The impact of a substance abuse prevention program: An evaluation

This study tests the theory of risk and protective factors. The risk and protective theory suggests that substance abuse prevention programs, in order to be effective, must decrease risk factors and increase protective factors for youth. Seventeen risk and protective factors are identified in the literature and are tested in this study; To determine the degree to which this theory applies to prevention programming, this study evaluates the effectiveness of a substance abuse prevention program entitled the National Youth Sports Program (NYSP). NYSP is a nationally sponsored summer youth and academic program that includes a prevention education component. Three hundred twenty-five youth are recruited for program participation from the greater Las Vegas, Nevada area. The sample size of this study is 353 at-risk youth ages 10-16 (N = 353). This five week program is held on the campus of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and is sponsored by the College of Education; A program evaluation was conducted on this program in 1992 and this current study replicates the earlier work. The Individual Protective Factors Index (IPFI) was used as the measuring device both in the 1992 evaluation and during this study. The research design for this study is a quasi-experimental design. Three waves, a pre-test, post-test, and three month follow-up, were conducted to measure program effects over time; This study found that of the seventeen risk and protective factor dimensions evaluated, only one--family supervision--was statistically significant. The data suggest that significant changes in the other dimensions did not occur.