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To support the implementation of Project ALERT we periodically send out an e-newsletter that will help keep you up-to-date on project goings on. This is our main mode of communication about any updates made to curriculum materials, research participation opportunities, news about current implementations, and other relevant items of interest. It is distributed electronically, and can be sent to an email that you provide. To subscribe to the newsletter, please send us a message. Or if you do not yet have a Project ALERT account, you can create an account now and indicate that you would like to subscribe.

Fall 2017

Fall Focus: The Peer Effect

 

Welcome back, Project ALERT All-Stars! We say this every fall, but we hope your summer break was your best one yet!

 

Indelible Impacts 

As another new group of expectant adolescents sits ready to be enlightened by your musings, we at the Educator are recalling the lasting, positive impressions of Ms. Cox, Mr. Earley, Dr. LaBrie, and Ms. Lizarraga. These motivating and thoughtful instructors gave us confidence, support, and direction as they unlocked a world of new ideas and opportunities. In some cases, if just for a season, they became our friends. Others became instrumental in our career trajectories.  Still others became lifelong colleagues. Have you stopped to consider the impact you may have had on some of last year’s students?

 

Indelible impacts, perhaps just as long-lasting, are also made by our peers. This is the focus of the Educator’s feature article. What can happen when even just a fraction of the student body participates in a school’s voluntary drug prevention program and then talk about it with their non-attending friends? Can the decisions of a few impact those of many in considering the choice to experiment with alcohol and drugs? Read some surprising findings below.

 

State of the Program Survey

Winter survey results are in! Once again, we’re tremendously grateful for our program partners that took the time to let us know how (and if!) they are using Project ALERT, what has been most beneficial about the program, and what suggestions they have for enhancing the curriculum.  See the recap of results from Director Eric Pedersen.

 

Refresher: Project ALERT Teaching Strategies

Every instructor teaches Project ALERT a little differently. But what are the core strategies critical to effective program delivery? Check out our refresher article, “9 Teaching Strategies of Project ALERT,” and re-familiarize yourself with these aspects of implementation that are key in cultivating the best results for your students!

 

More Updates to Proyecto ALERTA

The Educator staff is excited to announce some updates to our materials in Spanish. Check out the latest version of our manual completo, as well as the newest member of el grupo - our Spanish marijuana supplemental guide.

 

Here’s to a new year filled with promise and potential! As always, we are here to help with any questions and website issues. Contact us at 1-800-ALERT-10, or send an email to projectalert@rand.org.

 

The Peer Effect

 A recent after-school drug education and prevention program offered in 16 middle schools in 3 southern California districts found that a very interesting phenomenon had taken place - positive school-wide effects despite a relatively small percentage of students attending the program.[1]

 

Using an innovative approach called “motivational interviewing (MI),”[2],[3] middle school youth were offered a brief, voluntary prevention/intervention program called CHOICE, consisting of five 30-minute group sessions on the following topics:

 

What’s happening in your school?

  • Examining why some youth choose to experiment with alcohol or drugs

  • Learning about actual vs. perceived normative use of alcohol and drugs

 

What’s in your head vs. what’s in your bottle, or myths about substance use

  • Distinguishing drug myths from the realities

  • Understanding the Balanced Placebo Design experiment

 

What happened to you last night?

  • Understanding how to cope with negative feelings

  • Recognizing how alcohol and drug use can affect their lives and social relationships

 

How to resist pressures to use alcohol, cigarettes, and drugs

  • Forming ready responses to peer pressure

  • Practicing roleplays

 

How to have fun on the weekend without paying for it later

  • Identifying situations where alcohol or other drugs may be present

  • Planning and preparing healthy alternatives to these situations

 

Students were offered a lot of flexibility with this program across the 8 schools that offered it. With parental consent, they could drop in for any of the sessions, which rotated and repeated during the school year. Dynamic program facilitators made the information interesting, fun, and relevant and encouraged lots of student participation. The program reached about 15% of the school populations and youth that attended were racially and ethnically diverse.[4] Researchers compared surveys from the beginning of the school year with surveys at the end of the school and found that teens that attended CHOICE were less likely to begin drinking.

However, what researchers were not expecting was that although only 15% of the student body attended the program at treatment schools, the influence of peer and social networks was far-reaching, as schools that had the CHOICE program also showed fewer teens drinking across the whole school. They discovered that CHOICE attenders were sharing the information they had learned in the sessions with peers who did not attend the program, suggesting high program endorsement rates. Participating teens were excited about the material and non-participants ended up learning a lot through informal conversations with their friends.[5]

News of these school-wide effects in the CHOICE study can be encouraging for all educators and community leaders implementing drug prevention education programs, including Project ALERT. Critical information designed to help teens make healthy choices about substance use is having an effect - not solely through formal instruction and drug counselors, but among peer networks, and it’s helping to shape the decisions of many adolescents.  Have you noticed the "peer effect" in your educational setting? We would appreciate hearing your thoughts, whether or not your school or other instructional venue mandates a drug education program.  Share your story with us at projectalert@rand.org.

Please check out these references below related to the MI approach.  See the Group MI for Teens website to learn more about the CHOICE study development and outcomes.  Like Project ALERT, all materials for CHOICE are available online at no cost.

 



 

 

 

 

 



[1] D’Amico, E. J., Tucker, J. S., Miles, J. N. V., Zhou, A. J., Shih, R. A, & Green, H. D. (2012). Preventing alcohol use with a voluntary after school program for middle school students: Results from a cluster randomized controlled trial of CHOICE. Prevention Science, 13(4):415-25.

 

[2] Miller, W. R., & Rollnick, S. (2012). Motivational Interviewing: Helping People Change (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Guilford Press.

 

[3] Rollnick S., & Miller, W.R. (1995). What is motivational interviewing? Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 23, 325-334.

 

[4] D’Amico, E. J., Green, H. D., Miles, J. N. V., Zhou, A. J., Tucker, J. S., & Shih, R. A.  (2012). Voluntary after school alcohol and drug programs: If you build it right, they will come. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 22(3), 571–582.

 

[5] Edelen, M. O., Tucker, J. S., & D’Amico, E. J. (2015). Spreading the word: A process evaluation of a voluntary AOD prevention program. American Journal on Addictions, 24(4): 315–322.

 

Refresher: The Nine Teaching Strategies of Project ALERT

The methods used to teach Project ALERT are just as important as the material itself.  This article presents nine strategies important for successful program delivery that have been integrated into the curriculum. How are they being implemented in your teaching setting?

1.  Resistance Self-Efficacy

Self-efficacy, defined as an individual’s belief that he or she has the capacity to accomplish a particular task, must be established before the adoption of new and difficult behavior. If we expect students to resist drugs, we must help them feel they can do so.

Project ALERT offers several ways to increase resistance self-efficacy, including modeling, practice, and feedback.  It is critical that the teacher believes the students are capable of resisting. This belief should be communicated clearly and honestly in the form of specific feedback after resistance practice. Here are some examples:

 

“You really know how to say ‘no.’"

“That’s a good way to resist.”

“That sounded very convincing.”

“You looked and sounded like you meant what you said!”

“You sounded in charge.”

“I think you’ve got it!”

“You handled that well.”

“I like the way you worded that; I would have stopped pressuring you.”

“That sounded powerful.”

“That was a mature way of responding.”

 

2.  Active Student Involvement and Practice

We’ve integrated activities for student participation into the Project ALERT curriculum whenever possible. Research demonstrates that people learn more, remember more, and feel more effective when they are actively involved in the learning process. Project ALERT activities encourage such participation by inviting students to:  make lists of reasons; discuss videos; roleplay; rewrite alcohol, tobacco, e-cigarette, and marijuana ads; draft “saying ‘no’” responses; and suggest alternative behaviors.

 

3.  Modeling

Modeling is an important tool for teaching and increasing self-efficacy. In the Project ALERT videos, older teens act out typical scenarios and model resistance skills. By presenting these situations where teens say “no” to substances, effective ways of resisting are illustrated.  Eliciting feedback after the videos with questions like, “What do you think of the way they interacted with each other?” and “What else could they have said to resist?” can build on the concept of students modeling resistance behaviors.

 

4.  Reinforcement

Several techniques can be used to reinforce what students learn in Project ALERT. You can use verbal reinforcement methods, such as repeating or summarizing correct responses and solutions, elaborating on a student’s response and connecting it with other material, and providing positive feedback on what the student said or did. Honest, direct praise can be motivating.  Some examples are:

“So, what I’m hearing you say is that you might do the following in this situation.” (summary)

“Excellent answer!  Several of you mentioned that you would respond in a similar way.” (connecting w/other material)

“You’re on the right track. Can you think of any other ways?”

“That’s a terrific way to say ‘no.’”

“That’s an interesting observation/point.”

“I like how you put that.”

“I never thought of that!”

“I’ve learned a lot from you.” (to the class)

“Good job!"

Nonverbal methods include classroom applause, smiling, nodding, or a “thumbs up” sign.

5.  Validation

Validation means acknowledging students’ feelings, sometimes even before the feelings are vocalized. Examples include acknowledging that (1) it is hard to identify and resist pressure, (2) advertising is powerful, and (3) students are not expected to know all the answers.

“Wow – those are some strong opinions, but very valuable for us to hear. Thanks.’”

“That must have been a really difficult experience/time for you. I’m glad you felt comfortable sharing it with us.”

“Great suggestion.  How easy or difficult would it be to do that?”

“Yes – good point.  There are so many influences around us.  Can you think of any others?”

“Consequences can have serious effects, can’t they?  But they can also be great teachers.  Can you think of a different response you might have next time?”

6.  Proximal Goals

Each lesson begins with a statement of proximal goals, or what students will accomplish that day. Beginning Project ALERT lessons in this way helps prepare the student for the session. Further, research shows stating proximal goals promotes learning and self-efficacy. These goals are listed first in each lesson and should guide each activity. At the end of each lesson, the teacher reinforces the students’ abilities to achieve them.

7.  Respect

Students who are treated with respect are more receptive and motivated to learning. Respectful treatment involves listening carefully and acknowledging what students say. It also includes responding gently to a wrong answer by acknowledging any truth in it, validating the students’ feelings (e.g., “Many people think that.”), and presenting the correct answer. Teachers increase their credibility and contribute to a climate of respect by avoiding judgmental statements, acknowledging that the students ultimately make the decision about using drugs, and clarifying that no one can make them use drugs if they don’t want to.

8.  Enthusiasm

Enthusiasm is infectious – if you’re excited about the Project ALERT curriculum, chances are, your students will be too! Enthusiasm primes students for engagement and success.

9. Parent/Guardian Involvement

As research has shown, parents are important stakeholders in substance use prevention efforts. As such, nearly all the core lessons include a homework assignment designed to be completed with a parent. These collaborative assignments are best viewed as “home learning opportunities” that make it easier for parents to speak with their children about drugs and reinforce the learning that occurs in the classroom. Translated homework assignments are available for Spanish-speaking homes.

Sometimes Project ALERT teachers express concern or skepticism about parents’ willingness to collaborate in the home assignments. In these cases, another trusted adult, such as an extended family member, adult friend, or school staff, may be enlisted to provide that support. Others worry that the home assignments might be viewed as intrusive to family privacy. Teachers can reassure parents that the information will not be shared in class. One way to encourage positive home learning experiences is to provide a letter explaining the curriculum at the beginning of the Project ALERT course. A sample parent letter, located in Lesson One and available in both English and Spanish, can be sent home to parents with the first homework assignment. This letter can be downloaded and adapted to fit your specific needs.

The intent of the home assignments is to facilitate discussion about drugs with a parent or guardian, so the assignments cannot be graded in the traditional way. Instead, many teachers provide participation points for completed assignments. A note signed by the parent verifies completion for those parents reluctant to return their responses to class.

Keep in mind how important these strategies are as you implement Project ALERT in your teaching settings.  They are a crucial part of delivering the program in the way it was originally intended, with fidelity, and with the potential for facilitating the best results for your students.

We hope you enjoy teaching the Project ALERT curriculum!

¡Noticias de Última Hora: El Apéndice de Marihuana!

The Educator staff is excited to announce our first Spanish supplemental guide. El Apéndice de Marihuana is now posted on our Proyecto ALERTA page and ready for download.  Just like its English counterpart, it includes the most updated information on marijuana as well as answers to many typical questions asked by middle-schoolers. This is a great way to help your students be prepared for real-life situations, especially in the current and ever-changing legal climate.

Project ALERT supplemental guides contain the most current information available on e-cigarettes, marijuana, heroin/opioids, and club drugs like ecstasy, LSD, and stimulants. They can all be found here, under the Resources, Links & Supplements menu on our website.

All guides have been written at a 7th grade level to ensure that Project ALERT students can easily understand the material. We recommend printing them for your class as a take-home tool, and letting your students know that they’re available online 24/7!

Please send us an email if you’ve been using these guides, and let us know what other substances/topics you might want to see covered in future supplemental guides.

 

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