The school in the prevention of alcohol and drug abuse: a preliminary study

Abstract

Background.The school as a socializing agent has strong promotional tools of self-esteem and empowerment of the resilience of students. However, the school context may favor the harmful use of drugs by students when unknown and does not strengthen the protective factors to prevent involvement with alcohol and other drugs. The study aimed to identify the conceptions of teachers about the risk factors and the school's own protection for the prevention of alcohol and other drugs among students of elementary and high school. Methods. An exploratory research with qualitative design was carried out. The random sample was composed of 20 schools located in the federal capital of Brazil, that presented prevention projects within the 5th edition of the Teacher Training Course for Prevention of Alcohol and Drug Abuse developed by Program of Studies and Attention to Chemical Dependency of the University of Brasilia. Twenty prevention projects were analyzed in selected schools. Results. The results show that educators have identified risk factors and protection categorized in the following units of analysis: physical and material aspects of school; school organization; school practice; school relations and internal and external social networks. The identified strong aspects were positive school relationships, school practice and school organization. The weaknesses were: the relationship with parents, with partner institutions of the school and the school environment that presents a situation of vulnerability to drug use due to the presence of trafficking. Discussion. The results enable effectively implement of prevention projects in schools.