CUT! Preventing alcohol abuse among pre-adolescents

The motivation of the CUT! project was and is deeply rooted in the evidence that alcohol abuse is a hideous threat for the young population, not only from the health care point of view, but as from the potential disruptive effect on their social behavior. The analysis of the context revealed that the increasing anticipation with which youngsters get in touch with alcohol, is a strong signal for future risks of abuse and highlighted how multifaceted factors such as identity formation, adherence to societal norms, fear of exclusion, bullying, rites of passage, and defiance against authority is potentially contributing to adolescents engaging in alcohol abuse. To effectively cut the numbers of youngsters affected by the phenomenon the project identified the need of: - Preventive measures and awareness initiatives to be started as early as pre-adolescence. - Enhancing the proficiency of educators and psychological support personnel employed in secondary schools to effectively and early handle students at risks - Key decision and policymakers developing a higher level of awareness for nurturing a healthy educational trajectory for preadolescents and create a synergic effort for preventing diffusion of alcohol abuse among them.

Early alcohol use among pre-adolescents and related risk of future abuse was the central topic addressed by the CUT! project context analysis as part of the iceberg of a larger problem, where the underlying issues were the youngsters distress, difficulties in personal and/or group acceptance, discrimination, segregation, emotional and physical turmoil, etc. Within the context the general aim of the CUT! Project was to limit the use and abuse of alcohol among adolescents by focusing on early prevention starting at pre-adolescence age and a strong awareness rising addressed to the overall educational community. To achieve the ambitious goal the project set three specific objectives: - Raising awareness on the issue of alcohol abuse, both among pre-adolescents and adults of reference through highly communicative tools (SO 1). - Preventing risky behaviors eventually leading to alcohol abuse, developing guidance material for educators highlighting possible risk factors and suggesting effective solutions on how to tackle them (SO2). - Developing policy makers response strategies to tackle the issue of alcohol abuse among pre-adolescents, through the production of recommendations for systemic interventions (SO3).

To achieve the above-mentioned objectives, project partners carried out several activities: Development of the three main Project Results by involving the project partners in a cooperative effort to provide highly communicative and yet scientifically reliable tools for the educational community to put into practice: - Videos targeting students and parents to deal with the topic of alcohol use and abuse. - A Practical Guide for teachers as well as school psychological support staff on the phenomenon of alcohol use and abuse and on how to establish proper educational activities to tackle the issue - Handbooks for key policy and decision makers highlighting lessons learned and proposing policy recommendations Involvement of Target Groups Through a strong effort and constant engagement of all the project partners, the CUT! Project managed to achieve active participation of numerous almost 60 teachers, almost 200 parents and almost 700 students, among which more than 150 with fewer opportunities in the project activities both oriented to the development and to the testing and evaluation of the contents of the results. For the video creation for example the project partners organized 19 focus group with students and 17 focus groups with parents, collecting relevant information and above all already promoting a more aware and skilled approach to the theme of alcohol early use and future abuse prevention. This allowed the CUT project to impact significantly on direct target groups and beneficiaries. The CUT! Project also involved 18 associated schools that played a crucial role in reaching the target groups, in disseminating the CUT! project across their respective networks and are a key asset for the future sustainability of the project. The evidence of the CUT! Effort on the matter is available at https://cut.pixel-online.org/schools.php. Organisation of training and pupils’ exchange events As planned the CUT! Consortium organized and implemented three key activities dedicated to an international peer to peer knowledge sharing and capacity building process: - A first exchange of pupils was held at Scialoia School in Milan, during which students duly guided by professional staff brainstormed, shared their impressions and jointly reflected on the causes of alcohol abuse at a young age, the role of relationships with peers and adults during adolescence and the importance of emotions and their expression. As a final activity, the students were asked to work in groups to create a poster with pictures, words, sentences, collages, etc. that could stimulate awareness in others about the risks of alcohol use and abuse. Each group then presented their work explaining the reasons for their choices and what they had learnt during this workshop. During the exchange, the pupils were able to use their skills and abilities, sharing their ideas and experiences and working together towards a common goal, that of learning new information on the topic, increasing their awareness, and recognizing and preventing risky behavior in themselves and others. - A Training of Trainers session that covered various aspects related to the topic of alcohol and prevention on alcohol use and abuse in preadolescence: the emergence of this issue among young Europeans, the messages that young people receive from the different sources with which they come into contact, the contrasts and contradictions contained in those messages and inherent in alcoholic beverages, the knowledge of the world of preadolescence and adolescence, the role of the family and the importance of presence, the rituals and peculiarities of each culture, the changing society, communication between adults and teens on sensitive issues, the importance and conditioning of the peer group (limits and resources), causes leading to alcohol use and abuse, the world of the web and of social media, alcohol challenges, the sense of limit, the difference between the bodies of adults and of teens, relational responsibility, short-term physical damage (ethyl coma) and long-term term (addiction and disease). - A second exchange of pupils held at Szkoła Podstawowa nr 5 im. Janusza Kusocińskiego w Swidniku, Poland during which students actively discussed with peers about the consequences of drinking at a young age and the tragic effects of addiction to alcohol. Students had the opportunity to compare their opinions and traditions regarding the consumption of alcoholic beverages during family celebrations, parties and in everyday life. They also reviewed memes showing how the world has changed over hundreds of years and how the perception of alcohol and drinking has transformed into something positive. Participants also addressed the theme of the harmful effects of alcohol on the human body. The students also acted out scenes in which they showed what uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages can lead to. Each group presented their own moral story, so that everyone learned a valuable lesson after watching. Multiplier Events Project partners organized events at national level to present the project objectives and its results to teachers and experts in the educational field further disseminating the CUT! project’s achievements to more than 300 end-users (https://cut.pixel-online.org/conference.php). Dissemination The CUT! Project also benefited from the implementation of a structured Dissemination strategy through which each partner was committed to spread the information about the project and about its results and achievements. Full evidence of the dissemination activities through is available at: https://cut.pixel-online.org/dissemination.php. Monitoring and evaluation Monitoring of the project achievements was implemented through a detailed calendar of activities that also defined the indicators to assess the compliance of the activities and results with the expectations. An evaluation strategy involved representatives of the project partners and the target groups (i.e., school teachers and students). The evaluation strategy produced both qualitative and quantitative data, collected through questionnaires and testimonials, which were duly analyzed and served as the basis for the Transnational Evaluation Report (https://cut.pixel-online.org/project-results.php). For the purpose project partners representatives also participated in 4 transnational meeting to discuss the main decisions to be made to reach the results prefixed (https://cut.pixel-online.org/meeting.php).

The concrete outputs produced are: 1: Video Series The output consists of a collection of videos-pills addressed to pupils and to parents that can be used in order to stimulate a reflection of the main risk factors, early signs and potential prevention strategies in the field of alcohol use and abuse among pre-adolescents and adolescents. The videos addressed are divided in 4 addressed to pupils and 6 to parents. The videos addressed to pupils consists of a short film that delves into the general problem of alcohol abuse, elucidating its definition, impact, and contrasting approaches to addressing it, one positive and one negative. And three other video narratives that highlight the risky factors and behaviors associated with alcohol use and abuse. Through firsthand testimonies, young boys and girls share their experiences, detailing the escalation in their substance use. The 6 videos for parents deal with different topics such as listening to pre-adolescents, changes in the relationship between parents and children in adolescence, physical and psychological growth, the culture of alcohol and the importance of talking about it in the family, the importance of the group and the issue of new challenges. The videos are available for free at: https://cut.pixel-online.org/video-series.php. 2: Practical Guide The second Project Results consists of a Practical Guide that provides teachers and psychological support staff with information on the phenomenon of alcohol use and abuse among young boys and girls, along with practical advice on establishing proper educational activities to address the issue. The full contents are accessible for free at: https://cut.pixel-online.org/practical-guide.php. 3: Lesson Learned and Policy Recommendations The third result makes available two documents highlighting the lessons learned during the project and through its activities and a set of policy recommendations to raise the awareness of key policy and decision makers on addressing properly the issue of alcohol use and abuse among pre-adolescents. Both relevant and valuable products are available for free at: https://cut.pixel-online.org/policy-recommendations.php. Intangible but fundamental achievements of the CUT! project are also: - The creation of a network of 18 associated schools, almost 60 teachers, almost 200 parents and almost 700 students that were actively involved in the project activities and therefore benefited from its message, materials and knowledge sharing experience in the field of prevention of alcohol abuse and reduction of risky behaviors at pre-adolescence and adolescence stage. Project partners involved in the CUT! project different schools, teachers, students, psychological staff, as well as parents actively involving them in the project activities. This involvement aims to create a network of schools with their teachers and students that will disseminate the CUT! project to attract new people involved in teaching European values in taking part in this network and broaden the visibility and usage of the deliverables. The complete list of schools, teachers and students involved in the project is available at https://cut.pixel-online.org/schools.php. - The building of skills of teachers as well as psychological support staff (e.g. psychologists or counsellors working at school) on how to identify early sign of the phenomenon of alcohol use and abuse among young boys and girls and on how to establish proper educational activities to tackle the issue. - The creation of the conditions of scaling up and mainstreaming project achievements and results into the schools involved, in associated schools and in the educational system by the involvement of headmasters, decision and policy makers in a common reflection on the prevention of alcohol abuse. - Involvement of 23 teachers and experts in international training activities and 80 pupils involved in international exchange visits Besides the main Project Results, several tangible deliverables were developed. BROCHURE SP5 (IT) as project coordinator produced the structure and the layout of the project brochure, which were then developed in English and translated into project partners’ national languages. The brochure is available and free to download to the public on the project portal, in the dedicated section: https://cut.pixel-online.org/brochure.php. PRESS REVIEW The project partners collected a total number of 42 links to the CUT! project directly uploaded on the web pages of different organisations: https://cut.pixel-online.org/press-reviews.php ASSOCIATED PARTNER A list of Associated Partners that were involved in the project is available on the portal without any restrictions. These help future organisations interesting in the CUT! project to get in contact with the involved them to get more information on the project. The full list of Associated Partners is available at: https://cut.pixel-online.org/associated-partners.php. Finally, the partners produced 3 transnational reports related to the evaluation, sustainability and dissemination of the project. The reports are available in the results sections of the project: https://cut.pixel-online.org/project-results.php (Username: partner, Password: pixel).