Guide to Effective Programs
for Children and Youth

PROJECT TOWARDS NO DRUG ABUSE

OVERVIEW

Project Towards No Drug Abuse is a multi-session, school-based program designed to prevent drug use in high school students. Program curriculum alerts students to the health risks associated with drug use and helps students develop skills relevant to drug-resistance. The program was initially developed for students in alternative high schools; however, it has been successfully implemented in general high schools as well.

Project Towards No Drug Abuse has been shown to have a significant impact on the use of hard drugs. A long-term evaluation of the program found that the impact on hard drug use was observable five years after the program’s completion. Project Towards No Drug Abuse also has been shown to have a significant short-term impact on alcohol use amongst heavy users, but this impact was no longer observable at the five year point. The program has not been shown to have an impact on the use of cigarettes or marijuana.

DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAM

Target population: High school students

Project Towards No Drug Abuse, a school-based program, is based on the theory that high school students are less likely to use and/or abuse drugs if they know what is fact vs. what is myth surrounding drugs, have the skills to lower their risk of taking drugs (e.g., coping and self-control), understand the consequences of taking drugs, and know about cessation strategies. The program, as it was initially developed, included nine 50-minute lessons and was designed specifically for at-risk youth. Currently, the program includes twelve 40-minute lessons and is considered appropriate for all high-school aged youth. A program manual can be purchased for $12.

EVALUATION(S) OF PROGRAM

Sussman, S., Dent, C. W., Stacy, A. W., & Craig, S. (1998). One-year outcomes of Project Towards No Drug Abuse. Preventive Medicine: An International Journal Devoted to Practice & Theory, 27, 632-642.

Sun, W., Skara, S., Sun, P., Dent, C. W., & Sussman, S. (2006). Project Towards No Drug Abuse: Long-term substance use outcome evaluation. Preventative Medicine, 42, 188-192.

Evaluated Population: 1578 students from 21 alternative high schools in southern California consented to evaluation at pre-test. (This represents an 85% participation rate amongst eligible students.) 32% of these students were white, 50% were Hispanic, 9% were African American, and 9% were of other ethnicity. These students were followed for five years, with 1074 (68%) providing short-term data, 1047 (66%) providing middle-term data, and 725 (46%) providing long-term data. The students ranged in age from 14 to 19 at pre-test.

Approach: 21 alternative high schools were assigned to a classroom-only program condition (n=7), a classroom plus school-as-community program condition (n=7), or a control condition (n=7). All schools administered a survey on recent (w/in the last 30 days) drug use to consenting students.

In program condition schools, this survey was followed by a three-week-long, nine-session implementation of the Project Towards No Drug Abuse program. In the classroom plus school-as-community schools, the Project Towards No Drug Abuse program was supplemented by community-building events (including weekly meetings of an Associated Student Body Core Group for six months, at least six pro-health events, and distribution of a community newsletter). The researchers’ hope was that the effectiveness of the classroom-based programming might be increased by the provision of drug abuse material outside of the classroom.

Students were re-surveyed (primarily via phone interview) on their recent drug use in the short-term (after 1 year), middle-term (after 2 or 3 years), and long-term (after 4 or 5 years).

Results: At the one-year mark, The Project Towards No Drug Abuse program was found to have had a preventative impact on the use of hard drugs. Amongst those participants identified as heavy users of alcohol at pre-test, there was also a significant preventative impact on alcohol use. In the long-term, the preventative impact on hard drug use remained significant while impact on alcohol use had dissipated. The program was not found to have had an impact on cigarette or marijuana use. The addition of community-building events to the program did not significantly increase the program’s effectiveness.

Dent, C. W., Sussman, S., & Stacy, A. W. (2001). Project Towards No Drug Abuse: Generalizability to a general high school sample. Preventive Medicine: An International Journal Devoted to Practice & Theory, 32, 514-520.

Evaluated population: 1208 students from 26 classrooms within three public Los Angeles high schools participated in a pre-test. 34% of these students were white, 38% were Latino, 26% were African American, and 2% were of other ethnicity. 679 of these students were reached for follow-up data (a response rate of 63%). The students ranged in age from 14 to 17 at pre-test. Baseline rates of drug use were as follows: 38% for alcohol, 21% for marijuana, 21% for cigarettes, and 7% for other illicit drugs.

Approach: Students from all 26 classrooms took a survey on recent (w/in the last 30 days) drug use. 13 classrooms were assigned to a control group and 13 were assigned to the classroom education program condition. Classes assigned to the program condition received a three-week, nine-session implementation of the Towards No Drug Abuse program. Students were re-surveyed after one year, either via telephone interview or a paper-and-pencil questionnaire.

Results: One year after program completion, Project Towards No Drugs was found to have had a significant impact on the use of illicit drugs. Among students with higher levels of alcohol use at pre-test, the program was successful in impacting alcohol use. The program was not found to have had a significant impact on the use of marijuana or cigarettes.

The patterns found in this study of general high school youth replicated those previously found in a study of youth at higher-risk high schools (Sussman et al., 1998). Researchers concluded that Project Towards No Drug Abuse is appropriate for a wide-range of high-schoolers.

SOURCES FOR MORE INFORMATION

References

Sun, W., Skara, S., Sun, P., Dent, C. W., & Sussman, S. (2006). Project Towards No Drug Abuse: Long-term substance use outcome evaluation. Preventative Medicine, 42, 188-192.

Website: http://tnd.usc.edu

Program also discussed in the following Child Trends publication(s):

Zaff, J. F., & Calkins, J. (2001). Background for community-level work on mental health and externalizing disorders in adolescence: Reviewing the literature on contributing factors. Washington, DC: Child Trends.

Program categorized in this guide according to the following:

Evaluated participant ages: 14-19 / Program age ranges in the Guide: 12-14, 15-21

Program components: school-based

Measured outcomes: physical health; behavioral problems, social/emotional

Program information last updated 4/5/07