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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Kristen D. Holtz, PhD, Danya International Inc., 8737 Colesville Road, Suite 1200, Silver Spring, MD 20910, 301-404-7103, kholtz@danya.com and Eric C. Twombly, PhD, Georgia State University, 14 Marietta Street NW, Room 316, Atlanta, GA 30303.

Substance abuse is a significant public health problem among youth and teens in the United States. In fact, recent Monitoring the Future results (2005) show that more than half of all school-aged children use alcohol or other drugs before high school graduation. Substance abuse among children not only inhibits their cognitive and emotional development, but it also relates to a host of future social and health problems, such as lowered educational attainment, decreased worker productivity, and greater use of the health care system. As a result, there is a need for public health initiatives aimed at reducing adolescent substance abuse.

One recent approach, funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, involves building information on drug prevention into school-based science curricula through the use of interactive lesson plans and other multimedia channels. This approach is designed to provide non-valenced messages that educate children in kindergarten through ninth grade about the action of drugs in the brain and body. The products were developed during the past five years in consultation with educational experts and designed to closely align with state and national Standards of Learning.

This paper supplies initial findings of the efficacy of this school-based approach. More specifically, the paper uses primary data to test whether the participation of children in the interactive lessons results in their increased knowledge about drugs and their impact on the brain and body. The paper concludes with recommendations for methods to improve the design, implementation and dissemination of the product.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this session, participants will be able to
• recognize a science-education approach to prevention
• list the possible advantages to this approach and
• understand the efficacy of specific products developed using this approach.

Keywords: Drug Abuse, Prevention

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation