Expand School-Based Prevention Programs
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Brief Description
Introductory Paragraph
Schools are in a unique position to reach the vast majority of youth in a community, and there are excellent low-cost and free resources that can be used by schools to enhance prevention. Schools bear a significant burden when students misuse drugs and develop addictions, so they should be motivated to be partners in prevention.
Key Information
The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH)[1], conducted in 2015 in the United States on 68,073 people 12 years of age and older, revealed that the prevalence of past year pain reliever NMU was 3.9% among 12–17 year olds (Hughes et al., 2016). The 2015 Monitoring The Future (MTF) survey among high school students revealed that older adolescents (12th graders) had the highest annual prevalence of OxyContin® and Vicodin® use (3.7% and 4.4% respectively), with the lowest annual prevalence seen in 8th graders (0.8% and 0.9%, respectively) (Johnston, O'Malley, Miech, Bachman, & Schulenberg, 2016).[2]
Opioid Education Programs
Recommendations for selecting a school program[3]
Start by looking at programs that have evidence that they work. The list on Blueprints for Healthy Youth Development is a place to start. Do a keyword search of this registry using the term “opioid prevention” to find programs.
Look for programs that have a good Return on Investment (effective, but not too expensive).
Adopt programs that not only prevent substance use but also promote protective fitness and healthy habits among teens. Programs that integrate substance use prevention with positive behavior promotion are more likely to be accepted and used by youth, families and funders than those limited to just communicating substance use risks and harm. This was key to the success of the Youth in Iceland Program and is backed by many studies.
Promote prevention in multiple settings to reach a broader youth audience, and ensure overlapping prevention messages. Critical settings for providing prevention programs include schools and colleges, healthcare, youth and family organizations, juvenile justice, sports and recreation programs, and homes.
Innovate to make evidence-based programs more relevant in these fast-changing times. Research takes time and the opioid crisis is moving fast. You should consider how to innovate and enhance programs that may have targeted other drugs to make them more relevant for today's opioid crisis.
School Prevention Programs have a Positive Impact
In 2012, a special report of the National Survey on Drug Use and Health reported that 75% of youth ages twelve to seventeen reported having seen or heard drug or alcohol prevention messages at school. Of those who received such exposure, 8.9% reported using an illicit drug in the past month, versus 12.3% among students who reported no exposure to such messages.
Classroom Resources
Operation Prevention
Operation Prevention, a joint partnership between Discovery Education and the DEA, developed free resources that "that are aligned to national health and science standards and integrate seamlessly into classroom instruction." Toolkits and lesson plans have been designed for middle school students and another for high school students. A parent toolkit designed alongside the material to provide further discussion of the topic at home is included as well. See Empower & Strengthen Parents for more strategies to include parents. See Tools & Resources for copies of toolkits.
Not Prescribed
Not Prescribed is a classroom-based lesson empowering teens with the science and the stories to understand the risks of misusing prescription drugs and the skills to rise above. It is provided at not cost to non-profit organizations and schools.
Everfi's Prescription Drug Safety Course
EVERFI provides schools with a free, state-of-the-art on-line learning course on prescription drug safety [4]
Due to support from a wide range of public and private supporters in the Presecription Drug Safety Network, EVERFI has the resources and experience to delivier a high-quality E-learning course to schools at no charge. EVERFI has a long history of provideing training on topics like personal financial management, and they have leveraged that experience to create a 30 to 40-minute course that can be offered in schools or in out-of-school programs. This report shares some of the impact that this course is having.
Analysis of Research-Based Programs and Return on Investment
This report looks at thirteen Youth Marijuana Prevention programs and shares valuable insights on the Return on Investment of these programs. Use of marijuana is a risk factor for starting misuse of opioids, and there are underlying factors where prevention efforts impacts the use of many different types of drugs.
Wsipp_Preventing Youth Substance Use: A Review of Thirteen Programs Benefit-Cost-Results Preventing Youth Substance Use
Positive Prevention Plus: A comprehensive school-based sexual health education and teen pregnancy prevention curriculum.
Relevant Research
In this section, please capture any recent findings, reports, or data on the topic. Please also highlight any gaps or existing disparities. Please include references and links to the information so that we may add a footnote for the reader to find further information. Do we have any available research about discriminatory practices? Is there information about the value of access to educational opportunities?
Impactful Federal, State, and Local Policies
Please list any federal, state, or local laws, policies, or regulations that support this topic or ones that could be a possible barrier. Are there laws or policies other states should know about and replicate for success?
Available Tools and Resources
Oftentimes, there are already great resources in the field that have been developed, but they are not housed in a single place. Please use this section to share information about those resources and drive the reader to that resource. It may be a worksheet, toolkit, fact sheet, framework/model, infographic, new technology, etc. I suggest no more than 5 really good links and a corresponding description for the reader. We also can use this section to highlight some of the great resources and programs at SAFE Project.
Promising Practices
Please link to any best practice models or case studies that highlight creative/innovative or successful efforts in support of this strategy. Is there a community that does a really good job in this area that other communities should replicate? Please write a brief description and provide a link.