Original articleImpact of a Positive Youth Development Program in Urban After-School Settings on the Prevention of Adolescent Substance Use
Section snippets
Participants
A total of 304 adolescents participated in the study: 149 in the intervention group and 155 in the control group. The final sample of 149 adolescents in the intervention group represented 91% of those eligible to participate in the intervention, and the final sample of 155 adolescents in the control group represented 88% of those eligible to participate in the control group. In the intervention group, adolescents were enrolled in one of five after-school programs—two programs serving middle
Results
Attendance was tracked for all adolescents enrolled in the intervention. Adolescents who attended 50 percent or more sessions were identified as receiving a full intervention dose. Analyses were completed on this “intention to treat” sample as well as a reduced sample of 18 fewer adolescents who did not attend at least one-half of the sessions. The results revealed no significant differences in outcomes between these two intervention samples; thus, the results from the full sample are reported
Discussion
The present study showed that a PYD intervention that included an evidence-based substance use prevention component adapted for an urban after-school setting was effective in preventing adolescent substance use. Adolescents participating in the intervention were significantly more likely to view drugs as harmful at program exit (about 7 months after enrollment), and demonstrated a significantly reduced incidence of past-30-day use of alcohol, marijuana, or other drugs, as well as any drug use 1
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by grant KD1 SP09280 from the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention. The authors acknowledge Kenneth Darden, Susan Florio, Terry Freeman, Cindy Grabarek, Kaye Harvey, Martin Jackson, Jill Popp, Beverly Richardson, Deborah Stewart, Stephanie West, and the group facilitators and after-school program staff who contributed to this project.
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2021, Children and Youth Services ReviewCitation Excerpt :For example, a study in an urban area in the Northeast United States studied the impact of an 18 session curriculum known as Adolescent Decision-Making and Positive Youth Development Collaborative on 149 adolescents enrolled in the intervention compared to 155 adolescents in the control group (Tebes et al., 2007). They found that the intervention group was significantly more likely to view drugs as harmful when they completed the program, and had a lower increase in alcohol, marijuana, or other drug use in the following year compared to the control group (Tebes et al., 2007). Other programs focus on recovery and some have started to leverage technology to drive engagement and outcomes.
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