The Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse (CCSA) and Traffic Injury Research Foundation (TIRF) are pleased to announce the release of a new report: ‘The Problem of Youth Drugged Driving and Approaches to Prevention: A Systematic Literature Review.’ Production of this document has been made possible through a financial contribution from Health Canada’s Drug Strategy Community Initiatives Fund.
The report examines the effectiveness of drugged driving prevention programs and media/awareness campaigns in deterring youth from driving under the influence of drugs to inform future prevention initiatives in this area. A systematic review was conducted of studies that evaluated programs aimed at preventing drugged driving and were targeted at youth audiences, and that were published in English and publicly available.
Key findings include:
- Education and prevention programs might be effective in changing youth perceptions of the risks of drug-impaired driving, while media and awareness campaigns might be effective in increasing awareness of different facets of the issue.
- Specific approaches, such as encouraging youth to examine their attitudes, think critically, make responsible choices and communicate, could create opportunities for empowerment.
- The teaching of coping skills, life skills and peer pressure resistance strategies, as well as having youth assume leadership roles, could build self-esteem.
- Youth-centric, youth-created, culturally sensitive, factual messaging will ensure information is believable and easily understood by the target audience.
- The involvement of parents and engagement of the community could expand the outreach and impact of prevention initiatives.
- Enforcing detection and penalties in conjunction with prevention efforts could make the consequences of driving after using drugs relevant.
While definitive conclusions about the impact of programs and campaigns on behaviour could not be drawn due to the limited body of literature, the review did identify promising prevention strategies that affected knowledge and changed attitudes.
These findings can be utilized in the development of future youth drugged driving prevention initiatives.
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Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse
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