WITHDRAWN: Dissemination of the Drug Prevention Program Jogo Elos (Brazilian adapted version of Good Behavior Games)

Introduction: Since 2013, the Coordination on Mental Health, Alcohol and Other Drugs at the Brazilian Ministry of Health (MoH) in partnership with the UNODC and the American Institutes of Research has culturally adapted, implemented and disseminated Good Behavior Game, denominated Jogo Elos in Brazil. In 2013, the translated GBG was pre-piloted in 4 municipalities / 2 states, at 6 schools, involving 35 teachers and 824 children. The MoH multipliers delivered initial training to teachers and accompanied them weekly in individual meetings and classroom observations. The multipliers´ field diaries indicated need of a conceptual adaptation of materials to reduce resistance of professionals and clarification of implementation step-by-step to decentralize the know-how from multipliers to teachers. The 2013 implementation model did not permit feasible expansion to new territories.

Methods: In 2014, the Teacher´s Manual and the training script were reviewed. The frequency of the federal multiplier´s meetings with teachers was reduced to biweekly basis. In some territories, the role of multipliers was attributed to the health and education professionals designated by the State or Municipal Secretaries. In some schools, the multipliers conducted meetings collectively with all teachers. MoH developed monitoring questionnaires filled in by teachers (358 records) and multipliers (174 records) in meetings.

In 2015, designation of the local multipliers from Health and/or Education sector became a condition for implementation and/or expansion of Jogo Elos. The MoH federal trainers delivered capacity building in 7 presential modules along the school year to local multipliers, who accompanied teachers biweekly.

Results: In 2014, the adapted Brazilian version expanded to 22 schools in 8 municipalities / 4 states, benefitting 1.875 children. Teachers assessed the support and monitoring visits of the federal multipliers as relevant (53% of multipliers´ records) and very relevant (47%). Teachers indicated significant contributions of multipliers in theses aspects of implementation: improvement in planning of Jogo Elos application (73%) and in teaching abilities (71%) and broadening their knowledge on prevention (47%).

In 2015, the MoH implemented Jogo Elos in partnership with the Ministry of Justice in 16 municipalities with 2.061 children.

Conclusions: The 2014-2015 experience with Jogo Elos indicates a) a pedagogical coordinator as the most adequate professional for the role of a multiplier; b) need of didactic revision of material to facilitate its comprehension by professionals; c) need of simplification of monitoring to facilitate data analysis and use; and d) need to strengthen the adoption process by local governments to guarantee technology and governance transfer.