The project aims to alter the developmental path of children at risk for drug abuse. A prospective, longitudinal design is used to map the development of individual and contextual mediators of drug abuse in children with early-onset aggressive behavior and residence in urban, economically disadvantaged neighborhoods. A randomized experiment is nested within this design to evaluate the differential and incremental effects of three increasingly intensive intervention models compared to a no-intervention control condition. The intervention models are: Level 1, a School-Based Academic Competence Enhancement Program, Level 2, the School-Based Program + a Family-Focused Behavioral Skills Enhancement Program, and Level 3, the School-Based Program + the Family-Focused Program + Proactive Case Management Program (FLEX).
The aim of preventing drug abuse will be achieved by the amelioration of early risk factors linked to later drug abuse outcomes and the enhancement of protective factors that buffer young people against health compromising influences. The sample will include Caucasian (40%) and African American (60%) children identified by th presence of cross-setting aggressive behavior during kindergarten or first grade years (high risk subjects). The intervention models are informed by social-development, social-learning, and competence enhancemen theories and as such target child adjustment (academic achievement/bonding, self-regulatory behaviors, and social skills and parent/family process (discipline methods, involvement with child, and parent psychological well-being) that are predictive of drug abuse development. The research plan is to test an """"""""additive strength"""""""" approach, beginning with a single component, school-based program which provides a natural setting for behavioral modification, social skills training, an activities that support learning and promote positive bonding to school. The school program provides year round coverage with an intensive 8-week Summer Program (Pelham's Summer Treatment Program, 1996) and a regular school year program for maintenance and generalization. To this we add a family-focused program which strengthens the family's roll in the positive socialization of the child. The family-focused program features interactive videotape modeling technique provided by Webster-Stratton (1996). Last, we add a flexibly tailored case management program which facilitates family access to health care services and community resources based on an individualized assessment of need. A multitrait multimethod approach is used to assess the convergent, discriminant and construct validity of our theoretical model. Mixed effects random regression models are used to analyze intervention effects with clustered data.
| August, Gerald J; Winters, Ken C; Realmuto, George M et al. (2004) Moving evidence-based drug abuse prevention programs from basic science to practice: ""bridging the efficacy-effectiveness interface"". Subst Use Misuse 39:2017-53 |
| August, Gerald J; Lee, Susanne S; Bloomquist, Michael L et al. (2003) Dissemination of an evidence-based prevention innovation for aggressive children living in culturally diverse, urban neighborhoods: the Early Risers effectiveness study. Prev Sci 4:271-86 |
