemática encontrou-se 17 estudos que reportaram resultados de efeito de diferentes versões do kiR no uso de drogas e/ou violência. Com exceção do estudo brasileiro, não foram encontrados estudos que avaliassem o efeito no uso de drogas da versão aplicada por policiais (DARE-kiR), a mesma implementada pelo PROERD. Foram encontradas evidências favoráveis do kiR na prevenção ao uso de drogas para o currículo do 7º ano, que contrariam os resultados de efeito nulo do PROERD. Não foram encontradas evidências internacionais do efeito do kiR no currículo do 5º ano, assim como o estudo do PROERD. Sugere-se que revisões no currículo do 7º ano do PROERD para que ele possa refletir os resultados internacionais e que o currículo do 5º ano posso ser repensado considerando as evidências negativas internacionais.

The Drug Resistance Educational Program (PROERD) is Brazil’s most widespread school-based prevention program; its current curriculum is based on the North American Keepin’ it REAL (kiR) program. There is no evidence of the effectiveness of PROERD in preventing drug use, pointing to the need for further studies to understand these findings. The aim of the study was to synthesis the evidence of the effect of the kiR curriculum (PROERD) through a systematic review. We found 17 studies that reported the effects of different versions of kiR on drug use and/or violence. Except for the Brazilian study, no studies were found that assessed the effect on drug use of the version applied by police officers (DARE-kiR), the same one implemented by PROERD. Favorable evidence of kiR in drug use prevention was found for the 7th-grade curriculum, which contradicts the PROERD’s null-effect results. No international evidence of the effect of kiR was found in the 5th-grade curriculum, in the same line as the PROERD’s study. It is suggested that PROERD’s 7th-grade curriculum should be revised to reflect international results and that the 5th-grade curriculum should be reconsidered in light of the negative international evidence.