Effects on adolescent alcohol consumption of a school based student-centred health counselling programme

Alcohol-related injuries are a leading cause of death in mid and late adolescence. Schools might contribute to the prevention of these injuries by affecting adolescent drinking. Few school programmes, however, have succeeded. In view of this shortcoming, a previously investigated school based health counselling programme for mid adolescents was applied to work in conjunction with a municipal alcohol policy initiative. A pre-test/post-test quasi-experimental study of 118 sixteen year old students was carried out. The development of alcohol consumption was not found to differ significantly between the experimental and control groups. The students' perceptions of the negative effects of use of alcohol did not increase. The lack of effect of the counselling programme might be related to the low significance initially attributed by the students to alcohol as a health issue. A shift of emphasis in the schools, from normative education, to discussions of the immediate threats of serious injuries might alter this perception.