Implementing the Icelandic Model for Preventing Adolescent Substance Use

Abstract

This is the second in a two-part series of articles about the Icelandic Model for Primary Prevention of Substance Use (IPM) in this volume of Health Promotion Practice. IPM is a community collaborative approach that has demonstrated remarkable effectiveness in reducing substance use initiation among youth in Iceland over the past 20 years. While the first article focused attention on the background context, theoretical orientation, evaluation and evidence of effectiveness, and the five guiding principles of the model, this second article describes the 10 core steps to practical implementation. Steps 1 to 3 focus on building and maintaining community capacity for model implementation. Steps 4 to 6 focus on implementing a rigorous system of data collection, processing, dissemination, and translation of findings. Steps 7 to 9 are designed to focus community attention and to maximize community engagement in creating and sustaining a social environment in which young people become progressively less likely to engage in substance use, including demonstrative examples from Iceland. And Step 10 focuses on the iterative, repetitive, and long-term nature of the IPM and describes a predictable arc of implementation-related opportunities and challenges. The article is concluded with a brief discussion about potential variation in community factors for implementation.

Use of Digital Technology among Adolescents Attending Schools in Bissau, Guinea-Bissau

“…The data collection followed a distinct and well-established methodology of the Youth in Europe collaboration, called Planet Youth since 2015, and led by the Icelandic Centre for Social Research and Analysis (ICSRA) [53][54][55][56]. All the survey questions had earlier been developed by an interdisciplinary team of professionals and used for more than a decade by the collaborating partners to conduct surveys among adolescents aged 14-16 years across Europe and elsewhere.…”

Examining the implementation of the Icelandic model for primary prevention of substance use in a rural Canadian community: a study protocol

“…The IPM approach incorporates five principles that guide design of community-specific strategies: 1) apply a primary prevention approach, 2) engage community action and public school involvement, 3) engage stakeholders using high-quality data, 4) integrate researchers, policy makers, practitioners, and community members, and 5) align the scope of the solution with the nature of the problem [28]. At the outset, a needs assessment is conducted through youth surveys, and the findings are disseminated to inform a tailored prevention strategy that leverages existing community structures to promote sustainability [29]. As a component of the intervention, surveys will be distributed to all Grade 10 students in the participating Lanark school boards [29].…”

“…At the outset, a needs assessment is conducted through youth surveys, and the findings are disseminated to inform a tailored prevention strategy that leverages existing community structures to promote sustainability [29]. As a component of the intervention, surveys will be distributed to all Grade 10 students in the participating Lanark school boards [29]. Survey measures capture risk and protective factors in relation to individual, family, peer, school, leisure time activities and community characteristics as well as baseline information regarding substance use behaviours and mental health and wellbeing.…”

“…This includes the collection of baseline population-level surveys to examine risk and protective factors that influence problematic substance use. Surveys will be distributed to all Grade 10 students from both local school boards using a passive consent process [29,42]. The data collection will be used as the basis for a needs assessment.…”

“…Interview questions will focus on their roles, lessons learned, rationale for the community strategy, processes for dissemination of findings, key factors that influenced decisions, successes and challenges. A sub-set of interviews in the Steering Committee and Community Coalition questions were adapted from critical questions identified in the Quality Implementation Framework [54] and explore implementation components within the IPM [29] (see Additional files 1, 2, 3). A subset of questions in the Youth Advisory interviews examine youth perceptions of substance use issues, experiences of risk and protective factors identified within the surveys and insights related to potential mechanisms of influence (see Additional file 4).…”