Comparative Effects of Community-Based Drug Abuse Prevention (From Addictive Behaviors Across the Life Span: Prevention, Treatment, and Policy Issues, P 69-87, 1993, John S Baer, et al, eds. -- See NCJ-159643)

• NCJ Number: 159644
• Author(s): M A Pentz
• Date Published: 1993
• Length: 19 pages
• Sale Source: Sage Publications, Inc
• Publication Type: Program/Project Evaluation
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Drug abuse prevention has changed dramatically during the past decade; drug prevention programs, particularly those in schools, are no longer considered isolated experiments confined to settings with drug problems.

Abstract

Drug prevention programs are now an acknowledged part of most school curricula, rather than a brief topic buried in a health education course. Further, theoretical and research developments in the field of drug abuse prevention suggest the use of strategies that integrate supply and demand reduction, primary and secondary prevention, and multiple program channels to achieve significant reductions in adolescent drug use. The magnitude of the Midwestern Prevention Project (MPP), a comprehensive, multicomponent community trial for preventing adolescent drug abuse, suggests that community-based drug prevention programs may achieve the largest and most sustained results. Whether MPP effects will maintain after adolescents leave high school is the focus of evaluation for the next 5 years. Several directions of inquiry will be pursued in the MPP and should be evaluated in other studies as they relate to the effectiveness of integrated, strategic, and comprehensive programming for drug abuse prevention. These directions include evaluating novelty effects, the quality of program implementation, consumer ownership, access to hard-to-reach groups, saturation effects, and local policy changes. 32 references