NCJ Number
224110
Journal
Journal of Social Work Practice in the Addictions Volume: 8 Issue: 3 Dated: 2008 Pages: 303-321
Date Published
2008
Length
19 pages
Annotation
This article describes an innovative drug prevention pilot in which developing a substance abuse video served as a vehicle for teaching youth healthy attitudes and behaviors.
Abstract
The Youth Video Project (YVP) makes two contributions to the field of practice. First, it provides an innovative method, video production, to facilitate substance abuse prevention. Second, the program is community centered in that it capitalizes on community capacities and integrates characteristics of the community into the curriculum. The YVP was located in a housing development in New Orleans. The YVP was a substance abuse prevention program that targeted high-risk inner-city youth and engaged them in preparing a drug prevention video. The youth, seven 10- to 12- year old African-Americans, learned about drugs and how these drugs impacted their community. They then applied this knowledge to the development of a substance abuse prevention video. Six activities were identified as critical to the program’s success: family involvement, community engagement, adapting drug education content to fit community characteristics, using the camcorder as a central vehicle for learning, community field assignments, and evaluation-based learning. The aim of this article is to describe an innovative substance abuse prevention program, the YVP, for inner-city African-American youth. The article addressed the components of the program and how one infuses video-making skills with substance abuse prevention, techniques utilized to enhance the cultural capacities of the community, and lessons learned and guidelines with regard to designing substance abuse programs for inner-city youth. Tables, note, and references