Prevention of alcohol consumption among young people: a contribution to health literacy

Introduction The consumption of alcoholic beverages assumes great expression in the young population. Currently, alcohol is the most consumed psychoactive substance in Portugal at this stage of life. As a Health Promoting School, the School of Health of Santare´m, in the context of community outreach activities, has developed of health education sessions aimed at empowering young people to adopt responsible behaviours towards the consumption of alcoholic beverages. Objectives Empowering young people to make informed decisions in alcohol consumption prevention. Methods Development of health education sessions, using active methodologies, in class context, in the 3rd Cycle - 9th year, in two school groups of the area of influence of the School of Health of Santare´m, in the 2017/18 and 2018/19 school years. The sessions focused on the effects of alcohol consumption on the human body, particularly at the central level, in the liver and other organs. Sessions evaluated using a questionnaire, a question addressed to the evaluation of contents and a grid of evaluation of students’ opinion on the session, integrating 5 items, with scores between [5; 25]. Results 11 sessions of health education in a class context were performed, covering a total of 209 students. 188 (98%) students identified at least one harmful effect of alcohol on the liver. 117 (60%) students presented a score between [20; 25] in the opinion evaluation grid on the session. Conclusions The adoption of responsible behaviours in relation to alcohol consumption by young people has been a challenge in health literacy, which is considered to be won by the increased motivation in acquiring an awareness of healthy habits and decision-making in the prevention of alcohol consumption.