Topic: Alcohol/Drugs/Tobacco
Target Population: Adolescents
Sector: School-Based
This program is for students who are in 8th or 9th grade.
Climate Schools: Alcohol and Cannabis Course, a school-based intervention, is designed to prevent and reduce alcohol and cannabis use among participants.
Results from randomized trials are mixed for alcohol and cannabis outcomes. Results for alcohol-related outcomes tend to be promising, and there are indications of slower growth in rates of drinking and reduced odds of drinking and heavy episodes of drinking. However, evaluations indicate little to no effect on cannabis use or intentions to use cannabis in the future.
The Climate Schools: Alcohol & Cannabis Course is delivered by teachers in two segments:
To access Climate Schools: Alcohol and Cannabis Course, each school must register online before students and teachers can retrieve the course content. The program registration can be found online using the second web address listed in the Source section.
First developed in Australia in 2006, Climate Schools: Alcohol and Cannabis Course has been implemented in approximately 4,000 schools across the United Kingdom and Australia.
This course is delivered by classroom teachers, and no training is required. However, teachers may want to familiarize themselves with the scenarios prior to sharing the content with the students.
Considerations for implementing this program include obtaining teacher, administration, parent, and student buy-in; incorporating program lessons into an existing classroom curriculum; understanding this program could broach sensitive topics; and ensuring students have access to necessary technology.
The Clearinghouse can help address these considerations. Please call 1-877-382-9185 or email Clearinghouse@psu.edu
If you are interested in implementing Climate Schools: Alcohol and Cannabis Course, the Clearinghouse is interested in helping you! Please call 1-877-382-9185 or email Clearinghouse@psu.edu
Climate Schools: Alcohol and Cannabis Course includes six lessons, and each lesson lasts 40 minutes. The lessons are presented in two segments. Each lesson segment lasts 20 minutes and should be delivered on a consecutive weekly basis.
Information on implementation costs was not located. The registration process is free.
To move Climate Schools: Alcohol and Cannabis Course to the Promising category on the Clearinghouse Continuum of Evidence, at least two additional evaluations should be performed demonstrating positive effects for all primary program outcomes lasting at least one year from the beginning of the program or at least six months from program completion.
The Clearinghouse can help you develop an evaluation plan to ensure the program components are meeting your goals. Please call 1-877-382-9185 or email Clearinghouse@psu.edu
Contact the Clearinghouse with any questions regarding this program.
Phone: 1-877-382-9185 Email: Clearinghouse@psu.edu
You may also contact Climate Schools by email info@climateschools.com.au or visit https://www.climateschools.com/contact
Champion, K. E., Newton, N. C., Stapinski, L., Slade, T., Barrett, E. L., & Teesson, M. (2016). A cross-validation trial of an internet-based prevention program for alcohol and cannabis: Preliminary results from a cluster randomised controlled trial. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 50(1), 64-73. https://doi.org/10.1177/0004867415577435
Newton, N. C., Andrews, G., Champion, K. E., & Teesson, M. (2014). Universal internet-based prevention for alcohol and cannabis use reduces truancy, psychological distress and moral disengagement: A cluster randomised controlled trial. Preventive Medicine, 65, 109-115. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2014.05.003
Newton, N. C., Andrews, G., Teesson, M., & Vogl, L. E. (2009). Delivering prevention for alcohol and cannabis using the internet: A cluster randomised controlled trial. Preventive Medicine, 48(6), 579-584. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2009.04.009
Newton, N. C., Chapman, C., Slade, T., Birrell, L., Healy, A., Mather, M., … Teesson, M. (2020). A national effectiveness trial of an ehealth program to prevent alcohol and cannabis misuse: Responding to the replication crisis. Psychological Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291720001919
Newton, N. C., Teesson, M., Mather, M., Champion, K. E., Barrett, E. L., Stapinski, L., … Slade, T. (2018). Universal cannabis outcomes from the Climate and Preventure (CAP) study: A cluster randomised controlled trial. Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention and Policy, 13(1), 34-34. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13011-018-0171-4
Newton, N. C., Teesson, M., Vogl, L. E., & Andrews, G. (2010). Internet-based prevention for alcohol and cannabis use: Final results of the Climate Schools course. Addiction, 105(4), 749-759. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1360-0443.2009.02853.x
Slade, T., Newton, N. C., Mather, M., Barrett, E. L., Champion, K. E., Stapinski, L., … Teesson, M. (2021). The long‐term effectiveness of universal, selective and combined prevention for alcohol use during adolescence: 36‐month outcomes from a cluster randomized controlled trial. Addiction, 116(3), 514-524. https://doi.org/10.1111/add.15178
Teesson, M., Newton, N. C., Slade, T., Carragher, N., Barrett, E. L., Champion, K. E., … Conrod, P. J. (2017). Combined universal and selective prevention for adolescent alcohol use: A cluster randomized controlled trial. Psychological Medicine, 47(10), 1761-1770. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291717000198
Conroy, C., Champion, K. E., Chapman, C., Slade, T., Thornton, L., Teesson, M., & Newton, N. C. (2020). Adolescents’ perspectives on substance use prevention: A qualitative study among Australian school students. Mental Health & Prevention, 19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mhp.2020.200183
Kelly, E. V., Newton, N. C., Stapinski, L. A., Slade, T., Barrett, E. L., Conrod, P. J., & Teesson, M. (2015). Suicidality, internalizing problems and externalizing problems among adolescent bullies, victims and bully-victims. Preventive Medicine, 73, 100-105. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2015.01.020
Lawler, S. M., Stapinski, L. A., Barrett, E. L., Newton, N. C., Sunderland, M., Slade, T., & Teesson, M. (2020). Is adolescent alcohol use linked to spikes in aggressive behaviour? A growth curve analysis. Prevention Science, 22(4), 534-544. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-020-01188-2
Newton, N. C., Conrod, P. J., Rodriguez, D. M., & Teesson, M. (2014). A pilot study of an online universal school-based intervention to prevent alcohol and cannabis use in the UK. BMJ Open, 4(5), e004750.
Newton, N. C., Vogl, L., Teesson, M., & Andrews, G. (2011). Developing the Climate Schools: Alcohol and Cannabis Module: A harm-minimization, universal drug prevention program facilitated by the internet. Substance Use & Misuse, 46(13), 1651-1663. https://doi.org/10.3109/10826084.2011.613441
Teesson, M., Newton, N. C., Slade, T., Chapman, C., Allsop, S., Hides, L., … Andrews, G. (2014). The CLIMATE schools combined study: A cluster randomised controlled trial of a universal internet-based prevention program for youth substance misuse, depression and anxiety. BMC Psychiatry, 14(1), 32-32. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-244X-14-32
Teesson, M., Newton, N. C., Slade, T., Chapman, C., Birrell, L., Mewton, L., … Andrews, G. (2020). Combined prevention for substance use, depression, and anxiety in adolescence: A cluster-randomised controlled trial of a digital online intervention. The Lancet. Digital Health, 2(2), e74-e84. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2589-7500(19)30213-4
