Prevention programs on alternative activities

Abstract

Alternative leisure programmes have aroused widespread interest in Spain in the last six years as a consequence of the rapid expansion of the new recreational drug use patterns in significant sectors of the juvenile population. Although this heading can cover many kinds of different interventions, it can be said that it includes a type of programme with a community basis that is carried out in leisure hours and spaces. Their overall priority objective is to organise activities which are both incompatible with drug use and as an alternative to it. Nonetheless, there is little evidence of any rigorous research that would indicate exactly which kind of programme, which of their activities or on which of their specific populations these are the most effective. In the United States, where these programmes have been operating for the last twenty years, authors such as Hansen and Tobbler have carried out systematic reviews and used metaanalysis, enabling us to make an assessment of the results and identify certain keys to guarantee their good operation. Similarly, in Spain, there is an evaluation of the results of two well-known programmes Abierto hasta el Amanecer (Gijón) and La Noche más Joven (Madrid City Council) as well as a database- - Idea Prevención, which has accumulated and analysed a total of 73 programmes. One result of the investigation is the need to improve the scientific foundation of these programmes in addition to adjusting them to a definition of more precise needs and to more realistic expectations from the results of their application.