Blueprints for Violence Prevention >> Promising Programs >> Orebro Prevention Program

Orebro Prevention Program

BPP16
 2011
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Program Overview:
The Orebro Prevention Program (OPP) is a universal prevention program to decrease underage drunkenness by maintaining parents’ restrictive attitudes and expectations towards underage drunkenness.

Program Targets:
OPP targets all parents of youth between the ages of 13-16. The goal is to maintain parents’ restrictive attitudes towards underage drinking, even when their child is in their teens. OPP is delivered to the parents through structured 20 minute presentations during parent meetings in school, once each semester.  

Program Content:
Each presentation has the same objective: to maintain parents’ restrictive attitudes towards underage drinking. The biannual presentations follow the same logic:
1. First, parents are presented information on how common underage drinking is and potential short- and long-term consequences. This is mainly done to affect parents emotionally so that they will perceive underage drinking as something they feel is worthwhile to prevent.

  • This is done by giving information on the normative trajectory of underage drunkenness from age 10-18 and by listing common negative consequences such as unprotected sex, violence and, drug use.
2. Next, parents are made to understand that they still are influential in their child’s attitudes and behaviors, that their expectation makes a difference. Hence, parents are advised to explicitly clarify that they expect their child not to use alcohol at home or out with their peers.
  • This is done by providing parents with facts on parental influence on underage drinking and also by explaining that parental regulations concerning underage drinking is something that from a teenager’s point of view is perceived as ok.
3. The last step is to provide the parents with concrete methods to clarify their view and to set rules considering underage alcohol drinking.
  • This is done by advising parents to consider some (alcohol specific) common rules concerning their children’s conduct.
4. A few days after the parent meeting all parents are given a brief summary of the parent meeting. For the attending parents this summary serves as a meeting protocol; for the parents that for various reasons did not attend it gives them information on the meeting.

Program Outcomes:
OPP compared to an untreated control group shows:

  • Parents in the intervention group maintained more strict attitudes toward youth drinking.
  • Youth in the intervention group had lower rates of drunkenness (effect size 0.35) and frequent drunkenness (effect size 0.38).
  • Effect sizes were stronger for the subsample of early starters (defined as those that had been drunk before the age of 13 and had a high level of delinquency at age 13): 0.45 for drunkenness and 0.42 for delinquency.
  • Effects were similar for boys and girls.
  • Effects were not moderated by type of community (e.g., urban, rural, or housing area).

References

Koutakis, N., Stattin, H. & Kerr, M. (2008). Reducing youth alcohol drinking through a parent-targeted intervention: The Örebro Prevention Program, Addiction, 103, (10); 1629 – 1637.

Koutakis, N., & Ozdemir, M. (2010). Latent growth curve analysis taking clustered data into account on a quasi experimental parent targeted intervention trial: The Orebro Prevention Program. Center for Development at the Research School of Law, Psychology and Social Work, Orebro University, Sweden.

Contact Orebro Prevention Program

OREBRO PREVENTION PROGRAM

For general program information, contact:
Nikolaus Koutakis
Center for Developmental Research at
School of Law, Psychology and Social work
/ Psychology /
S - 701 82 ÖREBRO
SWEDEN
Phone: 011 46 739815362
Email: nikolaus.koutakis@oru.se