engleski

Perception of drug, alcohol and tobacco use in Istria County in Croatia

Scientific project “Communities that care as a model of prevention of behavioral disorders in Croatia” has arisen as a result of long-standing expert and scientific investment in the field of behavioral disorders prevention on the Faculty of Education and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Zagreb, Croatia. Collaboration with Istria County and the Department of Health and Social Care is crucial for founding the prevention model in local community as well as the basis for healthier and positive development of youth. In this project, science and practice work together. Substance use is one of the top themes in Croatian public and there is a great political will for prevention of the misuse. Situation in Istria is similar but during the problem analysis drinking was stressed as one of the priorities for prevention. The aim of this poster is to present the perception of substance misuse in that area of Croatia. We will present the results of the Your Community Questionnaire which was conducted to the community members in two time series. The first implementation of Your Community Questionnaire was given to the participants during 2004 while the second implementation was during the 2007. In the first phase the Questionnaire was conducted as a part of the Needs assesment phase while the second implementation was in the Project evaluation phase. In both cases, participants gave their subjective impressions and attitudes about the risk and protective factors in their community. Our goal was to compare the two phases with the hypothesis that various interventions in the community life could have implications on the citizens perceptions. In both phases, 1105 participants completed the Your Community Questionnaire. 749 of them were females and 326 were males. Comparison of the results in two time series shows interesting changes. Perception of the people drinking and using drugs in Istria community didn’t change as well as the drug selling. There is no difference in the perception of acceptance of smoking, marijuana use and alcohol drinking of youth between the year 2004 and 2007 – during both time series citizens report that others from community mostly don’t aprove it. Interestingly, possibilities for buying marijuana and other severe drugs have changed: citizents significantlly more perceive that it is easier to purchase it in the community. Further analysis will be presented in the poster.

communities that care; behavioral disorders prevention; substance use prevention

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