Research shows that the most effective prevention programs aimed at children/adolescents include interactive activities (e.g., peer-group discussions) and are tailored to the needs of the targeted population. Unfortunately, interactive activiti4es are not being widely incorporated into drug abuse prevention programs, because prevention planners (e.g., health educators and teachers) are not aware that these activities are more effective than didactic teaching methodologies or do not know how to successfully implement these activities.
The aim of this project is to create a handbook that will guide prevention planners in developing and tailoring interactive drug abuse prevention activities to the needs of the targeted population. It will review the literature, collect information on interactive activities, and write a step-by-step guide on how to create and tailor these activities and refine them through focus groups. The handbook will then be converted into a CD-ROM format to increase the dynamic of tailoring the interactive activities and provide a library of examples of activities. The handbook/CD-ROM aims not only to raise the users' knowledge of drug abuse prevention research findings, but to overcome barriers in implementing elements that research findings indicate are key for the effectiveness of drug abuse prevention programs.
