Developing a drug awareness program in an international school. Cross-cultural issues.
In 1996, as an overseas school nurse/health educator, the author designed a health and personal development curriculum for an international school in Bandung, Indonesia, where 220 children from 26 different countries were enrolled. Part of the health curriculum included a drug awareness program for students from kindergarten through high school. Many parents, students, administrators, and faculty had never been involved in such a program before; therefore, obtaining acceptance from these groups was a first step in designing the drug awareness program. Because there have been no school or government anti-drug groups to promote drug prevention, this program was the first of its kind in the international community of Bandung. A review of the literature guided the choice of intervention strategies built into the program. Information also was collected about the major risk and protective factors that are known to be associated with an increased risk of drug use in the international community. Existing models of drug use prevention were used in designing the program. As in most prevention programs, drug use was viewed as a deficit in coping or self-regulation skills. The drug awareness program was developed with emphasis on peer, school, and community factors potentially influencing the tobacco, alcohol, and other drug use of the adolescent students.
Jeffries
P R
PR
Indiana University School of Nursing, Indianapolis, USA.
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D018864:Cultural Diversity; D003479:Curriculum; D006266:Health Education / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D007214:Indonesia; D007391:International Cooperation; D016730:Program Development / Q000379:methods*; D012573:School Nursing / Q000458:organization & administration*; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000517:prevention & control*; D016746:Transcultural Nursing / Q000458:organization & administration; D014481:United States