Drug Education to School Children: does it really work? (original) (raw)
Related papers
The Effectiveness of Drug Education Programs: A Critical Review
Health Education Monographs, 1976
Twenty-seven studies were reviewed to determine whether school-based drug abuse prevention efforts have succeeded Most of the studies reviewed either did not examine program impact on actual drug using behavior or were not designed with a degree of scientific rigor sufficient to warrant acceptance of their findings as valid. Those studies leading to reliable results regarding program effect on drug use were contradictory in their conclusions. In view of the possibility that educational efforts aimed at drug abuse prevention may be counterproductive, it is suggested that school-based programs henceforward be designed and conducted as experiments with controlled manipulation of relevant variables.
Challenges in adopting evidence-based school drug education programmes
Drug and Alcohol Review, 2007
Issues. The paper discusses the school-based challenges that may moderate the implementation of evidence-based drug education in schools. Approach. Knowledge about what constitutes an effective evidence-based drug education programme is discussed in relation to the challenge of delivery in the school setting. Research demonstrates that drug education should be engaging, incorporate interactive learning strategies, stimulate higher-order thinking, promote learning and be transferable to real life circumstances. This may difficult to accomplish in practice, as a range of contextual challenges and ideological assumptions may moderate the teacher's capacity to deliver a programme of this nature. Key Findings. Collaborative learning strategies are not the norm in schools and therefore teachers may find interactive drug education programmes difficult to adopt. Conflicting ideological assumptions about effective epistemological approaches to drug education may also direct the way in which teachers modify programmes in the local context. Implications. Teachers need professional training and support if they are to adopt successfully evidence-based school drug education programmes. This support may be enhanced if it includes whole school approaches to effective pedagogy and the development of pro-social classroom environments. Conclusion. Drug education research should take account of the complexities of implementation in the school setting and investigate further the professional and organisational support that teachers require in order to maintain high-quality provision in the school context. [Cahill HW. Challenges in adopting evidence-based school drug education programmes. Drug Alcohol Rev 2007;26:673 -679]
Drug Education in Schools. Searching for the Silver Bullet
Addiction, 2007
I read this book with considerable anticipation and I was not disappointed-it is a challenging, stimulating, and enlightening volume that focuses on a different way of making sense of information about complex issues. I was receptive partly because of frustrating recent experience with standard syntheses of complex material in primary health care and partly because of my experience with an earlier book by Ray Pawson and Nick Tiller (Realistic Evaluation, Sage, 1997). I found the question 'What works for whom in what circumstances and why' very useful to make sense of the complicated evaluation I was then undertaking, although realistic evaluation methods were difficult to apply in my situation in 1998. Evidence-based policy: a realist perspective outlines in considerable detail realist synthesis of evidence for policy. Ray Pawson is a distinguished sociologist with a background in criminology who is now reader in social research methodology at the University of Leeds. He contributed to one of the three groups working on different methods of synthesising evidence for policy, jointly funded by the NHS Service Delivery Organisation and the
School-based Drug Education in North America: What is Wrong? What can be Done?
Journal of School Health, 1986
This article reviews experimental literature concerning the impact of drug (including alcohol and tobacco) education. Major weaknesses are identifed with respect to planning, development, implementation, and evaluation of programs. Of special significance are inadequate identification of program objectives and target groups, failure to appreciate the dynamics of effective influence, lack of attention to program dissemination and utilization, and lack of concern with establishing the impact of programs through careful evaluation.
This research focuses on the importance and effectiveness of drug education in schools in the U.S. by analyzing and evaluating the current and past drug education programmes. We discussed the two most influential and effective programmes, DARE and Keepin' it REAL.
BMC Public Health, 2012
Background: This study seeks to extend earlier Australian school drug education research by developing and measuring the effectiveness of a comprehensive, evidence-based, harm reduction focused school drug education program for junior secondary students aged 13 to 15 years. The intervention draws on the recent literature as to the common elements in effective school curriculum. It seeks to incorporate the social influence of parents through home activities. It also emphasises the use of appropriate pedagogy in the delivery of classroom lessons. Methods/Design: A cluster randomised school drug education trial will be conducted with 1746 junior high school students in 21 Victorian secondary schools over a period of three years. Both the schools and students have actively consented to participate in the study. The education program comprises ten lessons in year eight (13-14 year olds) and eight in year nine (14-15 year olds) that address issues around the use of alcohol, tobacco, cannabis and other illicit drugs. Control students will receive the drug education normally provided in their schools. Students will be tested at baseline, at the end of each intervention year and also at the end of year ten. A self completion questionnaire will be used to collect information on knowledge, patterns and context of use, attitudes and harms experienced in relation to alcohol, tobacco, cannabis and other illicit drug use. Multi-level modelling will be the method of analysis because it can best accommodate hierarchically structured data. All analyses will be conducted on an Intent-to-Treat basis. In addition, focus groups will be conducted with teachers and students in five of the 14 intervention schools, subsequent to delivery of the year eight and nine programs. This will provide qualitative data about the effectiveness of the lessons and the relevance of the materials.
Drug education: a review of British Government policy and evidence on effectiveness
Health Education Research, 1999
British Government policy on drugs primary prevention is outlined and principal recommendations are identified. The review is organized under the four main providers: police, teachers, peers and parents. Current methods are reviewed within a British policy framework with a focus on British programmes which have been evaluated. Most programmes use a combination of information, resistance or life skills training and normative education. Evaluative research suggests these methods are generally most effective. The police have achieved a community-wide approach, teachers have managed to integrate drug education into the National Curriculum, peer approaches have considered the needs of their target audience and parent approaches have recruited influential educators. However, more evaluative research is required before we can identify which particular programmes are most effective in reducing drug use.
An Evaluation of an Innovative Drug Education Program: Follow-Up Results
1981
This study provides a follow-up assessment of an innovative drug education program for seventh'and eighth graders. Students learned Lasswell's framework for understanding human 'needs y'and motives; a systematic decision-making piocieure, and information about the pharmacological, psychological; and social consequences of licit and illicit drug use. The course focused primarily upon "soft" drug use-tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana. One social studies' class frdm each ofnine matched pairs was randomly assigned to receive the drug. education course; The remaining-classes constituted the control , group. The follow-up queStionnaire was administered one year'after the complitiontof the course. Testing covered (1) drug knowledge; (2) general, attitu es toward druguse; (3) perceived benefits,.and costs qf.variouS typ subStance use; (4) perceived peer attitudes toward, and use o , various substanctes; and intentions to use, current'usW, ,and lifetime use of.vitious substances. The only short-term effect of the coulase,thaf sustained at follow-up was greater drug, knowledge fo.grade 8 males. As compared to their controls' the experimental'students were more opposed to hard drug, use. (lititilor/dk)