SSDP’s recommendations to the UNODC were compiled and submitted by our Drug Education Manager, Dr. Vilmarie Narloch, Psy.D ’09 Recently, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime put out a call for civil society input as they update the International Standards of Drug Use Prevention. These standards were originally launched in 2013 and took into consideration studies published prior to 2012. The UNODC is looking to create a second edition of the Standards by taking stock of the recent developments in prevention research that have emerged over the past five years. Input from civil society members was received in the form of a questionnaire that the UNODC sent out. SSDP responded to the questions asked with research supporting our belief in an integrated approach to prevention that includes young people as key stakeholders: Please provide suggestions, if any, on how the methodology of the literature review, that was used as the basis of the Standards, could be strengthened.
The methodology might be improved by being more transparent about the case that many studies reviewing the effectiveness of prevention programs are completed by those who developed the program, and thus may indicate some potential bias. Source: Gandhi, A. G., Murphy-Graham, E., & Petrosino, A. (2007). The devil is in the details: Examining evidence for “proven” school-based drug abuse prevention programs. Evaluation Review, 31, 43-74. doi: 10.1177/0193841X06287188 In your opinion, are there areas of prevention that are supported by solid scientific evidence, but that were not fully reflected and described in the first edition of the Standards? If yes, please provide references (or when feasible electronic copies) of scientific studies demonstrating the effectiveness of such approaches. These studies could be in any language. For examples of such areas not sufficiently covered, please see chapter II of the Standards at page 39. |
Utilizing participatory research methods and program development methods should be further highlighted as youth are key stakeholders in the interventions discussed in the standards. Some references with regard to this include:
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