scholarly journals AlcoLOLs, re-thinking drinking: Developing a shared leadership approach for alcohol education

2019 ◽  
Vol 79 (3) ◽  
pp. 346-361
Author(s):  
Magda Pieczka ◽  
Isidoropaolo Casteltrione

Objective: The aim of this article is to extend and elaborate ways of conceptualising, enabling and practising peer leadership in whole-school alcohol education programmes. Design: Qualitative study involving individual and group interviews. Setting: The AlcoLOLs project took place in six secondary schools in North East Edinburgh (Scotland) from 2013 to 2015. Methods: A total of 21 individual and 4 group interviews with young people aged 14–18 who acted as peer leaders in the AlcoLOLs project. Interviews were conducted throughout the duration of the project as a means of hearing peer leaders’ individual voices, monitoring progress and evaluating the intervention. Data were analysed using the principles of thematic analysis. Results: The intervention demonstrates transformative multilevel learning (i.e. cognition, civic/communal attitudes, self-identity, self-efficacy, specific communication/team skills) for peer leaders resulting from the shared leadership process. Results indicate that there is an element of continuity between antecedents, process and outcomes of shared leadership which, in the context of peer education, needs to be seen as an iterative rather than a linear process. Drawing on these findings, a model for a whole-school alcohol peer education intervention is developed. The model is underpinned by critical dialogic principles and reframes alcohol consumption as action rather than behaviour. Conclusion: This article redefines peer leadership in alcohol education interventions for young people as a process involving formal, informal, individual and shared leadership. Combined with a whole-school dialogic intervention, this approach can lead to the development of alcohol consumption/abstinence as a practice that focuses on the articulation of a self-identity drawing on both individual/personal and civic aspects.

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlotte M. Edelmann ◽  
Filip Boen ◽  
Katrien Fransen

Leadership plays an essential part in creating competitive advantage and well-being among employees. One way in which formal leaders can deal with the variety of responsibilities that comes with their role is to share their responsibilities with team members (i.e., shared leadership). Although there is abundant literature on how high-quality peer leadership benefits team effectiveness (TE) and well-being, there is only limited evidence about the underpinning mechanisms of these relationships and how the formal leader can support this process. To address this lacuna, we conducted an online survey study with 146 employees from various organizations. The results suggest that an empowering leadership style of the formal leader is associated with higher perceived peer leadership quality (PLQ) on four different leadership roles (i.e., task, motivational, social, and external leader). In addition, formal leaders who empower their team members are also perceived as better leaders themselves. Moreover, the improved PLQ was in turn positively related to TE and work satisfaction, while being negatively related to burnout. In line with the social identity approach, we found that team identification mediated these relationships. Thus, high-quality peer leaders succeeded in creating a shared sense of “us” in the team, and this team identification in turn generated all the positive outcomes. To conclude, by sharing their lead and empowering the peer leaders in their team, formal leaders are key drivers of the team’s effectiveness, while also enhancing team members’ health and well-being.


2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
C Teerachote ◽  
P Kessomboom ◽  
A Rattanasiri ◽  
R Koju

Background Peer leadership is widely recognized as an effective approach to health promotion and empowerment among people of similar ages, especially the youth. Such programs build peer leaders who in turn help empower the youths in their groups to improve their health and life skills related to health. Most previous studies have focused on the effectiveness of such activities in target groups but have neglected to effectively address and explore the transformations in peer leaders themselves. Objectives This descriptive study aimed to investigate the level of social change and health consciousness among student peer leaders in three Youth health promotion programs in Thailand: Friend’s Corner, Smart Consumer and Volunteer Minded Young Dentists, and to compare them with the general students. Methods The study was conducted using a self-administered questionnaire, which was developed based on Tyree’s Social Change Model of leadership, Gould’s concept and Dutta-Bergman’s concept. The study population comprised of 11th grade students (N=660) from Kalasin Province in Thailand, 320 of whom were peer leaders. Results The findings revealed that the peer leaders scored higher than non peer leaders in all domains. Among the peer leaders, it was found that Volunteer Minded Young Dentists group had the highest scores in “controversy with civility”, “social change agent” characteristics, “holistic health perceptions” and “responsibility for one’s own health” regarding health consciousness. Conclusion The results of this study confirmed that the peer leadership approach can help young people to develop life skills through social transformation and increase health consciousness for better status of health in the community. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/kumj.v11i1.11025 Kathmandu University Medical Journal Vol.11(1) 2013: 41-44


PLoS ONE ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. e0259560
Author(s):  
May C. I. van Schalkwyk ◽  
Mark Petticrew ◽  
Nason Maani ◽  
Ben Hawkins ◽  
Chris Bonell ◽  
...  

Background and aim For decades, corporations such as the tobacco and fossil fuel industries have used youth education programmes and schools to disseminate discourses, ideas and values favourable to their positions, and to pre-empt regulation that threatens profits. However, there is no systematic research into alcohol industry-funded youth education programmes. This article serves to address this important gap in the literature. Methods Using a discourse theoretical approach informed by poststructural discourse theory and critical discourse analysis, we analysed teaching materials from three school-based youth education initiatives which focus on alcohol consumption and health harms: Drinkaware for Education, The Smashed Project (funded by Diageo), and Talk About Alcohol (Alcohol Education Trust). These materials, some of which are disseminated internationally, are provided to schools through intermediary bodies in receipt of alcohol industry funding. Findings The analysis found that these materials drew from and presented discourses of personal responsibility, moderate alcohol consumption, and involved a narrowing of the problem definition and causes. The locus of the problem is located by the discourses within individuals including youth, with causes of youth alcohol consumption repeatedly presented as peer pressure and ‘poor choices’, with little or no mention of alcohol industry marketing or other practices. All programmes promoted familiarisation and normalisation of alcohol as a ‘normal’ adult consumer product which children must learn about and master how to use responsibly when older. The discourses constructed in these materials closely align with those of other alcohol industry corporate social responsibility discourses which employ selective presentation of harms, including misinformation about cancer, and ambiguous terms such as “responsible drinking”. Furthermore, the role of alcohol price, availability and access, and the impacts of alcohol and the industry on inequities were not articulated within the discourses. The research was limited to an analysis of teaching materials and further research is needed to explore their impact on youth, teachers and wider discourses and social norms. Conclusion Alcohol industry-sponsored youth education programmes serve industry interests and promote moderate consumption while purportedly educating children about harms and influences of alcohol use. There are considerable conflicts of interest in the delivery of alcohol education programmes funded by the alcohol industry and intermediary bodies in receipt of such funding. Alcohol education materials should be developed independent from industry, including funding, and should empower children and young people to understand and think critically about alcohol, including harms and drivers of consumption, and effective interventions needed to protect them and others from alcohol-related harms. Independent organisations can use this analysis to critique their materials to strengthen alignment with meeting student and public health interests. The ongoing exposure of children and young people to such conflicted and misleading materials needs urgent attention from policymakers, practitioners, teachers and parents, and resources dependent on industry support should cease being used in schools.


2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Andile Dube ◽  
Mokubung Nkomo

The study traces the pathways of young people who dropped out of school between grades 1 to 11 as they seek re-entrance to the education, training and development (ETD) system, or entrance into the labour market. Particular attention is given to the factors that determine the choices that drop-outs make in either re-entering the ETD system or entering the labour market. An analysis of the experiences of the interviewed sample of drop-outs is presented. The study employs a qualitative research methodology, using interviews to elicit the experiences of drop-outs and school managers. Through snowballing, 14 youths and three principals were selected from a township south of Durban. Individual and focus group interviews were conducted. The findings provide insights into the drop-outs’ perceptions regarding the value of investing in education. They are discussed further in relation to the respective theories used in the study. The concluding section suggests the need for investments in second chance education by government and the private sector, and proposes an integrated model to assist young people who re-enter psychologically and emotionally.


2018 ◽  
Vol 69 (3) ◽  
pp. 703-706
Author(s):  
Cristina Pantea ◽  
Razvan Horhat ◽  
Salomeia Putnoky ◽  
Oana Suciu ◽  
Ioana Tuta Sas ◽  
...  

The present research aimed to assess some predictors for experiencing traveling in a car with a driver who has consumed alcohol, in a group of young people, aged between 18 and 20 years, residents of Timis County, Romania. The study group of 1606 young subjects, 18-20 years of age, 51.4% pupils and 48.6% students, with girls being significantly better represented, was applied a transversal population study. Percents of 29.8% of boys and 28.4% of girls got 1-3 times in a car with a drunk driver, and 10.1% of boys and 6.5% of girls traveled in such circumstances more than 4 times. Boys tend to accept the risks of traveling in a car with a drunk driver significantly more frequently than girls. We identified some predictors for traveling with a driver who has consumed alcohol, such as the binge drinking model and the model of mixed alcohol and drugs consumption, the practice of alcohol consumption associated with vehicle driving by the father, as well as by friends.


Author(s):  
Kerryn Gill ◽  
Claudia Ollenburg ◽  
Robert Nash

Australia is host to over 350 music festivals every year however, it has become apparent that very little work has been done to determine why young people choose to consume large amounts of alcohol at these events and in turn, what role peer pressure plays in their decisions. This study adds to research, investigating the motivations of those who attend music festivals, as well as exploring how peer pressure impacts young peoples choice to attend and consume alcohol. Data was collected from students attending four Queensland Universities and identifies the importance of alcohol consumption to attendees. This study both substantiates previous research, as well as support academic theories.


1980 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 405-420 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olav Irgens-Jensen ◽  
Mons George Rud

In order to provide information on the way in which use of drugs - and of alcohol and tobacco -among young people changes over a period of time, the Norwegian National Institute for Alcohol Research has each spring, since 1968, conducted a survey of the youth of Oslo to determine their use of these drugs. The results are of significance not only from a scientific point of view but also from the point of view of practical policy-making. For instance, since 1974 there does not seem to have been any increase in alcohol consumption among the youth of Oslo, a fact which may reflect the measures which were introduced at that time in order to curb alcohol consumption among young people in Norway.


2020 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 410-423
Author(s):  
Natalie M. Brousseau ◽  
Valerie A. Earnshaw ◽  
David Menino ◽  
Laura M. Bogart ◽  
Jennifer Carrano ◽  
...  

Substance use disorders (SUDs) among young people have been linked with a range of adverse health consequences that can be successfully mitigated with early SUD treatment. According to the Social Identity Theory of Cessation Maintenance (SITCM), psychosocial processes including self-perceptions and benefit finding evolve with treatment, influencing recovery-based identities that can facilitate treatment success. However, this process has only been documented with adults; thus, the current study seeks to characterize these psychosocial processes among young people in SUD treatment and their caregivers. Nineteen young people receiving SUD treatment and 15 caregivers were interviewed about treatment experiences including negative self-perceptions, positive self-perceptions, and benefit finding. Results support the SITCM: Adolescents described escaping negative self-perceptions associated with the “substance use self” identity and strengthening a new “recovery self” identity characterized by positive self-perceptions and benefit finding. Caregivers described how extrinsic sources of support can help mitigate negative self-perceptions.


2009 ◽  
Vol 28 (88) ◽  
pp. 13-26
Author(s):  
Helen Cartwright

The book superstore is promoted not just as a place to buy books but also as a community resource in which to read, learn and socialise: traits that have in combination traditionally been the preserve of the public library. This study investigates the impact of the bookstore environment on public library space. The attitudes and behaviours of library and bookstore users were examined through focus group interviews and a self-completed questionnaire. Clear areas of overlap in the functions of the two sites were found, as was evidence of age and income-related splits in use and perception of bookstores and libraries. Results suggest attention should be paid to the beliefs and behaviours of young people and middle-income earners (the groups most noticeably increasing their use of the bookstore) and to the desired balance of education and recreation in the image and nature of the public library.


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