Effectiveness Evaluation of Smoking, Drug, and Alcohol Education Courses via Actual Relevant Behavior (The Smoking Education Curriculum MSACS as an Illustrative Case Study)Zoller, Uri; Maymon, T.
doi: 10.2190/1MB5-90W1-TPHP-2HCMpmid: 3712180
The difference between the pre- and post-actual SDA (smoking, drug, alcohol) behavior of experimental and control groups is suggested as a major criterion for short-term effectiveness evaluation of SDA preventive education programs aimed at high school adolescents. This methodological approach has been successfully applied in the effectiveness evaluation of the newly-developed, knowledge-attitude, value-decision-making, and social competency-based anti-smoking MSACS program. The latter was shown to be effective in reducing the onset of smoking with fifteen to sixteen-year-old Israeli high school students. Based on the results and data analysis of the presented case study, both the program model and the methodology of its effectiveness evaluation appear to be generalizable to SDA education programs, and are proposed as appropriate “first approximations” to be used elsewhere for the same purposes.
Sex Differences in the Beliefs of Nonsmokers about Why Cigarette Smokers SmokeEvans, Ronald G.; Lowe, John B.
doi: 10.2190/T6B9-UKJ6-DWK2-HRWCpmid: 3712182
Nonsmokers are becoming more actively used in smoking cessation treatments in social support roles. This study sought to determine if nonsmokers understand the reasons smokers of their own sex and of the opposite sex give for smoking cigarettes. Nonsmokers (N = 175) were randomly assigned to complete a Reasons for Smoking Scale as they thought a typical smoker of either their own or the opposite sex would complete it [1]. Those results were then matched against a criterion group of smokers (N = 81) from the same college population who had completed the Reasons scale. Results indicated that male nonsmokers were generally accurate in their perceptions of each sex, underestimating only the importance smoking men attach for relaxation as a reason, and overestimating how much women report smoking out of sheer habit. Nonsmoking women, on the other hand, inaccurately perceived each of the six Reasons factors cited by women who smoke, and were similarly inaccurate on two factors cited by men. These results indicate that education aimed specifically at nonsmoking women may be necessary to make them most effective in helping peers quit smoking.
Increasing Treatment Efficiency through Effective Intake InterviewsGallagher, Patricia; Rollins, Joan
doi: 10.2190/XY0C-26TC-34TX-1RLNpmid: 3712183
Male patients in an alcohol detoxification unit were measured to determine whether the method of acquiring symptoms and sex of the experimenter affected the number and severity of symptoms elicited. A male or female experimenter administered a checklist of symptoms and the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale to 100 patients. A MANCOVA indicated there was a significant difference between method 1 (nondirective) and method 2 (leading). Subsequent univariate analyses yielded significant differences between the methods and both dependent measures, number of symptoms acquired and their severity. The leading method was more effective for acquiring symptoms, and more moderate symptoms, which were typically overlooked by the patients during the nondirective phase, were obtained.
Drug Use in an Alternative High SchoolBeauvais, Fred; Oetting, E. R.
doi: 10.2190/NPKN-6Q2V-FFYP-UKBKpmid: 3486971
The drug involvement of students in an alternative high school is reported. Students include those transferred for behavior problems or dropouts returning to complete school. Drug use rates are exceptionally high, with significantly higher lifetime prevalence for nearly every drug. Current use of drugs is also very high, and 70 percent are in the two most serious adolescent drug use types; about a third are polydrug users, currently using at least two drugs with different psychoactive effects, and another third are stimulant users, taking marijuana, uppers, and/or cocaine. Only alcohol and marijuana were started earlier than other students–these students started both in early junior high. These extreme levels of involvement suggest further assessment of alternative schools and, if generalizability is confirmed, focusing of prevention and treatment programs on these high risk environments.
Adolescent Drug Use in Three Small Rural Communities in the Rocky Mountain RegionSwaim, Randall; Beauvais, Fred; Edwards, R. W.; Oetting, E. R.
doi: 10.2190/U9JK-P2VC-89PE-FP68pmid: 3486972
Anonymous surveys of drug use were administered to eighth- and twelfth-grade students in three small rural communities and one mid-sized community in the Rocky Mountain region. Differences were found between the three small towns in both lifetime prevalence and the frequency of occurrence of different types of drug users, indicating that small rural communities are likely to develop idiosyncratic patterns of drug use. These differences were more evident among eighth-grade than among twelfth-grade students. Minimal differences were found between the combined small community sample and the urban sample. Use by small town youth, for some drugs, may even exceed that of students in urban communities, suggesting that youth from small communities no longer have lower use rates, at least in this region. Differences of use between seniors in the Rocky Mountain region (small town and urban communities combined) and the national senior survey [1] are relatively small, but significant, perhaps reflecting a regional pattern of drug involvement.
Empirical Identification of Drug Abuse Prone Individuals Using Interval Banded Profile AnalysisHuba, G. J.; Zachary, Robert A.
doi: 10.2190/KJ9A-81MG-YTT7-596Upmid: 3712185
This article shows how an empirical profile matching procedure applied to the MMPI of a client can be used to quantify the degree to which the client's personality profile is representative of a drug abusing group. Supplementary techniques show how reliable this judgment is and, when the individual's profile does not match a drug abuser prototype, isolates the reasons for the discrepancies. The technique can be regularly applied to MMPI profiles to screen for an “abuser-prone” personality style as well as more than forty other personality diagnostic classifications. A special automated scoring service is available for this identification.