D.A.R.E. Program Will Test New Approach

By Liza Jane Maltin WebMD Medical News

Reviewed by Dr. Tonja Wynn Hampton

Feb. 23, 2001 -- Led by trained police officers who urge kids to 'just say no' to drugs, D.A.R.E. -- for Drug Abuse Resistance Education -- has shown success among elementary school students. But the approach has been less effective at discouraging older, at-risk students from using alcohol, tobacco, or illegal drugs. So D.A.R.E. is changing its strategy. And it's a strategy that parents can use at home.

Now, with a cash infusion from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in Princeton, N.J., researchers at the University of Akron's (Ohio) Institute for Health and Social Policy have designed and begun testing a revamped and modernized D.A.R.E. program to also meet the older kids' needs.

'Students today are very sophisticated, and we have to be current with how we approach them,' says Zili Sloboda, ScD, who is leading the research. 'Obviously, they can't 'just say no.' We need to give them skills they can use, and then reinforce those skills.'

According to Charlie J. Parsons, JD, D.A.R.E. America's executive director, it is a misperception that the program has been stuck in the past. In fact, he tells WebMD, 'the curriculum has already been revised several times. This is simply the latest revision, albeit the most significant.'

The new approach will be 'more interactive,' says Parsons, who spent 25 years with the FBI before retiring as head of the Los Angeles division to join D.A.R.E., 'and the thing that research has shown to be most critical, and that this [new program] will provide, is reinforcement.'

When D.A.R.E. decided to revamp, and The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation adopted drug education as one of its mission areas, Sloboda, a senior research associate at the institute, and an adjunct research professor in the university's department of sociology, was contacted for her opinion on what needed to be done.

The D.A.R.E. program has two parts -- the network of officers delivering the program, and the program itself. 'What the officers deliver can change,' she says. 'The structure, the extensive network, was already in place ... so why not use it?' With 82% of U.S. elementary schools and the majority of secondary schools already enrolled, 'there's simply nothing comparable to D.A.R.E.' in terms of potential scope of impact, she says.

The question, of course, was how to make the message more effective.

'Drug use increases tremendously between eighth and tenth grades,' says Sloboda. Even with a reasonably effective program in place for fifth and sixth graders, 'you need to catch them again when they're at greatest risk -- between middle school and high school.'

Sloboda's team has already conducted one pilot study of the new approach, with positive results, and has another ongoing. That should be completed by April, she tells WebMD, and 'the big study' is planned to begin this fall.

We'll be following about 50,000 kids from 80 school systems in six metropolitan areas, she says. The researchers will compare 40 schools using the new program with 40 schools that maintain whatever they'd already had in place -- an old D.A.R.E. program, another system, some combination, or none at all. 'The schools will be in urban, suburban, and semirural districts, with balanced diversity in the student populations,' Sloboda says.

'The kids will start the program in seventh grade this September. There will be 10 lessons, probably 30-40 minutes each. That's not a lot of time, so we make it as intense as possible,' she says. 'Those same kids will then be revisited in two years with a ninth grade program, and we'll interview them annually, through the eleventh grade.'

Combining what's been learned in drug abuse prevention and basic education research, the new design shifts focus even further from the original lecture-based format. The interactive approach gets kids involved and helps them internalize the message, says Sloboda. 'We first have to get them to not want to use [drugs, alcohol, or tobacco], and then train them so they have the skills to refuse.'

It's an active learning environment, she tells WebMD. Rather than just lecturing, the officer 'becomes a coach or facilitator, and the kids come up with responses to a variety of scenarios,' she says. This tactic 'addresses preconceived notions associated with smoking, alcohol, and drug use, and how advertising, the media, and peer pressure influence kids. The kids develop their own [advertisements] that counter those that make drinking and smoking look sexy or cool.'

The idea of challenging accepted notions is also being used in other arenas, such as sex education. In some programs, kids are being taught that 'virginity is cool,' and that contrary to what popular culture may have them believe, most of their fellow students are not sexually active.

When it comes to teaching kids not to smoke, drink, or use drugs, 'it is more than 'just saying no,' says Parsons. 'There's a perception among children that 'everybody else is doing it,' and it is very important that they know that that is not true.' The new D.A.R.E. program will 'challenge normative beliefs,' he says.

Parsons tells WebMD that this 'largest ever longitudinal evaluation will show conclusively' that the new approach works. 'Just from the pilot studies and the quality of the people who put this together, I have great confidence that this [new approach] will become the gold standard,' he says.