Evaluation of Drug Abuse Resistance Education
The objective of the study
The research outlines an examination of the comprehensive model of school-based prevention and assists in illustrating the possible distinguishable effects of this drug education program. With the US growing issue of drug use, the country has developed Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) through employing trained officers in classrooms to educate students about drugs and facilitate a change in the youth, attitudes, and beliefs about drug use. The DARE project has received praise widely about producing expected results of providing a long term approach to the control of drug and substance abuse. However, the effectiveness of the school-based education initiative has not yet been examined. This study aims to assess and document the nature and extent of the school-based- drug prevention impact, the effect that the DARE initiatives will have on the police community, the change of attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors that DARE will facilitate among the youth regarding drugs. The study also aims at examining peers, media, misconceptions, and norms that influence the youth’s use of drugs.
Literature Review
In the late 80s, drugs were identified as a significant problem impacting the nation by public opinion. Recently, public opinion has changed, but drug effects still accelerate continued drug wars in the United States. Numerous communities around the states have advocated for the development of anti-drug approaches, which include enforcement policies, treatment programs, and education. Although many strategies have been issued to solve the drug problem, the main focus has been on how to eradicate illegal drug activities. However, the DARE curriculum is distinguishable from the other approaches due to its comprehensive nature. Findings from the previous DARE program evaluation vary considerably. Based on results from a Los Angela’s DARE program evaluation, the school-based initiatives demonstrated significant short term decrease in the student’s use of cigarettes, alcohol, and other drugs despite possessing minimal knowledge and attitude regarding drug abuse. The evaluation, however, had methodological shortcomings that compromised the experimental conditions, which in turn might have illustrated substantial results. Generally, the existing literature shows that the past evaluations had methodological weaknesses due to the use of nonrandomized research design, inadequate sample sizes, unreliable measurements, lack of pretest measurements, and lack of statistical controls. Some of these evaluations, measures were taken after the students completed their 17-week DARE curriculum. Therefore, it is unclear whether the positive results observed will be consistent beyond the observation period. Researchers in this study designed an evaluation to overcome the previous shortcomings reported on school-based drug education assessment, precisely DARE. To overcome the past evaluation shortcomings, this evaluation used randomized longitudinal design, and procedures which would provide a high retention rate, and quality data. The study derived outcome measures from the DARE program objectives and previous drug prevention approaches.
Research Questions
The research question for this study was developed based on the research objectives outlined. The researchers formulated the questions aligned with the hypothesis of the study to maintain clear guidance of the aim of the research. The research questions included;
- What is the nature and extent of the impact caused by the school-based prevention programs?
- How does the DARE program change the attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors of the youth towards drug use?
- What effect will the DARE programs have on the police community in the future?
- Does peer pressure result in youths’ increased use of alcohol and other drugs?
- What ways do the media, social norms, misconceptions contribute to the use of drugs among young people?
- How does the DARE program prove to be an effective long term strategy to resolving of the drug use problem?
- What distinguishes the DARE initiatives from other drug prevention approaches?
Subjects for the Study
Researchers of this study developed the DARE evaluation as a randomized field experiment comprised of pretests and post-tests. Elementary students were used as subjects of the study. The study identified 18 pairs of schools for the study, and12 pairs, which matched exceptionally, were chosen to participate in the study. The researchers randomly selected one school from each pair as a study sample. The study’s approach to selecting the sample was appropriate in ensuring that the survey will not be tedious or leads to the collection of unnecessary information or makes the researchers overwhelmed and resulted in biasness. The schools selected were from the areas in which DARE officers had been assigned, and the comparisons schools were identified from nearby countries. The study’s approach to choosing the sample was appropriate in ensuring that the survey will not be tedious or leads to the collection of unnecessary information or makes the researchers overwhelmed and resulted in biasness
Measurement
The researchers randomly selected one school from each of the 12 pairs chosen as a study sample. The schools selected were from the areas in which DARE officers had been assigned, and the comparisons schools were identified from nearby countries. The research identified 18 pairs of elementary schools that represented the urban, rural, and suburban areas in the northern part of the state of Illinois. The pairing of the schools followed consideration of the ethnic composition, the type of school, the number of students with English proficiency, and the number of students from low-income families. The study measurement method differed from the other DARE evaluation since this study used a randomized design to measure data while the others used nonrandomized.
Data Collection Methods
Researches administered questionnaires to the selected students immediately after the implementation of the DARE program. The researchers attended training sessions to understand the procedures of the data collection and administered the questionnaires directly to the students through the help of the school counselors. The data collection was maintained for 2years with follow up on the students who transferred to other schools or different areas. The researchers in this study collected their data without relying on the previous information collected by other researchers. The respondents underwent a pretest and post-test.
Limitations of the study
The study had several limitations, which led to the failure of research to produce significant positive results. The data collection method lacked sufficient power to detect small differences caused by data fluctuations. The study discusses the possibility of inaccurate data since the self- reporting procedure could be due to biasness to match the null hypothesis. Also, the behaviors measured are rare, and to detect the statistical impact, the DARE is less than if the behavioral measures were more prevalent. Another limitation of the study is that the sample studied is inappropriate for the study since students at elementary school have not yet started to use drugs. Hence, the effect of the DARE program is likely to last for a shorter period. The study also used less confidential measures since the participants were advised to use their names on the questionnaires, which could have made the respondents give inaccurate data in fear of violation of their privacy.
Discussions
In conclusion, the researchers used the questionnaire as a method of collecting, and it was an appropriate method since the sample population was large, and a different approach would not cover the whole community. The data would be enhanced if the study was extended to include middle school learners and conduct study beyond the DARE program period. Students at elementary school are still young to suffer the pressure of using drugs that could come from the media or their peers. At that age, students’ attitudes and beliefs towards drug use are still negative, and the DARE program is likely to have minimal impact on them, or the learned result may fail to last for long.
On the other side, the findings of the study did not demonstrate any superior aspect of the DARE program over the other drug prevention programs. The results, though, indicate that if America sticks into making the initiatives keep running, then the country may be heading in the right direction to the widespread problem of drug abuse. DARE programs create drug awareness among young people at a young age, making them grow with a wide range of information about the dangers caused by drug abuse. The approach proves to be better since it allows people to make their own decision about alcohol and other drug usage and ensures that society does not have to make ignorant decisions when it comes to drugs. The enforcement laws act more like “force” policies, and people are prone to rebel at anything forced on them; hence, the DARE approach can be America’s secret to eradicating the problem permanently.
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