Background This paper provides an updated review of the literature on drug prevention programmes (from 2001 to July2011) and reports the findings from these previous studies on the effectiveness and nature of present drug prevention practices. Relevant data on the effectiveness of drug prevention intervention among adolescents has been summarised and examined. In addition, this paper identifies various essential elements that have the potential for creating and providing effective drug prevention strategies, whether to prevent substance misuse or to minimise the harm caused. Different prevention strategies will also be discussed, including: social influence approach, refusal skill training, and motivational interviewing. Design The paper will conduct a review of the previous literature. Aims This literature review proposes to: 1. Review all of the published evidence from research which was conducted between 2001and 2011 on the effectiveness of drug prevention programmes for adolescents. 2. Identify findings and recommendations regarding the content, approaches, format, theoretical bases, and methods associated with an effective drug prevention program. 3. Discuss any potential or proved effective components on a drug prevention program in tackling such drug abuse problems. Methods Two searching engines (i.e. PubMed and Medline) were used to find the relevant papers and journals which have been published within the past ten years (i.e. 2001 to 2011). Studies about the evaluation of the effectiveness of drug education and prevention strategies, targeting the most vulnerable group (i.e. aged between 12 and 25) were included. Results Twenty four studies met the criteria and were reviewed in depth. Thirteen of them evaluated the effectiveness of school-based interventions, including the school-based drug testing program. The remaining papers evaluated the effectiveness of non-school based prevention interventions in different approaches such as social influence, parental cooperation, refusal skills education, and life skills training. Conclusions Social influence approaches were evidenced as the most effective intervention to prevent drug abuse. Interventions that are conducted interactively (e.g. simulated scenario and role-playing) are more effective than providing normative information. Gender differences were found in some of the interventions. However, it is recommended that further research should be conducted to evaluate these results. / published_or_final_version / Public Health / Master / Master of Public Health

This study employs interviews to measure the perceptions of sixteen teachers, nine school principals, and seven School Resource Officers on the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program, offered to grade six students in one small (population approximately 70,000) city in western Canada. Perceptions in three areas are examined: curricular content, program delivery, and efficacy. Subjects overwhelming viewed the curricular content favourably. Similarly, there was strong agreement that the program was well delivered. The efficacy of the program was judged less positively; however, this did not mitigate the subjects' strong desire to continue implementation of the program. These results are consistent with the research literature on DARE which documents the popularity of the program, but acknowledges that it appears to have limited effects upon reducing student drug use. The results of this study are used to examine five options for delivering an in-school program for preventing or reducing drug abuse and violence among students. The options explored range from retaining the DARE program in its current form, to eliminating it, reforming it, implementing an alternative program, or designing an entirely new drug and violence prevention program. The conclusion drawn is that the DARE program should be withdrawn and replaced with an entirely new drug and violence prevention program and curriculum specific to community realities and needs. / vii, 109 leaves ; 28 cm.

No description available.