Effects of the 5th and 7th Grade Enhanced Versions of the Keepin' It Real Substance Use Prevention Curriculum

• NCJ Number: 232612
• Journal: Journal of Drug Education Volume: 40 Issue: 1 Dated: 2010 Pages: 61-79
• Author(s): Elvira Elek, Ph.D.; David A. Wagstaff, Ph.D.; Michael L. Hecht, Ph.D.
• Date Published: 2010
• Length: 19 pages
• Grant Number(s): RO1 DA005629
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute on Drug Abuse
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: For additional articles in this special issue see NCJ-232608-11 and NCJ-232613-14.

Annotation

This study examined the effectiveness of the keepin' it REAL (kiR) substance use prevention program on a sample of fifth and seventh grade students.

Abstract

This study assessed the outcomes of adapting the culturally-grounded, middle school, substance-use prevention intervention, keepin' it REAL (kiR), to target elementary school students and to address acculturation. At the beginning of fifth grade, 29 schools were randomly assigned to conditions obtained by crossing grade of implementation (fifth, seventh, fifth + seventh, and control/comparison) by curriculum version [kiR-Plus vs. kiR-Acculturation Enhanced (AE)]. Students (n = 1,984) completed 6 assessments through the end of eighth grade. The kiR curricula generally appear no more effective than the comparison schools' programming. Students receiving either version of the kiR intervention in only the fifth grade report greater increases in substance use than did control students. Receiving the kiR-AE version twice (both fifth and seventh grades) has benefits over receiving it once. Tables and references (Published Abstract)