Web Media: Bringing Drug Exposure Research to Educators

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This SBIR Phase I proposal seeks support to improve drug/health literacy among educators by developing interactive multimedia to tighten the link between the expertise and findings of the drug/health research communities and the practical needs of the nation's educators. Insuractive, Inc. (IAI) is a small for-profit business employing graphic/web designers, developers, and support staff and specializing in web-based products and e-commerce for the education and insurance markets. For the purposes of this SBIR proposal, IAI is partnering with the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE), a non-profit research organization with over 250 employees nationwide and a 20-year history of research on substance abuse prevention, including studies of prenatal cocaine exposure effects. The overall goal of this SBIR project is to develop and test a commercially viable, interactive, multimedia instructional package for school personnel and teachers-in-training to enable them to more effectively promote the academic and psychosocial success of children affected by substance abuse. The content will include information on the effects of prenatal cocaine exposure, risk and resilience, and strategies for building resilience in high risk elementary and middle school students. The specific aims for Phase I are: AIM 1: Conduct an expert review of the proposed content and learner outcomes for the instructional product; AIM 2: Based on the panel's review, produce an interactive, multimedia prototype using Macromedia Flash; AIM 3: Convene focus groups to evaluate the prototype for use with teachers and teachers-in-training.