Sophomore medical students as substance abuse prevention teachers

Medical education should emphasize health promotion and disease prevention and should offer educational experiences that require students to be active, independent learners and problem solvers. The purpose of this project was to enable sophomore medical students to apply their own innovative methods of instruction to a program for adolescent substance abuse prevention. Medical students developed and taught a school-based prevention program to 36 middle school students who represented a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds and abilities. They used demonstrations, role-playing, and drug abuse prevention commercials created by the adolescents for their peers. Medical students kept weekly journals to record their thoughts about and activities used in teaching substance abuse prevention to adolescents. The journals revealed an increased understanding of adolescent thinking and behavior and an increased confidence in teaching substance abuse prevention to adolescents.