Evaluation of the Keepin' it REAL Drug Prevention Program
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2022-08
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Abstract
Alcohol, tobacco, and other drug (ATOD) use among adolescents is a severe public health problem in the United States. ATOD prevention programs have been implemented in schools to reduce the adverse health and social consequences of youth ATOD use. This study examined the effectiveness of the keepin’ it REAL (kiR) drug prevention program among 118 adolescents from two different high schools in Southern California. A quasi-experimental design was utilized to determine the impact of the program on adolescents’ ATOD use behaviors. It was hypothesized that students who received the kiR program would report a decrease in ATOD use behaviors and an increase in intention to abstain from ATOD use, intention to avoid ATOD use, intention to use ATOD resistance skills, and self-efficacy to refuse ATOD offers compared to students who did not receive the kiR program. A series of two-way repeated-measures ANOVAs were used to examine changes in outcome variables between the treatment and comparison groups. Results indicate that there was no effect of the kiR program on any of the outcome variables of interest. Future research is warranted to examine the impact of kiR on ATOD use behaviors and whether health educators should continue to use the kiR program to reduce ATOD use among adolescents in high school.
Description
A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Public Health
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Keywords
Public Health, Health Education