A Research-Practice Partnership in Sweden for the Promotion of Resilience and the Prevention of Drug and Alcohol Use in Young People

Introduction: This poster will present an on-going research-practice-policy partnership in Sweden. The chasm between research and practice hinders the use of interventions that could effectively reduce a number of significant public health problems from reaching central target groups in society. This may be a particular problem in Europe compared to the US given that preventive interventions used within Europe typically originate from outside Europe (e.g., the US),and thus might not fit European needs and the European context.

Methods: In this research-practice collaboration between three Swedish universities and one of Sweden’s major NGOs for children, a resilience curriculum for children aged 5-12 years, RESCUR, is implemented and tested. RESCUR has been specifically tailored to fit Europe and European conditions. The concept of resilience has been increasingly used, at least tangentially, in the field of health promotion. The goals of the Swedish study are explicitly to promote resilience and, at the same time, prevent drug and alcohol use in young people. The project addresses two main questions: How can RESCUR effectively be implemented? and “What are the effects of RESCUR on child resilience and psychosocial health? The program is implemented in three arenas, NGOs, schools, and Social Services. The design is a randomized control trial with pre, post and follow-up tests at 24-month intervals. Both self-reports and adult reports (of parents or group leaders) are used to collect data. Implementation is measured using observations, self-reports, and interviews with leaders. Training, technical support, and networks are offered to participating sites. The collaborating partners meet regularly throughout the implementation process.

Results: This study has been financed by the Swedish Agency for Public Health. National results will be disseminated not only by researchers via academic articles and lay publications, but also in collaboration with a Swedish federal agency. In this way, policy-makers at a national level will be informed of the results, will policy-makers at local (municipality) level. Implementation is carried out in schools, NGOs and Social Services all over the country (in both cities and rural areas), which will provide local policy-makers with research from areas that are similar to the ones in which they operate.

Conclusions: Practice in schools, NGOs and Social Services can form a foundation for policy and practice in the municipalities. Since the RESCUR project was initially funded by the EU, and involved six European counties, it is expected that our forms of collaboration and results will be followed in Europe, and may have an influence on policy-makers.