(Sex,) Drugs and Alcohol: Social Norms in Stockton Schools

Catherine Wilburn, Research Executive, NWA Social Research Ltd.

Background on Stockton…

North East of England, it is the largest Unitary Authority in the Tees Valley.Population 191,500, Households 79,100 and 25,700 school age children. Has a unique social and economic mix, with areas of disadvantage placed alongside affluence.Local Area Agreement - Reduce substance misuse among young people; 2009 - 103 drug/53 alcohol referrals. Reduce the number of conceptions in under 18 year olds; Jan - Nov 2009 - 209 conceptions, 46% resulted in termination.

Why Social Norms…

Wanted a project which would delay/prevent the onset of risk taking behaviours, without having a negative impact on anyone who may already be engaging in risky behaviour.

Approach had to be evidence based, and developed from authentic data.

Wanted to adopt a health promotion approach which was different.

NWA joined the team…

Research Process…

Become “experts” in Social Norms! Designing a workable research tool

Getting the schools to opt-in to the project/ Surveying the pupils

Designing a marketing campaign to feed the results back to the pupils which they like/ feel a sense of ownership of

Constantly refreshing the intervention materials to keep the messages visible

Resurveying the full sample after 2 years to measure effectiveness

The Questionnaire…

“Formative Evaluation - Aim is both to create a baseline measure of behaviour/ attitude and to collect the ‘metadata’ needed to produce effective ‘Social Norms’ messages from this baseline”

Questionnaire records;Descriptive norms (Current personal behaviour) and Injunctive norms (Current personal attitudes towards behaviours) Perceived behaviour of your peer group

Achieved Sample...

Offered to all 14 main-steam secondary schools in the Borough - taken up by 8

Total of 1603 pupils surveyed; 764 Year 7’s (11 to 12 years) 839 Year 9’s (13 to 14 years)

Baseline results from pupils…

Sex and Relationships…

Illegal Drugs…

Alcohol…

Intervention Materials…

Focus groups...

Held focus groups with pupils involved in the project to get their input into;

The “brand” identity – the look, the colours, the nameHow best to personalise the posters for each schoolWhat forms the marketing should takePreliminary feedback on the positive messages we had chosen for their school

The ‘Social Norm’

Data on each poster personalised for each school using schools slang name e.g. it’s

true coz’ Blakey told us

Pictorial representation of 100% - 100 items, those who agreed in

one colour, those who didn’t in another

Detailed statistic

shown at the bottom

12 different designs for

different areas of the school i.e.

USB memory

sticks = ICT in this case

Other Materials…

Floor stickersDesktops

Screen savers

Email Flyers

Website and Twitter

Posters in School Pens

Highlighters

Does it work?…

Sex and Relationships…

Illegal Drugs…

Alcohol…

Lessons learnt…

Social Norms is effective!

Value of the Social Norms approach beyond the intervention itself;Large baseline dataset Allows for wider planning of curriculum and resourcesFindings can be used to support applications for ‘Healthy Schools’ status

However, there are hidden pitfalls which prospective projects should be aware of…

Potential Pitfalls to avoid...

Data CollectionFocus always on the data collection as an integral part of an intervention

Creating a baseline you can measurably changeTerming the measures so they are easily understood

Issue of ‘Faith’ schoolsAsking inappropriate questions of young people..?Teacher’s Time

Potential Pitfalls to avoid...

Intervention MaterialsKey in projecting the messages effectivelyAvoiding ‘dangerous’ mechanisms with immediate resultsConstant refreshment to maintain interestUsing a medium/design teenagers engage with

Choices between formatsFacebook vs TwitterStressballs and Cupcakes vs HighlightersLikelihood of repeat usage/ impact on the school environmentTeacher’s Time!

How we can help you to take ‘Social Norms’ forward…

Any Questions…

Any Questions…