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Aims: The study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the government school‐based program #Tamojunto2.0, the third Brazilian version of the European drug prevention program, Unplugged, in preventing the use of alcohol and other drugs. Design A parallel, two‐arm cluster randomized controlled trial was conducted in 205 classes in 73 public schools (37 intervention and 36 control) with a baseline assessment and follow‐up after 9 months. Setting: Schools in the cities of São Paulo, Fortaleza and Eusebio in Brazil. Participants: A total of 5208 students in the 8th grade with a mean age of 13.2 years (standard deviation = 0.8 years) and an equal gender ratio. Intervention: In 2019, the intervention group attended 12 classes of the program #Tamojunto2.0, under the supervision of a team from the Ministry of Health. The control group did not receive any intervention to prevent alcohol and drug use. Measurements The primary outcome measured was prevalence of binge drinking (five or more doses of alcohol in an occasion) within the past month. Secondary outcomes were prevalence of initiation and use of alcohol, tobacco, inhalants, marijuana and cocaine within the past month. Findings A statistically significant difference was not found in the prevalence of binge drinking within the past month between intervention and control groups [odds ratio (OR) = 0.934; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.761–1.146]. However, students who were exposed to the program were less likely to initiate alcohol use than those in the control group (OR = 0.782; 95% CI = 0.636–0.961). The Bayes factor for reduction in binge drinking was 0.01, providing evidence in favor of the null hypothesis for this variable. Conclusions: The drug prevention program #Tamojunto 2.0 reduced alcohol initiation, but appeared not to reduce past‐month binge drinking among 8th grade students in Brazil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study examined parenting style dimensions (demandingness and responsiveness) as predictors of adolescent drug use and also evaluated whether parenting styles dimensions moderate the effects of the implemented prevention program. 6.391 students in the 7th and 8th grades at 72 Brazilian public schools participated in a three-wave randomized controlled trial to evaluate a school drug-use prevention program. We used structural equation modeling to test if baseline parenting style dimensions (demandingness and responsiveness) would predict the use of drugs (alcohol, binge drinking, cannabis, inhalants, and tobacco) after 21 months. Additionally, we evaluated an interaction version of the above-described model to test if the effect of the prevention program would be moderated by either or both parenting style dimensions. Higher levels of parent demandingness predicted lower chances of adolescent drug use (e.g., Cigarette use OR 0.76, 95% CI 0.64–0.89); responsiveness on the five outcomes showed p value superior to 0.01. The effect of the #Tamojunto intervention is unlikely to be conditioned to either parenting style dimensions on the assessed outcomes. Clinical trial registration Brazilian Register of Clinical Trials (REBEC): #RBR-4mnv5g (https://www.ensaiosclinicos.gov.br/rg/?q=tamojunto). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The European school-based drug addiction prevention program Unplugged was adapted to the Brazilian context by the Ministry of Health and renamed #Tamojunto. Its first implementations, in the form of a public policy in Brazil, showed contradictory and different effects from those observed in Europe. Adaptations were made to #Tamojunto in 2018 to reintroduce the essential content of the original program.Methods: A parallel, two-arm, randomized controlled trial (RCT) will be conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the new version of the school-based government program #Tamojunto2.0 for the prevention of drug use among 8th grade middle school students from 70 public schools in three Brazilian cities, totaling approximately 6.300 participating students distributed in 210 classes. For intervention, the experimental group will receive the 12 lessons of the #Tamojunto2.0 program under the supervision of a Brazilian Ministry of Health team. The control group will not receive any intervention. Information will be collected from the students at three time points: preintervention and 9 and 18 months postintervention. Multilevel analyses will be performed using the Gllamm Stata program to assess simultaneous differences in prevalence, in time and among groups for the outcomes of interest. Structural equation modeling will be used to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention in changing the behavioral patterns of the adolescents through latent transition analysis. The effect of the mediators involved in the program effectiveness outcomes will also be analyzed. The program doses applied in all classes of the intervention group will be collected using a form completed by the teacher at the end of each lesson, indicating the activities taught and not taught in each lesson.Discussion: This study will show whether the #Tamojunto2.0 program can be expanded as a public policy for all schools with the aim of preventing drug use among Brazilian students.Trial Registration: Brazilian Clinical Trials Registry (RBR-8cnkwq) under the name "Avaliação do Efeito do Programa de Prevenção Escolar ao Uso de Drogas #Tamojunto2.0, Versão 2018", on August 30th, 2018 ( http://www.ensaiosclinicos.gov.br/rg/RBR-8cnkwq/ ). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]