The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #56640

Shalini Tendulkar, ScM¹, Emil Chiauzzi, PhD², and Erica Rosenthal, BA². (1) Inflexxion, Inc., 320 Needham Street, Suite 100, Newton, MA 02464, 617-332-6028, stendulkar@inflexxion.com, (2) Inflexxion, 320 Needham Street, Suite 100, Newton, MA 02464

The great majority of available substance use/abuse prevention programs with children target fourth grade and up, with relatively little educational and research effort devoted to the early elementary years. Young children, however are frequently exposed to substance use in their homes, suggesting that prevention programs should begin in earlier grades. This session will present an interactive CD-ROM program for K-2, called Gopp's Galaxy. This program was developed with funding from the National Cancer Institute. Gopp's Galaxy is designed to build and develop in young children the skills (e.g., problem solving, refusal skills, emotion management, and appropriate help-seeking) that will enable them to make healthy choices as older children and adolescents. The premise of the program is a child’s space trip through Gopp’s Galaxy, comprised of seven “planets,” providing prevention information about social competence, tobacco, alcohol, and general health habits. In each session, children visit one of the seven planets, each with a different theme, characters, educational content, and tasks. The space trip is guided by Gopp, who provides help with navigation, tasks, and more throughout the program. Each planet involves an on-screen “mission” or mini-lesson. The session will also discuss preliminary results from a six-school field trial, evaluating parent and child knowledge, attitude and behavior change and teacher integration of the program.

Learning Objectives:

• Discuss the importance of substance use prevention in early childhood education
• Review the development of the Gopp’s Galaxy CD-ROM curriculum and show clips from the program.
• Discuss some of the challenges of conducting multimedia interventions in school-based settings.
• Review preliminary data and feedback from the field trial of the program.

Keywords: School-Based Programs, Technology

Related Web page: www.inflexxion.com

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: Inflexxion, Inc.
I have a significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
Relationship: I am employed by Inflexxion