Developing a consensus statement on substance use prevention

“I’ve seen the impact of alcohol & drugs on my friend’s lives, I want to make sure other young people know the risks, and where to get help” 

Public Health Scotland are working in partnership with Fast Forward, YouthLink and Young Scot, to build agreement, or consensus, on what substance use (alcohol, drugs, tobacco, gases) prevention should look like for children and young people in Scotland.

A range of participants from education, health care, custody settings, national and local government and importantly, young people will be part of the process.

The work will inform policy, education & prevention work and treatment, and reduce the impact of substance use in Scotland.

Agreeing on how we collectively approach this topic, will help us improve outcomes for children and young people living in Scotland.

To make this an authentic process, we need young people to take part in a Delphi study to help shape the approach. They will take part in a focus group with other young people, to contribute to agreement of the language to be used in the development of a questionnaire on the topic.

Participants will enhance their team working skills, including communication and negotiation, in addition to increasing their knowledge of substances, substance use, and its harms on individuals, their families and communities.

This process will take place in 4 meetings over a 6 month period, from September 2022 – March 2023.

Participants will receive a Participative Democracy accreditation delivered by YouthLink Scotland.

A Delphi study involves getting around 50-100 panel members from education, health care, custody settings, national and local government and importantly, young people, to take part in smaller focus groups to understand and agree statements on a certain topic area, in this instance it will focus on substance use harm prevention in young people.

The recorded statements are then turned into a questionnaire that is circulated back to the participants, who are asked to rate each of the questions in the questionnaire.

The most popular ones are then turned into a second questionnaire and the process is repeated. This will produce a list of statements that reflect an agreement or consensus around the language used in this work going forward.

The findings and evidence will be published in June 2023.