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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Natalie Barbare, MPH¹, Megan E. Bolejack, MPH¹, David L. Wyrick, PhD¹, Melodie Fearnow-Kenney, PhD², and Muhsin Orsini, EdD¹. (1) Department of Public Health Education, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 437 HHP Building, P.O. Box 26170, Greensboro, NC 27402, 336-334-5532, natalie202@hotmail.com, (2) Tanglewood Research, 420-A Gallimore Dairy Road, Greensboro, NC 27409

While the rates of drug and alcohol use among U.S. teenagers is generally on the decline, the negative effects on the individual users and society continue to be significant. Innovative teaching practices, such as the use of interactive videoconferencing and web-based learning, may be two ways to implement classroom-based drug prevention curricula, especially among rural communities with limited access to quality programs and teachers with specialized prevention training. This paper describes a distance education project that involved two graduate students delivering an evidence-based high school drug prevention program using two-way audio/videoconferencing and a supplemental web-based course to rural high schools in North Carolina and Nebraska. Online student journals, opinion poll surveys, interactive graphic animations, and video simulations were incorporated as part of the course website to promote student engagement with the curriculum and the distance educator. Additionally, class discussions, games, and debates were facilitated by the distance educators to promote teacher/student interaction. Qualitative and quantitative data revealed a strong relationship in student engagement and the level of teacher/student interaction. Additionally, the number of technical problems experienced by a classroom was predictive of student engagement with the curriculum and teacher/student interactivity.

Learning Objectives: At the end of the presentation, participants will be able to

• Discuss the use of distance education technologies to deliver evidence-based drug prevention programming; and
• Identify the common barriers to delivering classroom-based drug prevention curricula via distance learning.

Keywords: Distance Education, Adolescent Health

Related Web page: www.tanglewood.net/allstars/senior/

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? Yes

Organization	Clinical/Research Area	Type of Relationship
Tanglewood Research	Substance Use Prevention	Other (please describe) and Paid Internship

Any company-sponsored training?	Yes
Did the company pay your travel and lodging?	Yes
Were you provide you with slides as part of the training sessions?	Yes
Did you receive an honorarium or consulting fee for participating in the training?	No
Any institutionally-contracted trials related to this submission?	Yes
Have you received salary support, retainer, or other monies to support your position as part of the research/clinical trials?	Yes
Have you served as the Principal Investigator) for the research/clinical trials?	No
Have the results of your research/clinical trials been published?	No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.