Risk Perception and Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategies Reported By Adolescents: Evidences for Prevention Beyond "Say No"

Alcohol use generally begins in adolescence and can cause harms in short and long term. In order to allow preventive actions, the objective of this research was to study the risk perception of adolescents about the consequences of alcohol consumption and strategies used by them to reduce harm. Focus groups technique was applied with students in the last year of basic education and in high school of two private schools of Sao Paulo. A total of 27 focus groups were conducted with 260 adolescents of both genders from 13 to 18 years old. Before focus groups all participants responded to AUDIT-C, which consists of three questions about alcohol consumption.  Qualitative data was submitted to content analysis and descriptive statistics were done for quantitative data. Alcohol risk use was reported by 32% of students in the last year of basic education and by 42% of high school students. Adolescents sometimes used to think risk perception as a chain in which a consequence brings another (ex: drink beyond limits leads to fights, somebody get hurt so parents find out and lose confidence in their children). Some harm reduction strategies reported can really decrease damage of consumption (ex: to control the amount of drinking, to eat before drinking and drink water while drinking), while others are not effective or may increase harms (ex: to eat candies after alcohol consumption to reduce the intoxication, hide from parents that they drunk to avoid problems at home). Results indicate the relevance of prevention strategies beyond just teach adolescents to “say no”. Although strategies focused on abstinence are widespread throughout the world, results has being limited. Therefore, it is important to develop prevention approaches that could include useful information that can ensure and prioritize the safety of young people in situations that involves their own use of alcoholic beverages or the use of others. Besides focus on reducing consumption, harm reduction approach could provide critical reflection on self-health care.

Acknowledgement: FAPESP – Sao Paulo Research Foundation, CNPq - National Council for Scientific and Technological Development