Programme Using Performance - All Stars
Programme Name
All Stars (based on the strategies of AAPT -- the Adolescent Alcohol Prevention Trial)
Target Population
Universal; sixth or seventh grade students, with a follow-up of one-year boosters, and a preparatory programme for fourth and fifth grades.
Setting
School-based and community-based versions.
Theoretic Basis
Cognitive - behavioural.
Programme Description
Focus
Alcohol, tobacco and marijuana.
Goals
The programme that is commercially available has five goals: 1) establish conventional norms and correct erroneous normative beliefs, 2) build psychological dissonance between substance use and desired lifestyles, 3) establish voluntary commitments to avoid substance use, 4) promote bonding with prosocial institutions and 5) promote positive parental attentiveness.
Objectives
To test the effectiveness of two methods: normative education verses no normative education and resistance training verses no resistance training on substance use.
Activities
Students learn about true prevalence rates and underlying conventional attitudes through playing games, participating in activities that visually demonstrate students' opinions, participating in structured debates and by making public commitments about intended future behaviors. There is a combination of interactive and didactic techniques (e.g., films, presentations, homework assignments, surveys, interviews, role play, discussions, video tapes, question boxes).
Content
The researched programme included four 45 minute "Information" lessons about the social and health consequences of using alcohol and other drugs. Five lessons of "Normative Education" also corrected erroneous perceptions of the prevalence and acceptability of alcohol and drug use among peers and established a conservative normative school climate regarding substance use.
Contact Time
As described above in 'Content', plus one-year booster.
Leader Type and Training Provided
Programmes were delivered by programme staff; each programme specialist received a minimum of two weeks of intensive training.
Results
The goal of the research was to compare and test the effectiveness of a programme that teaches resistance skills versus one that reinforces conservative norms -- normative education verses no normative education and resistance training verses no resistance training on substance use. The normative education programme was designed to correct erroneous perceptions among students about the prevalence of use and acceptability of alcohol, tobacco and marijuana in order to significantly deter the onset of use.
The resistance training programme, which teaches students ways to resist offers to use substances, had no discernable positive impact on use behaviour.
For all three substances, those who received a version of normative education as opposed to no normative education, had significantly reduced rates of consumption. For alcohol, the strongest normative education effect was in delaying the first experience of being drunk.
Although the samples were not equivalent across ethnic groups, ethnicity was not a significant covariate nor did it alter the main drug use findings.
The combined programme was clearly superior in preventing the prevalence of monthly marijuana use. Resistance training may have had a slightly harmful effect.
Author's Comments
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this programme was equal to other resistance training programmes in content and was well delivered; |
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the self report data reflect reasonably valid responses by subjects; |
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speculate that the primary causes of alcohol and drug use have to do with the social availability of, and internal expectations about, the acceptability of the use of these substances; |
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a possible explanation for the failure of the resistance training programme in terms of marijuana use is that focusing solely on techniques to resist pressure may actually increased students' perception of prevalence; |
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speculate that the success of the resistance training in other trials could be due to norm restructuring even when other mediating processes are thought to operate. |
Reviewer's Comments
Found this study to be a very interesting counterpoint to the studies supporting "resistance skills training". Principles emphasized: focus on covering a number of risk and protective factors; emphasis on the "real" information on prevalence of using various substances; active and creative activities requiring student participation; booster sessions incorporated; an intensive two week training programme for leaders; key programmes delivered over reasonable number of weeks (in comparison to other programmes).
Year Programme Established
1987-88 school year.
Associated Studies
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Hansen, Graham. Preventing Alcohol, Marijuana, and Cigarette Use Among Adolescents: Peer Pressure Resistance Training versus Establishing Conservative Norms (1991). |
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Donaldson SI, Graham JW, Hansen WB. Testing the generalizability of intervening mechanism theories: Understanding the effects of adolescent drug use prevention interventions. Journal of Behavioral Medicine 1994; 17(2): 195-216. |
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Donaldson SI, Graham JW, Piccinin AM, Hansen WB. Resistance skills training and onset of alcohol use: Evidence for beneficial and potentially harmful effects in public schools and in private Catholic schools. Health Psychology 1995; 14: 291-300. |
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Hansen WB, Graham JW, Wolkenstein BH, Rohrbach LA. Programme integrity as a moderator of prevention programme effectiveness: Results for Fifth Grade students in the Adolescent Alcohol Prevention Trial. Journal of Studies on Alcohol 1991; 52(6): 568-79. |
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Hansen WB. Pilot Test Results Comparing the All Stars Programme with Seventh Grade D.A.R.E.: Programme Integrity and Mediating Variable Analysis. Substance Use & Misuse. 1996; 31(10): 1359-1377. |
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Harrington NG, Giles SM, Hoyle RH, Feeney GJ, Yungbluth SC. Evaluation of the All Stars Character Education and Problem Behavior Prevention Program: Pretest-Post-test Effects on Mediator and Outcome Variables for Middle School Students. Health Education Research. In Press. |
Programme Sponsors
STAFF:
Dept. of Public Health Sciences
Bowman Gray School of Medicine
Wake Forest University
Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Department of Preventive Medicine
School of Medicine
University of Southern California
FINANCIAL
Supported by a grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
CONTACT
William Hansen
Tanglewood Research, Inc.
7017 Albert Pick Road, Suite D
Greensboro, NC 27409
PH: 336-662-0090
SOURCE
G. Roberts, et al., (2001). Preventing Substance Use Problems: A Compendium of Best Practices. Health Canada.