Integrating life skills into a theory-based drug-use prevention program: effectiveness among junior high students in Taiwan.
BACKGROUND
Drug use has been noted among students in Taiwan during the past decade and schools have a role in preventing or delaying students' drug use. We developed and evaluated a school-based, drug-use prevention program integrating the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and life skills for junior high school students.


METHODS
We recruited 441 seventh graders from randomly selected schools: N = 143 experimental groups, N = 142 conventional groups, and N = 156 control groups. The experimental group received ten 45-minute sessions of theory-based interventions. The conventional group got traditional didactic teaching and drug refusal skills. The control group received no intervention.


RESULTS
Compared to the control group, experimental group students showed greater improvement in attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, life skills, and intention not to use drugs. Compared to the conventional group, the experimental group had significantly higher posttest scores for 4 of the 5 outcomes, including life skills (96.53 vs. 90.92, p < .001), attitude (27.43 vs. 24.40, p = .012), subjective norm (29.51 vs. 28.06, p = .002), and perceived behavioral control (18.59 vs. 16.81, p < .001). The conventional group scored significantly higher in behavioral intention than did the control group.


CONCLUSIONS
Study results demonstrated the effectiveness of a drug-use prevention program integrating the TPB and life skills.
School of Nursing, National Yang-Ming University, 155 Li-Nong Street, Section 2, Pei-Tou District, Taipei 11221, Taiwan.
Chiu-Mieh
CM
Huang
Li-Yin
LY
Chien
Chin-Feng
CF
Cheng
Jong-Long
JL
Guo
D000293:Adolescent; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001524:Behavioral Medicine; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D016730:Program Development; D015397:Program Evaluation; D011582:Psychological Theory; D012572:School Health Services; D012574:Schools; D020377:Self Efficacy; D040241:Social Marketing; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology