Interactive session 2: • Prof. Dorothy Newbury-Birch and Siobhan Fenton, Teesside University • Ellie Land, Northumbria University

1. Using animation in
research
SIPS JR-HIGH
Dorothy Newbury-Birch, Professor of Alcohol and Public Health Research

3. Why do young people drink?
• Social facilitation
• Social norms and influences
• Genetics and biology / psychological predisposition
• To have fun, relax, socialise and feel more confident…
• Mental health, rebellion, anxiety and stress...
• …for the same reasons as everyone else?

4. What are the risks associated with drinking for young people?
• Early initiation and drinking in large quantities is associated with regretted (and unprotected) sexual
experience, injury, fighting, suicide ideation, delinquency, school absenteeism / attainment and drug
use
• Alcohol is a depressant; and can cause irritability and problems with memory and concentration
• It can affect physical co-ordination, reaction times and decision-making; young people who have
been drinking are more likely to have an accident, get into arguments or take risks (such as walking
home alone)
• Drinking heavily also increases the body’s calorie intake and can cause bad skin and spots
• Heavy drinking in adolescence can have an impact on liver, bones and endocrine development
• Alcohol misuse is associated with reduced hippocampal volume; this impedes memory and learning
of new information
• Early alcohol initiation also increases the risks of developing chronic health and other problems in
later life; those initiating alcohol use before the age of 13 are particularly vulnerable

5. We don’t as yet know what interventions will work with
young people who are risky drinkers

6. • A multi-centre individual-randomised controlled trial of screening and brief
alcohol intervention to prevent risky drinking in young people aged 14-15 in
a high school setting (SIPS JR-HIGH)
• Chief Investigator: Professor Dorothy Newbury-Birch1
• Co-applicants: Professor Eileen Kaner2, Professor Elaine McColl2,7, Denise
Howel2, Elaine Stamp2, Dr Ruth McGovern2, Dr Stephanie Scott2, Professor
Luke Vale2, Professor Liz Todd2, Professor Simon Coulton3, Professor Colin
Drummond4, Dr Paolo Deluca4, Professor Harry Sumnall5, Les Tate6
• 1Health and Social Care Institute, Teesside University, 2Institute of Health
and Society, Newcastle University, 3University of Kent, 4Kings College
London, 5Liverpool John Moores University, 6North Tyneside Council,
7Newcastle Clinical Trials Unit, Newcastle University

7. 1. To conduct a trial to evaluate the effectiveness and cost-
effectiveness of alcohol screening and brief intervention for
risky drinkers compared to standard usual practice on alcohol
issues, conducted by learning mentors with young people
aged 14-15 in the school setting
2. To monitor the fidelity of alcohol screening and brief
intervention delivered by learning mentors in the school
setting
3. To explore barriers and facilitators of implementation with
staff
4. To explore young people’s and parent’s experiences of the
intervention and its impact upon their alcohol use
5. If the intervention is shown to be effective and efficient:
develop a manualised screening and brief intervention
protocol to be used in routine school work in high schools in
England

8. Working with 30 schools in:
–The North East
–The North West
–Kent
–London
SIPS JR-HIGH

9. CONTROL CONDITION

11. INTERVENTION

12. Why use animation in a multi-
centre RCT?

13. What did we need to consider?

14. Who was involved?

15. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZBm3VZVtx0&t=41s