Implementation and Process Evaluation of a School-Based Drug Abuse Prevention Program: Project Toward No Drug Abuse

• NCJ Number: 176739
• Journal: Journal of Drug Education Volume: 28 Issue: 4 Dated: 1998 Pages: 361-375
• Author(s): C W Dent; S Sussman; M Hennesy; E R Galaif; A W Stacy; M Moss; S Craig
• Date Published: 1998
• Length: 15 pages
• Grant Number(s): DA07601
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute on Drug Abuse
• Publication Format: Article
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This article reports on an implementation, process, and immediate-outcomes evaluation of the classroom component of Project Towards No Drug Abuse (TND).

Abstract

The project involved the development and evaluation of a school-based, drug-abuse-prevention curriculum for continuation high school youth, who are at relatively high risk for drug abuse. Three randomized conditions were evaluated: a standard care, classroom only, and classroom plus school-as-community. The latter condition was an enhanced school-based condition that involved outside-of-classroom meetings and activities. The process evaluation considered multiple perspectives on the quality of the curricula that were delivered. Process is different from implementation in that it consists largely of subjective ratings of the quality of the material rather than the amount of material delivered. For the purposes of the evaluation, "quality" was determined by reports of generally "liking" the material and finding it "interesting," "informative," "appropriate," and "helpful." In addition, quality was indexed by the extent to which the recipient "recommends" the programs and found it "not to interfere" with other academic responsibilities. An outcome evaluation considers the effectiveness of a program in achieving its stated goals. At immediate posttest, immediate- outcome variables are assessed. The goal of TND is to impart knowledge of the central concepts contained in the curriculum. The findings show that implementation was high in both program conditions, even though this was a higher risk context. Process evaluation data were favorable and did not vary between the two program conditions. Immediate-outcomes data (knowledge) were higher in the two program conditions than in the standard care condition. Regarding the classroom program, the addition of extra-classroom activities did not apparently alter the quality of program delivery. 7 tables, 16 references, and appended outline of classroom lessons