PROGRAM EVALUATION

Program evaluation



Table of Content

Chapter 1: Introduction3

Integration Or Infusion As An Alternate Delivery Mechanism5

Chapter 2: Literature Review9

The Importance of Substance Abuse Prevention9

Types of Substance Abuse Prevention Programs10

Principles of Substance Abuse Prevention Programming12

Chapter 3: Methodology14

Research Design14

Research Strategy14

Research Approach15

Data Extraction Strategy16

Qualitative Data Analysis16

Data Synthesis17

Ethical Consideration17

Validity18

Literature Search19

Study Characteristics19

Chapter 4: Data Analysis20

Protocol20

Evaluation Strategy22

Chapter 5: Conclusion23

References24

Chapter 1: Introduction

Effective substance abuse prevention programs help students develop knowledge as well as psychosocial competencies that can help them resist or delay the initiation of alcohol, tobacco and other drug (ATOD) use. This paper will describe the integration process used in a five-year project, Adoption of Drug Abuse Prevention Training (ADAPT), to study the effectiveness of two methods of drug prevention programming, based on Botvin's Life Skills Training (LST) program. Botvin's standard LST program was implemented in three middle/junior high schools, the integrated or infused delivery of LST (I-LST) was implemented in three similar middle/junior high schools, and both methods of delivery were compared with three matched schools that received no treatment. The participating teachers' experiences, recommendations and difficulties will be presented, and a sample program infusion matrix will be included. Outcome results will indicate that neither standard LST nor an infused LST delivery method will be found effective for the entire sample; although some encouraging results will be found for females in the study.

The Adoption of Drug Abuse Prevention Training (ADAPT) project was a five-year study funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse(NIDA) to test the effectiveness of two different methods of delivery of the proven-to-be-effective prevention program, Life Skills Training (LST). A number of programs, including LST, have been shown to be effective and identified as model programs by the U.S. Department of Education and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The LST program is a substance abuse prevention and competency enhancement program designed to focus on the major social and psychological protective factors that prevent or delay the initiation of alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use.

The primary objective of the ADAPT investigation will be to compare the effectiveness of an integrated or infused approach to teaching the LST components with the traditional LST method and to compare the effects of both approaches on substance use. The infused Life Skills Training (I-LST) condition will utilize the LST components, but with these components integrated or infused into the existing subject curriculum by the classroom teachers. Neither program demonstrated any significant effect on substance abuse by the end of ninth grade. Both programs did have a significant effect on some skills for girls; the I-LST program had a significant effect on coping with anxiety skills for girls, while the LST program influenced girls' skills more broadly; both programs demonstrated some significant effect on girls' beliefs, attitudes and knowledge of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs; and neither program demonstrated a significant effect on boys' substance use; skills; or beliefs, attitudes and knowledge (Abbey, 2004).

Additional objectives of the ADAPT project were to determine how schools could best adopt such prevention programming as well as to ascertain teachers' ...