Click for Support – REALized, an online intervention for NPS users

The project ‘Click for Support – REALized‘ (co-funded by the European Commission) is the follow-up of the former ‘Click for Support’ project (2014-2015), in which guidelines for effective web-based interventions (WBI) in selective drug prevention have been developed. In the current project, a web-based intervention will be developed by the same euro net partners, and the WBI will focus on young consumers of New Psychoactive Substances (NPS). The focus has been chosen due to the spreading phenomenon of NPS and increase of their consumption throughout Europe, as well as the general lack of online information about NPS’ effects and possible harms for young consumers.

Methods
The web-based offer will contain an information section, a self-test for users to assess their own consumption, and a structured 30-day intervention programme, whose main element will be an interactive consumption diary. For the development of the website, the project group will collaborate with an IT company experienced in developing websites related to drug use interventions. The content will be based on best-practice research of on- and offline prevention offers focusing on NPS, and on input from the target group through two rounds of national focus groups with young NPS consumers. Furthermore, the project group will be informed by several experts regarding NPS, WBIs, the target group, and online (addiction) counselling during two workshops and a training for national prevention experts. Lastly, the content and concept will be based on the best practices regarding illicit drug-related WBIs found in Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium in the previous project, as well as its final guidelines.

Operation and Evaluation
The WBI will have a beta-phase after development, during which focus groups with young NPS consumers giving feedback on the WBI will inform the project group on possible adaptations and improvements. In an effort to gain interest and attention for the offer, it will be disseminated widely through different social media. Subsequently, the WBI will be operated for 5 months by the national prevention experts, after which the web-based NPS offer will be evaluated. All results will be presented at the final conference in Münster, 13th and 14th November 2017.

(You can sign up for our project newsletter here)

Posted in Uncategorized.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *