Preventing Smoking, Alcohol and Internet addictions among children and adolescents: a family oriented training approach for adult learners and educators

Addiction to tobacco and alcohol are transnational public health and social problems, and in recent times problematic use of the Internet has also appeared, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Given that children and adolescents are particularly vulnerable groups, prevention is extremely important. The goal of the ADD-freeTraining project is the development and implementation of innovative education on the prevention of problematic use of tobacco, alcohol and the Internet in children and adolescents through a family-oriented approach for adult educators and educators. The specific goals of the project are: to develop and evaluate interactive education on the prevention of problematic use of tobacco, alcohol and the Internet that reflects the needs of parents, teachers, professional associates and educators, to increase the awareness and skills related to prevention among teachers, professional associates and educators, to emphasize the need for active parents’ involvement and school interventions, as well as increasing awareness of the necessity of interdisciplinary cooperation. The target groups are parents / guardians, teachers, teachers and professional associates and educators – people who work with children, adolescents and parents. The steps in the project are as follows: review and analysis of existing relevant prevention programs and education in Europe, focus groups in all partner countries for the purpose of assessing the needs of target groups, development of prevention education content, development and pilot-testing of the e-learning platform and development of the Manual for the implementation of ADD-freeTraining education. The education developed as part of the project is available in Croatian and the languages ​​of the consortium countries, it is free, and upon completion of the education, participants receive a Certificate of Completion of Education. The e-learning platform can be accessed at https://addfree-training.eu Project team members: Renata Glavak Tkalić, Ines Sučić, Anja Wertag, Tihana Brkljačić, Josip Razum and Mirela Crljen