Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Jan 4, 2020
Date Accepted: Feb 1, 2020
New Challenges in the Selective Prevention of Illicit Drug Use in Young Drug Users
ABSTRACT
Background:
Digital technologies have a major impact in the everyday lives of young people, also in seeking information and help on drug-related issues online.
Objective:
The aim of the article was to review and analyse current online interventions for young drug users in Slovenia with the purpose to contribute to the development of guidelines/key recommendations for effective online intervention.
Methods:
The survey was a part of the project Click for support. The review was performed through a key-word search, inquiry among national experts in the field of Drug Prevention, and through assessment of recognised national online interventions by the target group of 20 young drug users in the workshop discussions.
Results:
The current offer of online interventions in Slovenia is satisfactory, but still not recognized enough. The most important issues for young drug users were design, clear structure, functionality, the possibility of using it on smartphones, comprehensive and quick professional feedback, as well as data security. Playful elements and the ability to share (experiences) with other/former users were also recognized as important.
Conclusions:
With effective online interventions we can achieve and include more young drug users, facilitate access to a more affordable service, provide a quick professional feedback on patterns of consumption, increase knowledge about the effects/consequences of drugs, and support drug use reduction or quitting. From the public health perspective, it is a challenge to provide such interventions more broadly to the target group and, hence, decrease inequities. Clinical Trial: No clinical trials
Citation
Request queued. Please wait while the file is being generated. It may take some time.
Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.