The FRANK friends Study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A multicentre cluster randomised controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a school-based peer-led drug prevention intervention
IRAS ID
265042
Contact name
James White
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Cardiff University
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 3 months, 30 days
Research summary
The FRANK friends intervention is a school-based peer-led drug prevention intervention. It involves students in UK Year 9 (aged 13-14) nominating other students who they think are influential. Students in the top 17.5% of nominations are asked to become peer supporters. Those who agree receive two days of training providing information on the effects and risks of drugs, minimising potential harms, and the law from www.talktofrank.com and also practise communicating this information. Students are then asked to have conversations about the potential harms of drug use with their peers over a 10-week period and record them in a diary. During these 10-weeks, peer supporters will receive four follow-up visits from trainers to provide support.
Forty-eight schools will participate in the trial, randomly split into two groups: twenty-four schools will receive FRANK friends, and twenty-four will continue with their usual schooling. Before FRANK friends is delivered, we will collect information on drug use from all students in UK Year 9. We will measure these things again 24 months after the intervention is delivered. We will then look to see if there are positive changes in student drug use, and whether these changes are greater within schools that received the intervention compared to schools that did not. We will also conduct interviews with peer supporters, other students and trainers, and observe training sessions to explore what happened during the training, how people feel about the intervention, and in what ways it has been useful. Finally, we will calculate the cost of the intervention, and weigh this up against any benefits in terms of student drug use, to see if it provides good value for money.
REC name
N/A
REC reference
N/A