June 18, 2010

The Reference Desk, using available evidence and research, provides quick-turnaround responses to questions submitted by education stakeholders around the Northeast and Islands Region. Every Friday, REL-NEI highlights one or two questions submitted to its Reference Desk.

Question of the Week

How Effective Are Drug Abuse Prevention Programs?

The Reference Desk receives questions about preventing risk-taking behaviors of children and adolescents. This week’s question focuses on the effectiveness of drug abuse prevention programs, including the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program that is often implemented for fifth and sixth grade students.

Question

What does the research say about the effectiveness of Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) and other drug abuse prevention programs?

Research Synthesis

Reference Desk researchers found a number of resources that investigate the effectiveness of drug abuse prevention programs. The first three resources below describe a progression of research activities around drug prevention programs: a 2003 study showing little to no effect of the DARE program; a 2005 article providing reasons why DARE has continued to be implemented; and a 2009 study (available without a fee as an abstract only) showing little and even negative effects of a program similar to the DARE program. Last, an article reviewing seven “best practice lists” of prevention programs “raises questions about the process used to identify and publicize programs as successful” (Ghandi, 2007; see below).

Publicly Available Resources

Youth Illicit Drug Use Prevention: DARE Long-Term Evaluations and Federal Efforts to Identify Effective Programs. 2003; Kanof, M.E.; General Accounting Office; Washington, D.C.; ERIC Document # ED473428.
From the abstract: “The most widely used school-based substance abuse prevention program in the United States is the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program, which is funded by a variety of sources, including private, federal, and other public entities. DARE’s primary mission is to provide children with the information and skills they need to live drug- and violence-free lives through programs at the elementary school, middle school, and high school levels….This report contains information on (1) the results of evaluations on the long-term effectiveness of the DARE elementary school curriculum in preventing illicit drug use among children and (2) federal efforts to identify programs that are effective in preventing illicit drug use among children. In brief, the six long-term evaluations of the DARE elementary school curriculum reviewed found no significant differences in illicit drug use.”
Good reasons for ignoring good evaluation: The case of the drug abuse resistance education (D.A.R.E.) program. 2005; Birkeland, S., Murphy-Graham, E., Weiss, C.
This paper is focused on the reasons why schools continue to use the D.A.R.E. program, despite research findings which conclude that D.A.R.E. is ineffective in preventing drug use among adolescents. The authors found that “six of the districts that had D.A.R.E. in 2001 continued to use the program in spite of negative evaluation results. Even in communities in which the D.A.R.E. program was terminated…the decision to end the program was unpopular” (p.251). The main finding was that school officials feel that the “negative evaluations of D.A.R.E.’s effectiveness at keeping kids off of drugs were not surprising, nor particularly noteworthy” and “they never expected D.A.R.E to prevent drug use” alone, but saw D.A.R.E as “a small part of a larger, community-wide effort” (p.251). The authors also found that school officials believe that “D.A.R.E works because of the relationship it builds” between students and cops (p.251).
The Adolescent Substance Abuse Prevention Study: A randomized field trial of a universal substance abuse prevention program. 2009; Sloboda, Z., Stephens, R.C., Stephens, P.C., Grey, S.F., Teasdale, B., Hawthorne, R.D., Williams, J., and Marquette, J.F.; Drug and Alcohol Dependence, vol. 102; pp.1-10.
Full Text available for purchase from Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
From the Abstract: “The purpose of the study was to determine whether a universal school-based Substance abuse prevention program, Take Charge of Your Life (TCYL), prevents or reduces the use of tobacco, alcohol, or marijuana. Eighty-three School Clusters (representing school districts) from six metropolitan areas were randomized to treatment (41) or control (42) conditions. Using active consenting procedures, 19,529 seventh graders were enrolled in the 5-year study….Main effect analyses show a negative program effect for use of alcohol and cigarettes and no effect for marijuana use. Subgroup analyses indicated that the negative effect occurred among nonusers at baseline, and mostly among white students of both genders. A positive program effect was found for students who used marijuana at baseline….The negative impact of the program on baseline nonusers of alcohol and tobacco indicate that TCYL should not be delivered as a universal prevention intervention.”
The Devil is in the Details: Examining the Evidence for “Proven” School-based Drug Abuse Prevention Programs. 2007; Ghandi, A., Murphy-Graham, E., Petrosino, A., Chrismer, S., & Weiss, C.; Evaluation Review; Vol.31, Num. 1. Sage Publications.
“In an effort to promote evidence-based practice, government officials, researchers, and program developers have developed lists of model programs in the prevention field. This article reviews the evidence used by seven best practice lists to select five model prevention programs. The authors’ examination of this research raises questions about the process used to identify and publicize programs as successful. They found limited evidence showing substantial impact on drug use behavior at posttest, with very few studies showing substantial impact at longer follow-ups. The authors advocate additional long-term follow-up studies and conclude by suggesting changes in the procedures for developing best-practice lists” (p.43)

The Reference Desk also found these organizations and resources to be helpful in learning more about drug abuse prevention in general:

National Institute on Drug Abuse
This federally-funded site contains reports on the DARE program and other resources on drug abuse prevention education.
Drug Abuse Resistance Education: The Effectiveness of DARE.
This resource on the Alcohol Abuse Prevention: Some Serious Problems Website provides alternatives to the DARE program and cites resources and literature on this issue.

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