Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Sep;20(3):1397-1406.
doi: 10.4314/ahs.v20i3.45.

Effective school-based preventive interventions for alcohol use in Africa: a systematic review

Sachi Tomokawa  1 , Kimihiro Miyake  1 , Takeshi Akiyama  2 , Yuka Makino  3 , Akihiro Nishio  4 , Jun Kobayashi  5 , Masamine Jimba  6 , Irene Ayi  7 , Sammy M Njenga  8 , Takashi Asakura  9
Affiliations

Effective school-based preventive interventions for alcohol use in Africa: a systematic review

Sachi Tomokawa et al. Afr Health Sci. 2020 Sep.

Abstract

Background: Despite recognition of the risks of alcohol use and importance of prevention from an early age, the effectiveness of school-based interventions in Africa has not been clarified.

Objective: We aimed to identify effective school-based alcohol use prevention interventions in Africa.

Methods: We searched eight databases for peer-reviewed articles published until February 3, 2019 that reported on randomized controlled trials, cluster randomized controlled trials, controlled clinical trials, pre-post quasi-experimental studies, cohort studies, and case-control studies. The full-texts of relevant studies were searched.

Results: Four of 2797 papers met our eligibility criteria. All reported interventions targeted secondary school students in South Africa and were incorporated in the school curriculum. The interventions comprised multi-component activities with participatory and peer educational methods, and applied modified programs originally developed in the US. However, intervention effects were inconsistent among studies, although the interventions tended to have a positive effect on non-drinkers at baseline, with stronger effects in girls.

Conclusion: interventions had positive effects on students that were non-drinkers at baseline, especially girls. Although we could not find robust evidence that school-based interventions changed attitudes, frequency/quantity of drinking, and intentions to use alcohol, one intervention showed an increase in students' alcohol refusal self-efficacy.

Keywords: Africa; School-based preventive interventions; alcohol use; systematic review.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow chart of the review
Figure 2
Figure 2
Risk of bias summary for RCT study
Figure 3
Figure 3
Risk of bias summary for non-RCT study
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. World Health Organization, author. Global status report on non-communicable diseases. 2014. [12 July 2018]. 2014Online Available at: http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/148114/1/9789241564854_eng.pdf?....
    1. World health organization, author. Global Status report on alcohol and health. 2014. [12 July 2018]. 2014Online Available at: http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/112736/1/9789240692763_eng.pdf.
    1. Ferreira-Borges C, Rehm J, Dias S, Babor T, Parry CDH. The impact of alcohol consumption on African people in 2012: an analysis of burden of disease. Trop Med Int Health. 2016;21(1):52–60. doi: 10.1111/tmi.12618. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Grant BF, Dawson DA. Age at onset of alcohol use and its association with DSM-IV alcohol abuse and dependence: results from the National Longitudinal Alcohol Epidemiologic Survey. J Subst Abuse. 1997;9:103–110. - PubMed
    1. Grant BF. Age at smoking onset and its association with alcohol consumption and DSM-IV alcohol abuse and dependence: results from the National Longitudinal Alcohol Epidemiologic Survey. J Subst Abuse. 1998;10(1):59–73. - PubMed

Publication types