An experimental evaluation of a drug education course.
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Adolescent↗
Biomedical subjects
G A Schaeffer
Publications and source records attributed to G A Schaeffer.
Teacher training in affective education for the primary prevention of adolescent drug abuse.
Students in the experimental school were exposed over 3 years to teachers trained in a "generic" primary prevention program designed to deal with the affective needs of students. Students were expected to benefit from this exposure by adopting more positive attitudes, behaviors, and norms with regard to themselves, peers, teachers, and school. Ninth graders in the experimental school were compared with 9th graders in a control school; both groups were pretested during the first year of this study and posttested at the end of the third year. For boys, although there was a pattern of negative treatment effects, these were probably artifacts of the research design. For girls, there was no evidence of treatment effects. Analyses within the experimental school revealed a pattern of effects favoring students having the fewest classes with trained teachers. The results are discussed in terms of problems inherent in this type of strategy for the prevention of adolescent substance abuse.
Adolescent↗
Evaluation of a substance abuse prevention program for junior high school students.
Seventh-grade students in the experimental school received two primary prevention strategies. One strategy, Effective Classroom Management, was an unstructured affective approach provided by the students' classroom teachers. The other strategy was Drug Education, a mini-course taught directly to students by a specialist. The seventh-grade students from another school served as a comparison group. Both process and outcome evaluation data were collected. Results indicated positive program effects for females on drug knowledge, cigarette smoking, and perceptions of their peers' attitudes toward and use of drugs. No effects attributable to the intervention were found for males. The discussion is in terms of problems inherent in unstructured affective strategies and the need for further research on drug education.
Adolescent↗
Evaluation of a junior high school primary prevention program.
A two-year primary prevention program for junior high school students was evaluated. The program consisted of drug education, "alternatives," and affective in- service training for the students' teachers. Students in one junior high school received the intervention and students in another school served as a no-treatment control group. The students were pretested at the beginning of 7th grade and posttested at the end of 8th grade. Positive effects were found for females on several drug-related variables; few effects were found for males. The findings are discussed with regard to the individual prevention strategies.
Achievement↗
Evaluation of seven school-based prevention programs: a final report on the Napa project.
Described is a series of evaluation studies of seven school-based prevention programs, including four generic in-service teacher-training programs, two alternatives programs, and a drug education course. The programs were delivered to elementary or junior high students, and were evaluated individually and in several combinations or sequences, using rigorous research procedures and a comprehensive set of process and outcome measures. Only the drug education course showed any pattern of significant effects, and these were short-term and obtained only for girls. The findings call into question the efficacy of generic prevention programs, at least as such programs are commonly implemented.
Adolescent↗