Enhancing the effectiveness of alcohol and substance abuse prevention programs for children

Questionnaire responses of eighth-grade students who had made a brief visit to a residential substance (alcohol and drug) abuse treatment center were analyzed to determine the impact of the experience over and above traditional classroom presentations about substance abuse. Questions were designed to test the hypotheses that the brief encounter would result in greater assimilation of and accommodation to more correct information about substance abuse, greater changes in substance abuse constructs, and concomitant changes in attitudes and behaviors. It was expected that visitors would maintain fewer naive, idealized beliefs of the type that facilitate "backing" into participation in substance abuse. Some expected significant differences were found in responses to questions reflecting knowledge and attitudes. The visitors manifested a more realistic, factually based view of substance abuse and substance abusers. It is concluded that intensive prevention/education programs are appropriate for this age group and that the school-based program was significantly enhanced by the brief naturalistic exposure to the people of a therapeutic community. Implications for cognitive learning theory and needed future research are discussed.