Download ppt - 1 CRICOS No. 00213J Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety – Queensland Reducing injury among high risk taking adolescents:

1 Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety – Queensland

www.carrsq.qut.edu.au

CRICOS No. 00213J

Reducing injury among high risk taking adolescents:

The development of an intervention program

Wider project team includes M. Sheehan, V. Siskind, L. Buckley, B. Partridge, D. Durrington (QUT), J. Western, C. Bond, M. Hayes (UQ) and P. Palamara, (UWA)

Presented by Rebekah Chapman

2 Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety – Queenslandwww.carrsq.qut.edu.au

Mortality Rates from Injury: (12 – 24 years)Australia, 1997

(AIHW, 1999)

Transport Related Suicide Interpersonal violence

Males 25.5: 100,000 24.0: 100,000 2.3: 100,000

Females 8.5: 100,000 5.9: 100,000 1.6: 100,000


Research AimResearch Aim

The overall goal of the intervention research is to reduce injuries among young people (Year 9 level) that are due to risk taking behaviour

Risk taking behaviours:• Underage drinking and other substance use• Underage/unlawful driving• Riding as passengers of drink drivers and drink

cycling • Interpersonal violence


Risk Taking in Adolescence


Underage drinkingUnderage drinking

• Alcohol is currently widely used by Australian secondary students (White et al., 2003)

Questionnaire study: 399 secondary schools across Australia; 26,489 students aged 12-17 years

Those aged 14 years:− 34% of males had consumed alcohol in the last week− 30% of females had consumed alcohol in the last week

TABLE 1: Alcohol drinking status, young people aged 14-17 years, 2001 (AIHW, 2003) Regular (a) Occasional (b) Ex-drinker Never drank

Male 20% 44% 7% 29%

Female 17% 52% 4% 27%

(a) Regular: Consumes alcohol on at least one day per week(b) Consumes alcohol less often than one day per week


Illicit Substance UseIllicit Substance Use

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%

Cannabis

Inhalants

Tranquilisers

Amphetamines

Hallucinogens

Ecstasy

Opiates

Cocaine

Steroids

12-14 years

15-17 years

Proportion of young people aged 12-17 years who had used an illicit drug in the last 12 months (AIHW, 2003)


Underage drivingUnderage driving

WA newly licensed drivers (Stevenson & Palamara, 2001)• 23% of 1,277 participants drove weekly or even daily prior to

obtaining learners license

Drink driving and riding in adolescence (Sheehan et al., 1996)• n=4527 Queensland high school students, Mean age 14.8 years• 35% reported having driven a car on a public road in the past year

Underage driving and injury in NSW (Lam, 2003)• Crash information reported by NSW police at the scene of motor-

vehicle crash incidents • Data from RTA for the period 1996 – 2000• 14 year olds:

Fatality/injury rate: 13.3 per 100,000 population Total crash rate: 35.4 per 100,000 population


Drink driving and ridingDrink driving and ridingTABLE 2: Activities undertaken by Queensland high school students (Mean age 14.8) after drinking two or more glasses of alcohol in one hour (Sheehan et al., 1996)

Rode a bicycle 27%

Drove a motorbike 7%

Drove a car 6%

Drove another motor vehicle

2%

TABLE 3: Frequency of being a passenger of a drink driver among Queensland high school students (Mean age 14.8) in the past month (Sheehan et al., 1996)

Never 47%

Once 17%

Twice 13%

Three to five times 13%

Six to ten times 5%

More than could count 4%


Interpersonal violenceInterpersonal violence

TABLE 4: Violent undertakings of Queensland high school students (Mean age 14.8) in the past year (Sheehan et al., 1996)

Taken part in a group fight 27%

Had a serious fight in school or at work 26%

Deliberately hurt another person, requiring treatment

9%

Physically attacked another person with the intention to take something from them

7%


Risk and Protective FactorsRisk and Protective Factors

Adolescent risk taking

Protective FactorsRisk FactorsIndividual:• Sensation seeking• Impulsiveness• Low self esteem

Family:• Poor supervision• Parental modelling• Family conflict

School:• Poor academic performance• School misbehaviour• Truancy

Peers:• Peer encouragement of risk taking• Peer modelling

Individual:• Religiosity• Attachment to parents

Family:• Parental monitoring• Parental help with school• Parental disapproval of risks

School:• Academic achievement• Perceived school connectedness• School effort/interest

Peers:• Peer disapproval of risks• Pro-social peers


The Intervention

Year 9 School population

Detention Centres

TAFE/Work/ Flexible Learning

Normative Group Intervention (WA)

High Risk Group Intervention (QLD)

Intervention Populations

Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety – Queenslandwww.carrsq.qut.edu.au

10

Possible school leavers


Normative Group Intervention (WA)Health Education Program

Experimental Region (Normative group)

High Schools

Students (Year 9)

“Dr YES” Intervention


High Risk Group Intervention (Qld)Multi-target Strategy

Experimental Region (High Risk Group)

Students (Year 9)

Parents/ Guardians

Guidance Officers

Young peopleYouth

Workers

TAFE

Police High Schools

Centrelink Agencies

Teachers

Youth Services (e.g.

FLP)

Other school staff


Qld School-based Intervention


Youth Risk Taking WorkshopYouth Risk Taking WorkshopWhat for?Present the intervention to Education Qld staff, gauge interest and gain

advice

Who was involved?• Relevant Education Qld head office staff• Executive Directors (Schools) and Senior Guidance Officers from the

Logan Beaudesert (LB) and Stafford Geebung (SG) Education Districts • School staff at State High Schools within LB and SG• Flexible learning program staff within LB and SG

Focus Groups• Three focus group sessions held throughout the day- Education Qld Head Office Staff- School Guidance Officers- Support and alternative education staff

- Year Coordinators and teaching staff - LB- Year Coordinators and teaching staff - SG - Teaching and special ed staff - LB


High risk takers• Risk taking begins prior to Year 10

• Males are the main problem group but females are becoming more involved

• Risk taking behaviour is associated with low academic achievement, low self esteem, often low SES and a lack of appropriate parental modelling

Implications for change• Program needs to run for a couple of years and

not just be a once-off

• Need to involve community based young people

• A harm minimisation approach is needed

• Intervention also needs to target parents/guardians

Youth Risk Taking WorkshopYouth Risk Taking WorkshopKey FeedbackKey Feedback


Intervention methods and processes

• Intervention needs to be engaging, interactive and non-traditional, employing a variety of stimulus

• Must be implemented across the board and integrated into the school curriculum. Some contents should be assessable

• A Professional Development component is considered important

• Program should offer teachers greater support in the classroom context

Youth Risk Taking WorkshopYouth Risk Taking WorkshopKey FeedbackKey Feedback


• School-based intervention Schools’ participation Focus groups with school staff, parents and adolescents Resources developed and intervention implemented in

2005

• Community youth services (including flexible learning programs) Focus groups with students Workshops/meetings with staff to discuss intervention

methods and processes

• Develop contacts with TAFE, Centrelink agencies and Catholic/ independent schools

Where to from here?