The use of school surveys in policy and prevention planning and evaluation. Results of the 2022 ESPAD-MedSPAD bridge project

The ESPAD-MedSPAD bridge project is the result of synergy among research projects, the co-operation of stakeholders and the willingness of international organisations.
The combination of all these ingredients led to the creation of a valuable instrument to assess the use of school surveys to better support drug policy making and prevention planning and evaluation.
The great interest demonstrated by different stakeholders in the use of school surveys forced the project to expand to encompass the broader scope of developing a model of participatory research. This model made it possible to share knowledge and experience among the main stakeholders in the field, going beyond research to embrace policy and practice.
This report presents the results of one such assessment that, although primarily focused on ESPAD and MedSPAD, extends to the use of school surveys on youth substance use and risk behaviours as monitoring and research tools.
The survey gathered more than 250 responses from stakeholders in 47 countries across Europe, western Asia and North Africa. Additional contributions came from the United States and international governmental organisations.
The findings suggest that school surveys are frequently used not only for monitoring and research, but also for informing health decision making and public opinion. Concerning the future, there is a strong demand for more, and more frequent, data, as well as for increased investment in these studies, suggesting that school surveys represent an added value in all of these domains and yield benefits to the community.