Addiction prevention through the promotion of life skills
What is SmartCoach?
The aim of SmartCoach is to promote life skills among young people. These include, for example, dealing with stress appropriately, promoting social skills and low-risk use of addictive substances such as alcohol, nicotine or social media.
Effectiveness confirmed
The effectiveness of SmartCoach was tested in a study with over 1000 secondary school students. SmartCoach was able to prevent the start of tobacco and cannabis use in the longer term, i.e. one and a half years after the start of the program. This could be determined by comparing the data of students who participated in SmartCoach and those who could not participate. The positive results were independent of school type, age and gender.To the scientific article
Who is SmartCoach aimed at?
SmartCoach is aimed at young people aged 14 and above who are participating in the programme with their secondary school class. The young people can take part in the programme using their smartphones. SmartCoach makes use of the widespread use of electronic media among young people to reach them in their current life situation. Individualised WhatsApp coaching supports the young people.
What can participants expect?
Baseline survey
The SmartCoach is based on the individual answers given in a baseline questionnaire. This enables the SmartCoach to address topics that are important to young people.
Feedback
Participants receive feedback on their life skills. This is intended to help identify individual challenges and highlight starting points for subsequent coaching.
SmartCoach
For a period of four months, the young people receive interactive coaching via WhatsApp. They accompany a Stone Age man in his struggle for survival, a cyborg learning human communication and a scientist researching addictive behaviour. In this way, they improve their stress resistance, social skills and resilience to addictive substances in a playful and entertaining way.
Attractive prizes and rewards
Active participation in the SmartCoach program increases the chances of winning attractive prizes, which are raffled among all participants.
Introduction video
Who is responsible for the implementation?
Smartcoach will be implemented in various European countries, namely Belgium, Cyprus, Italy, Greece, Rumania, Slovenia, Spain and Switzerland.
The project is part of the EU Horizon project SUNRISE, which focuses on cancer prevention among young people in Europe with the help of digital tools.
Why is it important to participate?
Young people increasingly suffer from stress and are overwhelmed by everyday challenges. However, stress and challenges mean something different for each young person and can change from day to day. Effective interventions must take these differences into account and be tailored to individual needs. The participating institutions want to find how the SmartCoach can optimally support young people in their individual life situations.
