Youth substance prevention program using multi-genre education

Background: This study describes community health education for youth substance use prevention and strategies to develop health education programs using multi-genre projects. Youth substance-use prevention is an important public health goal in Healthy People 2020. However, prevention programs have not shown sustained results and few youth health education programs address appropriate developmental characteristics and ecological contexts of early adolescents. Methods: This program modified a youth substance use prevention program, Health Rocks!, including multi-genre activities such as role-playing, reading, writing, group discussion, media critiques, and creating anti-smoking posters. The 10-week program was implemented at a local community center during a summer youth development program. Participants were recruited through the center using convenience sampling. The quantitative data were collected from the retrospective pre- and post-evaluation to assess the program's effectiveness in changing participants' knowledge, attitudes, and behavioral intentions toward substance use. The qualitative analysis included the investigator's lesson plans, reflections from field notes, the staff's formative evaluation, and the participants' writing and posters. Results: Analysis using Wilcoxon and t-tests showed significant results and positive trends in changing the thirty-one participants' knowledge, attitudes, and intentions regarding substance use. Program satisfaction was positive among participants and staff. Qualitative analysis revealed anti-smoking poster making, role-playing, and writing letters to parents engaged participants. Conclusions: This project outlines the importance of developing effective health education delivery methods using multi-genre activities that engage youth and connect to local knowledge. This study also identified strategies to increase feasibility such as partnership with community centers and encouraging staff participation.