Drug Abuse Prevention Among Adolescent Women

DESCRIPTION (provided by investigator): Building upon Phase I, Phase II research will develop and test a gender-specific, computerized drug abuse prevention program for early adolescent girls. The prevention program will address risk and protective factors associated with tobacco, alcohol, and other substance use among American adolescent girls within a cognitive problem-solving approach. Once created, prevention content will be programmed onto a CD-ROM for delivery. The CD-ROM will lend itself to self-instruction and will engage girls through original graphics, voice-over and music audio tracks, and interactivity of decision-making responses, behavioral choice selection paths, and skills rehearsals, all presented in context of a previously tested five-step, problem-solving sequence. Field work for Phase II will occur in New York City public middle schools. Ten schools will be randomly assigned to each of two study arms: intervention and control. Consenting seventh-grade female students in all schools will complete a pretest outcome measurement battery, and those in the intervention schools will interact with the initial 10 sessions of the CD-ROM drug abuse prevention program. Posttest measurements in all schools will be followed by booster sessions for intervention schools and two semiannual outcome measurements for all schools. Students in intervention schools will complete the CD-ROM program in computer facilities under the supervision of regular school staff aided by members of the investigative team. Each session will last roughly 20 minutes. Independently, girls will interact with the program, finishing one session per week. Process measures during intervention delivery will quantify the quality of girls' interactions with the prevention, generate dose-response data for analytic blocking purposes, and provide feedback on essential parameters of intervention and experimental control. Outcome effects will be assessed by multivariate behavioral and psychosocial measures. Should the CD-ROM intervention prove effective, we will ensure that it is compatible with a variety of personal computer platforms and disseminate the program through licensing and royalty arrangements with publishers of health education materials for youth.