Training Teachers for Substance Abuse Prevention

Results of a 1986 national survey of experts in the field of alcohol and other drug abuse prevention summarized the basic information and skills thought to be necessary for teacher effectiveness in this area. 1 It was concluded that a marriage between knowledge and skills is imperative if teachers are going to make a difference with students in substance abuse prevention. Past efforts in prevention that relied solely on dissemination of factual drug information have not significantly impacted patterns of drug use. 2 Nor has teacher knowledge of drugs resulted in effective strategies for working with youth in prevention. Differences in student learning styles make the use of one type of drug prevention, such as the didactic presentation of material, unrealistic in meeting individual needs. 3 Children who may be at greater risk for substance abuse are often the same students who, because of learning deficiencies, are unable to benefit from drug prevention that is solely informative in design. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.