The prevention of alcohol misuse in adolescence: focus group at school as a thematic analysis and process tool.

Introduction Alcohol use/abuse in adolescence is increasing. This is cause for concern, because of the adolescent’s tendency to come into contact with alcohol at an increasingly early age, and because of the diffusion of a mode of consumption, binge drinking, which can have dramatic short- and long-term effects on their health. Method The study analyze focus groups (FGs) used in a prevention-action project targeting students between 14 and 16 years old, in order to identify a prevention strategy capable of modifying adolescents’ opinions on alcohol consumption. The FG were semi- structured and conducted by two psychologists plus an observer who wrote detailed reports. Every report has been analyzed by Atlas.ti software. Ten FG have been analyzed (40 reports) involving approximately 300 students. They were divided into two groups: classes with high percentage of binge drinkers and classes with a low percentage of binge drinkers, in order to analyze eventually different emerging issues. Results This study has investigated what adolescents think about alcohol consumption, it has identified beliefs and underling motivations of their alcoholic habits and how their point of view has changed or not over the four FGs’ sessions. Conclusions A qualitative analysis of prevention schemes, like the present one, expecially if associated to a quantitative one, can give us a sufficiently in-depth understanding of how and why they may be effective, can emphasize the knowledge about adolescent’s alcohol abuse and help us to establish the baseline hypotheses for research.