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Pilotní ovìøování preventivního programu
vycházejícího z modelu komplexního vlivu
sociálního prostøedí („Unplugged“) v Gruzii:
formativní evaluace
JAVAKHISHVILI, D. J.1, JAVAKHISHVILI, N.2, MIOVSKÝ, M.3, RAZMADZE, M.4, KANDELAKI, N.4
1Iliova státní univerzita, Tbilisi, Gruzie; Global Initiative on Psychiatry, Tbilisi, Gruzie
2Psychologický ústav, Iliova státní univerzita, Tbilisi, Gruzie
3Klinika adiktologie, 1. lékaøská fakulta, Univerzita Karlova v Praze a Všeobecná fakultní nemocnice v Praze
4Iliova státní univerzita, Tbilisi, Gruzie
Citace: Javakhishvili, D. J., Javakhishvili, N., Miovský, M., Razmadze, M., Kandelaki, N. (2014). Piloting the comprehensive
social influence (‘Unplugged’) programme in Georgia: a formative study. Adiktologie, 14(2), 00-00.
2014/ 14 / 2
PÙVODNÍ PRÁCE
ADIKTOLOGIE
32
VÝCHODISKA: Ve spolupráci s Klinikou adiktologie 1. LF
UK v Praze realizoval v období od 1. ledna do 15. prosince
2012 Psychologický ústav Iliovy státní univerzity v Gruzii
projekt formativnì evaluaèní studie, který byl inspirován ev-
ropským projektem evaluace primárnì preventivních pro-
gramù v oblasti užívání návykových látek (EUDAP-1) a ran-
domizovanou kontrolovanou studií efektivity preventivních
intervencí realizovanou v Èeské republice. CÍLE: Formativ-
ní evaluace pilotní realizace preventivní intervence „Un-
plugged“ v Gruzii a její pøenesení do gruzínského socio-
-kulturního kontextu. METODY: Formativnì evaluaèní stu-
die byla provedena za využití kvalitativních výzkumných
metod, zejména akènì-výzkumného workshopu, polostruk-
turovaného rozhovoru a ohniskových skupin. Pøi analýze
a interpretaci dat byly použity metody kódování, klastrování,
kategorizace, kontrastování a komparace. SOUBOR: Dva-
cet tøi školákù ve vìku od 11 do 14 let, ètyøi vyuèující, pìt
školních psychologù a tøi øeditelé tøí soukromých škol v Tbi-
lisi. VÝSLEDKY: Jak dìti, tak vyuèující spatøují bezpros-
tøední úèinky programu ve vyšším povìdomí o rizicích
spojených s užíváním drog a ve vyšší sebedùvìøe pøi inter-
akce ve školním kolektivu. Studie potvrzuje, že metodika
programu založeného na modelu komplexního vlivu sociál-
ního prostøedí jako taková je pro gruzínský socio-kulturní
kontext vhodná. ZÁVÌR: Za facilitaèní faktory z hlediska
implementace metodiky „Unplugged“ v gruzínských ško-
lách lze považovat motivaci vedení školy k opatøením pøispí-
vajícím k osobní pohodì žákù, zájem žákù a motivace škol-
ních psychologù/pedagogù k osvojení si dané metodiky.
Mezi možné pøekážky patøí nedostatek zkušeností pracovníkù
školy v oblasti prevence, dosavadní tabuizace problematiky
drog v zemi, pøísnì vymezené školní osnovy s minimální
možností jejich doplnìní o nový pøedmìt bez toho, aby jej mi-
nisterstvo školství zaøadilo mezi povinnou souèást kurikula.
KLÍÈOVÁ SLOVA: PREVENCE UŽÍVÁNÍ NÁVYKOVÝCH LÁTEK – PROGRAM „UNPLUGGED“ – EUDAP – KVALITATIVNÍ
FORMATIVNÍ VÝZKUM
Došlo do redakce: 21 / ZÁØÍ / 2013 Pøijato k tisku: 7 / BØEZEN / 2014
Grantová podpora: Tento výzkum byl proveden v rámci projektu „Prevence užívání návykových látek na základních
a støedních školách v Gruzii“, realizovaného za finanèní podpory Iliovy státní univerzity.
Korespondenèní adresa: Darejan Jana Javakhishvili /Maierovaeva@seznam.cz / Katedra psychologie Filozofické
fakulty Univerzity Palackého v Olomouci, Køížkovského 10,771 80 Olomouc
Piloting the Comprehensive
Social Influence (‘Unplugged’)
Programme in Georgia:
a Formative Study
JAVAKHISHVILI, D. J.1, JAVAKHISHVILI, N.2, MIOVSKÝ, M.3, RAZMADZE, M.4, KANDELAKI, N.4
1Ilia State University, Tbilisi, Georgia; Foundation Global Initiative on Psychiatry, Tbilisi, Georgia
2Institute of Psychology, Ilia State University, Tbilisi, Georgia
3Department of Addictology, 1st Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
4Ilia State University, Tbilisi, Georgia
Citation: Javakhishvili, D. J., Javakhishvili, N., Miovský, M., Razmadze, M., Kandelaki, N. (2014). Piloting the Comprehensive
Social Influence (‘Unplugged’) Programme in Georgia: a Formative Study. Adiktologie, 14(2), 00-00.
2014/ 14 / 2
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
33
ADIKTOLOGIE
KEY WORDS: DRUG PREVENTION – ‘UNPLUGGED’ PROGRAMME – EUDAP – QUALITATIVE FORMATIVE RESEARCH
BACKGROUND: Inspired by the European Drug Addicti-
on Prevention Trial EUDAP-1 and the Czech randomised
controlled prevention study, a formative research project
was implemented in Georgia from January 1 to December
15, 2012 by the Ilia State University Institute of Psycholo-
gy, in cooperation with the Department of Addictology of
the 1st Medical Faculty of Charles University in Prague.
AIM: Formative evaluation of the piloting of the
‘Unplugged’ intervention in Georgia and its adaptation to
the Georgian socio-cultural context. METHOD: A formati-
ve evaluation study was conducted, involving qualitative
research methods, including an action research workshop,
semi-structured interviews, and focus groups. The met-
hods of analysis and interpretation used included coding,
clustering, categorisation, contrast, and comparing.
SAMPLE: Twenty-three school students in the age range
from 11-14, five schoolteachers, four school psychologists,
and the directors of three private schools in Tbilisi.
RESULTS: Both the children and teachers see the imme-
diate outcomes of the programme in increased awareness
of the drug-related risks and increased self-confidence in
social settings amongst students; the study confirms that
the methodology of the comprehensive social influence
programme itself is appropriate to the Georgian socio-
-cultural context. CONCLUSIONS: The facilitative fac-
tors for the implementation of ‘Unplugged’ in Georgian
schools are: school managers’ motivation to contribute to
the well-being of their students; interest on the part of the
students, and motivation on the part of the school psycho-
logists/teachers to master the method; the obstacles in-
clude: the lack of experience of prevention of school staff
members; existing taboos about drugs in the country, and
too-strict school curricula with little chance of adding
a new subject unless the Ministry of Education puts it into
the ‘must-do’ category.
Submitted: 21 / SEPTEMBER / 2013 Accepted: 7 / MARCH / 2014
Grant support: The research was carried out within the framework of the project ‘Prevention of Drug Misuse in
Primary and Secondary Schools of Georgia’, implemented with the financial support of Ilia State University.
Address for correspondence: Darejan Jana Javakhishvili / Maierovaeva@seznam.cz / Department of
Psychology, Philosophical Faculty, Palacky University, Køížkovského 10,771 80 Olomouc, Czech Republic
l1INTRODUCTION
The Universal Prevention (according to the EMCDDA ter-
minology) of Drug Addiction in Georgia started to develop
in the late 1990s, together with the establishment of a few
drug-focused non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
Small-scale school and community-based prevention pro-
jects were implemented with the financial support of inter-
national donors such as the European Commission, USAID,
and different EU members’ embassies. The interventions
were mainly donor-driven, small-scale (with a maximum of
300 direct beneficiaries per year in the best-case scenario),
inconsistent, and fragmentary, with a lack of coordination
and no mechanisms for quality control (Javakhishvili et al.,
2011).
Besides NGO projects there were occasional small gov-
ernment agency initiatives, addressing universal preven-
tion via the intensive utilisation of a ‘War on Drugs’ ap-
proach. One example was a campaign introduced in Tbilisi
one autumn morning in 2004. Using the motto ‘A Killer is
Walking in the Town’, large posters were distributed in all
the central districts of the city, without any indication of
who or what the killer was, causing anxiety in the general
public until evening, when it was announced via TV that by
‘Killer’ the campaign organisers meant ‘Drugs’ and ‘Drug
Addiction’ (Javakhishvili, 2009).
After 2000, the modestly scaled work by NGOs dimin-
ished even more as a result of the increased attention paid
by the donor community to HIV/AIDS prevention and the
switching of almost all programmes from universal preven-
tion to the HIV/AIDS prevention field. In 2010-2012, the
few universal prevention interventions that existed in the
country dealt with tobacco use and road safety, as well as
HIV/AIDS prevention activities, on an extremely modest
scale (Javakhishvili et al., 2012). No institutional mecha-
nisms for school-based prevention exist in the country at
the moment.
To address this gap, Ilia State University Institute of
Psychology, in cooperation with the Charles University De-
partment of Addictology, initiated a project, funded by the
Georgian Ministry of Education and Science, aimed at
studying the experience of piloting the ‘Unplugged’
programme in Georgia.
Preventive school-based programmes focused on sub-
stance abuse were first introduced in the United States, fol-
lowed by other countries, including ones in Europe. The re-
search, including meta-analysis, shows that certain
programmes are able to help adolescents refrain from sub-
stance use if they are provided with adequate information
regarding its harmful effects (Faggiano et al., 2005; Van der
Kraft et al., 2009).
These programmes, however, did not establish them-
selves immediately; they underwent dramatic changes as
a result of study and constant evaluation of their systematic
effects, as well as the introduction of psychological and edu-
cational approaches to education. Currently, after many
years of experience, some of the programmes are no longer
considered useful, while others have proved successful – the
‘Unplugged’ programme (www.eudap.net) among them.
The advances of the ‘Unplugged’ programme lie in such fea-
tures as its combining cognitive (information on substance
use), affective (emotional control), and behavioural (resis-
tance to group pressure, assertive behaviour) aspects in the
training.
‘Unplugged’ is an innovative school-based curriculum
to fight substance use by young people. It was developed as
a standardised package to be implemented and evaluated
within a multi-centre study in seven European countries:
Belgium, Germany, Spain, Greece, Italy, Austria, and Swe-
den (Faggiano et al., 2007; Faggiano et al., 2008; Van der
Kraft et al., 2009; Faggiano et al., 2010; Caria et al., 2011;
Caria et al., 2013). Currently, the programme is running in
15 member states of the European Union (Miovsky, 2011;
Miovsky, 2012).
The piloting of ‘Unplugged’ in the Czech Republic took
place in 2007-2010. As part of the EUDAP piloting, the au-
thors conducted a formative experimental evaluation using
both qualitative and quantitative methods, targeting evalu-
ation of both the process and the outcomes of the
programme (Miovský et al., 2007; Jurystová et al., 2009;
Adamkova et al., 2009; Jurystova, Miovský et al., 2010;
Miovský et al., 2011; Gabrhelik et al., 2012; Miovský et al.,
2014). As a result of their formative research, the Czech col-
leagues made suggestions that included the transformation
of the manual for teachers and modification of time limits or
the number of activities for one lesson, and clarified the
need for, and defined the formats of, experts’ participation
in the implementation of the ‘Unplugged’ programme.
l2METHODOLOGY
l2/1Method and study design
To adjust the ‘Unplugged’ programme to the socio-cultural
context of Georgia, a formative research study was imple-
mented, using such qualitative methods as a formative
workshop, focus groups, and individual interviews.
The study design included:
•3 formative workshops with a group consisting of four te-
achers and five psychologists who received ‘Unplugged’
training in the preparatory phase of the project, during
which we went through all the sessions of the ‘Unplugged’
module, working on the adjustment of each session to the
specific features of the local environment;
•provision of ongoing supervision to the facilitators during
the implementation of the programme, revealing gaps in
their preparation and also culturally sensitive aspects of
the programme that needed to be reshaped;
ADIKTOLOGIE
34 JAVAKHISHVILI, D. J., JAVAKHISHVILI, N., MIOVSKÝ, M., RAZMADZE, M., KANDELAKI, N.
•a round of semi-structured interviews with the three di-
rectors of the schools involved in the piloting; three focus
groups with the students targeted by the intervention,
and one focus group with the facilitators who implemen-
ted the ‘Unplugged’ intervention (see description of the
sample below).
To conduct the study, two different sets of focus group
questionnaires were composed (for the students, to study
their views on the contents, process, and outcomes of the
programme after the intervention, and for the ‘Unplugged’
facilitators to collect their feedback on the process and out-
comes of the programme after its implementation). Apart
from this, a semi-structured questionnaire was composed
for the interviews (with the schools’ directors) to study
facilitative factors and barriers to the implementation of
the programme, as well as their views on the process and
outcomes of the piloting.
Data management: The data obtained via the focus
groups and semi-structured interviews were managed by
means of the 5-steps approach (Fritz, 2008); the methods of
analysis and interpretation implied coding, clustering,
categorisation, contrast, and comparing, as well as the
Grounded Theory approach (Charmaz, 2001; Smith, 2001).
Engaging schools: The selection criterion for the
schools was the motivation of school managers to be in-
volved in the programme. On the basis of this criterion, six
private schools were selected for participation, and nine
teachers and psychologists from these schools participated
in the training. Out of these six schools, three were chosen
for the intervention on the basis of the following criteria: a)
success of the teachers and psychologists in the ‘Unplugged’
training course and therefore the quality of their work as
Unplugged Programme facilitators being predictable; (b)
enough children in the 11-14 age range at the school.1
Sample: the composition of the qualitative study sam-
ple included:
•23 students in the 11-14 age range selected randomly
from the 100 youngsters who participated in the ‘Un-
plugged’ intervention (out of these 100, 43 were aged 11,
20 aged 12, 20 aged 13, and 17 aged 14);
•the four schoolteachers who participated in the ‘Un-
plugged’ training. One became the ‘Unplugged’ facilitator
in one of the schools;
•the five school psychologists who participated in the ‘Un-
plugged’ training and became ‘Unplugged’ facilitators;
•the directors of the three targeted schools.
l3IMPLEMENTATION OF THE STUDY
Adaptation of the material: During the translation the
following culture-specific changes were made to the texts:
a change of the European names of the characters used in
the manuals to Georgian names, a change of the cul-
ture-specific items (e.g. a scooter, which is not common in
Georgia, was replaced by a bicycle), and a change of cul-
ture-specific social interactions (e.g. dating was replaced by
flirting); in addition, on the basis of the ESPAD survey con-
ducted in Georgia (Baramidze & Sturua, 2009), the list of
drugs used in the student’s workbook and cards was re-
duced to the drugs which are in use in Georgian youth cul-
ture (e.g. cocaine was excluded as it is not common in Geor-
gia). A formative workshop was conducted with the group of
four teachers and five psychologists during the preparatory
phase of the research, on the basis of which particular exer-
cises were reshaped to make them culturally appropriate
and thus feasible for implementation (e.g. role plays imply-
ing possible unstructured emotional outbursts by the par-
ticipants were replaced with more structured role plays to
avoid too much chaos during the sessions, taking into con-
sideration the open culture and emotional temperament of
the local society).
Important points revealed during capacity
building: At the beginning we planned to conduct one
training event lasting two and a half days for the future fa-
cilitators of the comprehensive social influence curriculum,
but in the course of the implementation we prolonged the
training to five days as it appeared that Georgian school-
teachers do not have much experience and knowledge about
drug issues or interactive methods of teaching. Work on the
adaptation of the curriculum was going on during these ses-
sions as well, and this required additional time.
Important points in implementation of the ‘Un-
plugged’ curriculum: ‘Unplugged’ sessions were imple-
mented in seven classes within the three selected private
schools. Five classes were facilitated by school psycholo-
gists, who appeared to be more motivated and able to be-
come ‘Unplugged’ facilitators than the teachers. Two
classes were facilitated by the teachers. Twelve ‘Unplugged’
sessions were held twice a week for three months in each
class (because of the time limits of the research project).
Implementation of qualitative research (individ-
ual interviews, focus groups, action research work-
shop): The qualitative formative research was imple-
mented on the basis of the study design and methodology
described above, by a team of psychologists trained in quali-
tative methods of research. A team of two researchers con-
ducted the fieldwork, while data analysis and interpreta-
tion was performed by two expert psychologists.
2014/ 14 / 2
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
35
PILOTING THE COMPREHENSIVE SOCIAL INFLUENCE (‘UNPLUGGED’) PROGRAMME … ADIKTOLOGIE
1/ The private schools in Tbilisi are often small, i.e., with only 5-7 students
of the same age in the class. The chosen schools have larger classes – i.e.,
a minimum of 12 children, which gave us an opportunity to conduct normal ‘Un-
plugged’ sessions.
l4STUDY FINDINGS
l4/1Organisational and institutional factors
All the school directors who were interviewed expressed in-
terest in introducing drug prevention measures in their res-
pective schools, which we consider a key factor in facilita-
ting schools’ engagement in the programme. At the same ti-
me, the very tight general curriculum in the schools and
limited opportunities to find room for ‘Unplugged’ sessions,
which were stressed both by the directors and ‘Unplugged’
facilitators, revealed that there is no chance of sustainabili-
ty for the ‘Unplugged’ programme unless the Ministry of
Education and Science incorporates it into the general cur-
riculum of primary education.
l4/2Motivational factors
Contrary to the school directors, the teachers expressed less
enthusiasm for the programme as their low salaries do not
help them feel motivated to learn new things: ‘I am already
stretched enough between my job responsibilities and
struggle to satisfy the basic needs of my family.’2In addi-
tion, the schoolteachers also worried about parents’ possi-
ble negative reaction to discussing drug problems with their
kids (as talking about drugs is taboo in Georgia).
According to the school psychologists who were inter-
viewed, a need to master professional tools addressing the
behavioural problems of schoolchildren facilitated their ac-
tive engagement in the ‘Unplugged’ programme: ‘Even if
you did not choose us as ‘Unplugged’ facilitators, we would
attend the training, to learn the method, as we need it.’
The students enjoyed both the content and the interac-
tive format of ‘Unplugged’, which facilitated their active
participation: ‘We like the fact that it is not just normal/for-
mal lessons, that we were seated in a circle and expected to
brainstorm, and role-play, and besides discussing serious
things, to have fun’.
None of the schools managed to engage parents, as
a result of the lack of time for both the ‘Unplugged’ facilita-
tors and parents.
l4/3Lack of capacity
The low level of awareness of the schoolteachers and psy-
chologists about drug problems indicates the need for dee-
per training so they are confident about implementing the
‘Unplugged’ curriculum with their students: instead of the
initially intended two and a half days, we prolonged the tra-
ining to five days.
l4/4Age differences
We observed some age-related differences: the 11- and
12-year-old students were more engaged and enthusiastic
than the 13-year-olds, and the 14-year-olds were the most
difficult to engage, because of a lack of motivation and their
usually disorganised behaviour during the sessions. The
11- and 12-year-olds very much appreciated the play- and
game-based format of the curriculum while the 13- and es-
pecially 14-year-olds said they wanted more lecturing and
PowerPoint presentations than roleplays and games.
l4/5Format of preventive activities
The facilitators’ feedback stressed that 45-minute lessons
are too short to cover all the topics included in each session,
and they pointed to the need to prioritise the material in
each session in order to select activities tailored to the
needs and interests of particular groups of students.
l4/6Outcomes of preventive activities
The students were positive regarding the outcomes of the
programme. Their feedback illustrates this: ‘Now I under-
stand better my mum’s advice not to smoke;’ ‘Now I under-
stand better what kind of harm alcohol and tobacco can
cause and I am pretty sure I am against it;’ ‘Now I know
what kind of bad consequences marijuana use can lead to,
I’ve never thought about that;’ ‘We became more friendly
and learned how to act as a team;’ ‘It became easier for me
to interact with the people around, to make friends.’
The school directors and teachers said they see the im-
mediate results of the programme in the increased aware-
ness of their students of drug-related risks and their in-
creased self-confidence in social interactions; at the same
time, they stressed the necessity for following up these out-
comes in order to notice/indicate changes in the behaviour
of the students (‘too early to conclude anything about sus-
tainable behavioural changes’).
l5DISCUSSION
The formative study revealed that the culture-specific ad-
aptation of the ‘Unplugged’ programme is successful, as it
works in the Georgian socio-cultural context, in Georgian
schools. Many countries have adapted the primary, original
version to their local context. The first group of countries
which implemented ‘Unplugged’ participated in creating
this intervention under the umbrella of the EUDAP-1 pro-
ject (e.g. Italy, Belgium, Sweden etc.). In the second wave
more countries participated in the EUDAP-2 project, tar-
geted at the development and improvement of implementa-
tion strategies for the Unplugged intervention (e.g. the
Czech Republic, Poland etc.). At present, there are more in-
dependent smaller implementation projects, including
some Arab countries and Russia (http://www.eudap.net/Re-
search_About.aspx). The adaptation process, described in
ADIKTOLOGIE
36 JAVAKHISHVILI, D. J., JAVAKHISHVILI, N., MIOVSKÝ, M., RAZMADZE, M., KANDELAKI, N.
2/ The maximum monthly salary for a schoolteacher in Georgia was a little
over 400 GEL (200 EUR) in 2012, while the average monthly salary in 2011 for
employees in the public sector was 589 GEL (295 EUR), and for employees in
the non-public sector it was 670 GEL (335 EUR) (http://www.geostat.ge , 2013).
this article, brought us to the new ‘Georgian’ version of the
original ‘Unplugged’ programme, with some terms and con-
cepts being changed according to the local context. We also
took peer-led sessions and parental education out from the
original programme for the following reasons: in the case of
peer-led sessions there is no quality assurance mechanism
in place; as for parents’ sessions, they were cancelled as
a result of the lack of motivation both among teachers and
parents to dedicate time and energy to parent drug educa-
tion.
The study showed that school psychologists are more
motivated to be in charge of the implementation of ‘Un-
plugged’ sessions than teachers are. We can attribute that
to the deficiency of psychological and developmental tools
among this generation of currently active school psycholo-
gists, who graduated in the 1970s and 1980s and were not
provided with an adequate university education and practi-
cal working tools. Their level of knowledge and profession-
alism depends on their own capacity for self-education. The
‘Unplugged’ programme gave them a good chance to en-
hance their professional capacity, which served as an incen-
tive for them.
At the same time, the study shows that to implement
‘Unplugged’ effectively, it is necessary to institutionalise it:
to incorporate it into the system of primary/secondary edu-
cation of Georgia, to turn it into a planned activity with its
own space and time in the general curricula of primary and
secondary schools, with specific teachers/psychologists re-
sponsible for its implementation, as demanded by the stan-
dards of national education. This will increase motivation
for its implementation among public schools.
A low level of awareness of drug problems among the
general population and teachers especially (Javakhishvili,
2009; Javakhishvili, 2011) indicates the need for longer and
deeper training for teachers to make them able and confi-
dent to implement the ‘Unplugged’ curriculum with their
students. The cultural specifics of Georgia need to be taken
into account. The study also revealed a need for institu-
tional mechanisms for the education of teachers and psy-
chologists in the drug field to help them to overcome anxiety
related to the implementation of the ‘Unplugged’ curricu-
lum caused by their low level of awareness of drug prob-
lems, as well as the widespread myth that speaking about
drugs with students is dangerous because it provokes an
unhealthy interest in drug consumption (Javakhishvili,
2011). Since two and a half days for the training of teach-
ers/psychologists as ‘Unplugged’ facilitators is not long
enough to teach the skills to implement the comprehensive
social influence curriculum, there is a need for the
institutionalisation of education in the Comprehensive So-
cial Influence curriculum within the format of teachers’
continuing education, as well as the incorporation of pri-
mary drug prevention education into university curricula
for future school teachers and psychologists. Current devel-
opments in the field of addictology education in Georgia
make this doable (Kirtadze et al., 2011).
The age of the students is a very important variable for
the successful implementation of the programme. Surveys
indicate that the incidence of the first substance use in-
creases rapidly up to the age of 15, when stabilisation oc-
curs (Kandel & Yamaguchi, 1993). The interest in partici-
pation among students shows that the optimal age for the
implementation of ‘Unplugged’ in Georgia is 11-13. As for
older adolescents, the ‘Unplugged’ facilitators participated
in a study to design a different programme for 14-year-olds.
Suggestions were made to make it shorter (6 sessions in-
stead of 12) and to include more information on drugs and
drug-related risks in the format of group discussions (in-
stead of roleplays and games).
l6CONCLUSIONS
The piloting of the ‘Unplugged’ programme in Georgia has
clearly shown that its adaptation to the local context was
needed. When adapted to the local context, the texts in the
Unplugged materials – teacher’s book, students’ book, and
workbook, as well as the curriculum itself – made it an ap-
propriate tool for primary schools to use for the prevention
of risky behaviour among schoolchildren. Experience of the
three waves of applying the ‘Unplugged’ programme in dif-
ferent countries worldwide proves the same need for adap-
tation. Therefore, Georgia is no exception.
The study provided an important result in terms of the
age of the school students to be involved in the ‘Unplugged’
programme: it works optimally for those aged 11-13; older
students are not satisfied with the format of the programme
and as a result are not interested or influenced by it. This
means that if the programme is implemented into the na-
tional curriculum, it should be conducted at the primary
school level (the 5th and 6th grades of primary school). Later
on, in secondary schools, it could be modified into a shorter
programme using the format of brief lectures with
PowerPoint presentations followed by discussions, to as-
sure the continuity of drug prevention efforts.
The piloting revealed that parents do not prioritise
drug education and are not interested in attending the ‘Un-
plugged’ programme’s sessions targeting them.
The facilitative factors for the implementation of ‘Un-
plugged’ are school managers’ motivation to contribute to
the well-being of their students, the interest of the stu-
dents, and the motivation of the school psychologists to
master the methods. The obstacles to its implementation
are the low level of competence of school staff with regard to
drug issues, the social consensus regarding silence on drug
issues in Georgia, and the related fear of talking about it.
One more important finding of the study is that
a top-down approach is needed to implement this
2014/ 14 / 2
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37
PILOTING THE COMPREHENSIVE SOCIAL INFLUENCE (‘UNPLUGGED’) PROGRAMME … ADIKTOLOGIE
programme on a country-wide scale; the schools are not
aware, equipped, or interested enough to be ready to imple-
ment the programme on their own.
Role of the authors: DJJ and NJ designed the study,
wrote the protocol, supervised the implementation, and in-
terpreted the data; MM provided methodological guidance
at all stages of the research project; DJJ also conducted the
formative workshops, supervised the process of the imple-
mentation of ‘Unplugged’, and drafted the initial version of
the manuscript; MR and NK implemented the
semi-structured interviews and focus groups with the stu-
dents, teachers, and directors, and processed the resultant
data. All the authors contributed to and approved the final
manuscript.
Conflict of interest: There is no conflict of interest in this
study as there was a clear division of roles/contributions
within the frame of the research project: the team of re-
searchers (the authors of this paper) were responsible for
the design and implementation of the study, while the psy-
chologists and schoolteachers who were recruited and
trained within the framework of the project were responsi-
ble for conducting ‘Unplugged’.
In addition, all the authors declare that they have no
conflicts of interest.
Acknowledgements: We would like to express our grati-
tude to our colleagues from the Department of Addictology
of the First Faculty of Medicine of Charles University in
Prague for their methodological support. We thank the
principals, teachers, psychologists, and students of the
three private schools in Tbilisi – “Iberia”, “Leader”, and
“The XXI Century” – for their enthusiasm and support dur-
ing the intervention and data collection periods.
Role autorù: D. J. Javakhishvili and N. Javakhishvili na-
vrhli danou studii, zpracovali její protokol, dohlíželi na její
provádìní a podíleli se na interpretaci dat. M. Miovský pos-
kytl metodické vedení ve všech fázích výzkumného projektu.
D. J. Javakhishvili rovnìž vedla formativní workshopy, do-
hlížela na proces implementace programu „Unplugged“
a vypracovala prvotní verzi rukopisu studie. M. Razmadze
a N. Kandelaki vedli polostrukturované rozhovory a ohnis-
kové skupiny se studenty, vyuèujícími a øediteli škol a zpra-
covali pøíslušná data. Všichni autoøi se podíleli na pøípravì
rukopisu a schválili jeho finální podobu.
Konflikt zájmù: Vzhledem k jednoznaènému rozdìlení ro-
lí/úèasti na výzkumu v rámci daného projektu nepøedstavu-
je tato studie žádný konflikt zájmù. Výzkumný tým (autoøi
èlánku) mìl na starosti design studie a její realizaci, zatímco
psychologové a pedagogové pøíslušných škol byli v rámci
projektu vybráni a vyškoleni pro realizaci metodiky „Un-
plugged“.
Všichni autoøi souèasnì prohlašují, že v souvislosti s touto
studií nejsou v žádném konfliktu zájmù.
Podìkování: Rádi bychom vyjádøili svùj vdìk našim kole-
gùm z Kliniky adiktologie 1. LF UK za metodickou podporu.
Dìkujeme rovnìž øeditelùm, vyuèujícím, psychologùm a žá-
kùm tøí tbiliských soukromých škol – „Iberia“, „Leader“
a „21. století” – za jejich entuziasmus a podporu bìhem reali-
zace intervence i pøi sbìru dat.
ADIKTOLOGIE
38 JAVAKHISHVILI, D. J., JAVAKHISHVILI, N., MIOVSKÝ, M., RAZMADZE, M., KANDELAKI, N.
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