A joint training workshop on the best practices of drug prevention among adolescents and youth, for academic experts and researchers in the field was held in Tehran by the Ministry of Health and UNICEF Iran.
Prof. Fabrizio Faggiano, a global expert, epidemiologist and associate professor of public health in Italy’s University of Piemonte Orientale – Novara, facilitated the workshop in early September.
In the three-day workshop, Faggiano presented the global perspective and expertise to enhance the knowledge of participants on the Randomized Controlled Trials (RCT) methodology in the context of drug prevention programs.
RCT is a type of scientific (often medical) experiment, where the people being studied are randomly allocated one or other of the different treatments under study. RCT is often considered ‘the gold standard’ for a clinical trial. Often used to test the efficacy or effectiveness of various types of medical intervention they provide information about adverse effects, such as drug reactions. Random assignment of intervention is done after subjects have been assessed for eligibility and recruited, but before the intervention to be studied begins.
Faggiano also elaborated on the skills and best practices in three areas of family and school-based drug prevention, the role of media as well as family-based primary prevention in health system in the context of adolescent drug prevention.
On the sidelines of the workshop, participants worked with the facilitator in a half-day brain-storming session to review the way forward for the Health Ministry and UNICEF on drug prevention programs.
Also, at the 9th International Congress on Addiction Science on the ‘overview of family and school-based drug prevention programs,’ Faggiano presented two sessions in the panel discussions on ‘media and drug prevention’ as well as ‘family-based primary prevention in health system.’
