Can alcohol and drug education shape youth futures? Reflecting on 10 years of Positive Choices

Participants were a small sub-sample of Australian school staff (n = 46) and parents and guardians (n = 85).

During the site evaluation period over 504,000 users used the site, adding up to over 888,000 page views.

We know there are evidence-based alcohol and other drug prevention approaches that are effective when implemented in schools. You can learn more about what works in our three-part factsheet series or view our recommended programs.

Likewise, there are things that parents can do to help reduce alcohol and other drug related harms. For example, not supplying alcohol to teenagers more than halves the risk of them having alcohol use problems at age 19. Similarly, parental monitoring can help to protect teenagers against later alcohol use and related harms.

Positive Choices aims to increase how many people use these evidence-based strategies. This section of the evaluation looks at how effective Positive Choices was at doing that.

We saw that most people who weren’t already implementing evidence-based behaviours said they would after accessing the site, across a range of behaviour items.

School Staff: 

• The majority (57%) of school staff were already implementing evidence-based alcohol and other drug prevention resources. Among those who were not, 84% intended to after using Positive Choices. 

• The majority (70%) of school staff who were already communicating the risks and effects of alcohol and other drugs to their students. Among those who were not, 92% planned to start. 

• The majority (61%) of school staff were already correcting student misperceptions about alcohol and other drug use. Of those who were not, 82% intended to commence this after viewing the Positive Choices website. 

Parents and guardians: 

• Most (62%) parents and guardians said they were already having explicit conversations about alcohol and other drugs with their children. Among those who were not, 88% planned to do so after using Positive Choices. 

• About half (54%) of parents were already correcting misconceptions about alcohol and other drug use not being the norm, and among those who were not 85% planned to implement this after using Positive Choices.

• Most (79%) parents and guardians were monitoring their children’s whereabouts, and of those who were not already doing so, 67% reported that they will in the future.

• Most parents in the survey were already avoiding supplying alcohol to their children (76%). Of those who were not doing this, 65% reported that they would avoid supplying alcohol after viewing resources on Positive Choices.

• Most parents said they adapted their own alcohol and other drug use to model appropriate behaviour for their children (59%), and of the remaining parents, 51% planned to modify their behaviour after using Positive Choices. 

We know sometimes there can be factors which get in the way of accessing or using evidence-based resources like those on Positive Choices. For both school staff and parents, the top barriers faced were a lack of time, competing priorities, and a lack of culturally appropriate resources.

We used the System Usability Scale (SUS) to see how usable Positive Choices is. Positive Choices was rated as having good usability by both school staff (mean score 79.2) and parents and guardians (mean score 73.3). Positive Choices was also rated highly against key website elements including navigation, relevance, and clarity.

Almost half of the participants were already using Positive Choices (school staff 52%; parents and guardians 44%). Among those who were not, most planned to do so in the future (school staff 81%; parents and guardians 88%).

The evaluation helps us know how we can improve Positive Choices and better support you. Some changes we are making include:

• Making the evidence-base clearer
  • All resources on the Positive Choices website are formally evaluated to make sure they meet evidence-based standards.
  • Resources developed by the Positive Choices team use up-to-date research literature and are reviewed by experts. The medal rating system can help you tell the level of evidence supporting a resource.
  • Some resources also have a list of sources in the evidence base section, and we will be adding these to all new resources.
• Addressing barriers
  • New factsheets and blog posts now have an estimated reading time.
  • We look for implementation studies of recommended programs, to see if teachers find them easy to use in their classes and take this into account when recommending a program.
• More culturally inclusive resources
  • Positive Choices has resources available for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse peoples, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
  • We conduct an annual scoping review where we look for new resources to add to the website, including resources that are culturally inclusive.
• New content
  • Based on specific feedback, new content will cover covering myth busting around alcohol supply and allowing children to drink, zero alcohol drinks, and mental health and substance use.

1. Fitzgeraldson, E., Russell, A., Devine, E., Garruccio, R., Guckel, T., Chapman, C., Duong, F., Ross, K., Teesson, M., Newton, N.^#, Stapinski, L.^#(2025). Evaluating the Positive Choices alcohol and other drug prevention initiative using the RE-AIM framework. Report prepared for the Alcohol and Other Drugs Branch, Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing.
2. Stapinski, L. A., Nepal, S., Guckel, T., Grummitt, L. R., Chapman, C., Lynch, S. J., Lawler, S. M., Teesson, M., & Newton, N. C. (2022). Evaluation of Positive Choices, a National Initiative to Disseminate Evidence-Based Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention Strategies: Web-Based Survey Study. JMIR Pediatrics and Parenting, 5(3), e34721. https://doi.org/10.2196/34721
3. Stapinski, L., Lawler, S., Newton, N., Reda, B., Chapman, C. & Teesson, M. (2017). Empowering young people to make Positive Choices: Evidence-based resources for the prevention of alcohol and other drug use in Australian schools. Learning Communities: International Journal of Learning in Social Contexts [Special Issue: 2017 30th ACHPER International Conference], 21, 152-167. https://doi.org/10.18793/LCJ2017.21.12