Review of

Results of the evaluation of a School-Based For The Prevention Of Substance use Among Adolescents

            This Program evaluation is a results based evaluation of the study. The Program named EU-DAP stands for European Drug Addiction Prevention Trial . The purpose of the study is to assess the effectiveness of the ongoing program. The study was funded by the European Commission within the Community Public Health programme in 2002. This is a school based program that is used to reduce drug abuse in school aged children. This evaluation relies solely on statistical results as the evidence of meeting program goals and objectives.

            The premise of this study is that smoking, alcohol and drugs all share a common addition mechanism. Treating one addition or substitution of different addicting substances defeats the purpose. This study treats the age group early adolescents for addictive practices instead of treating one substance abuse at a time. The study included data from seven countries, nine regional centres,143 schools and involved a sample that included over 7000 students as participants. This is a very large experimental study to manage. 

            This program was evaluated using an Outcome Based Evaluation Method. The main objective of the study was to break the cycle of addictive behaviors that are prevalent in the study group. The artifact produced is 28 pages long and does an adequate job of covering the material contained in the study. This Method of Program evaluation is appropriate for this study the end result is the most important goal in this instance. The researchers acknowledge several issues with the results Such as the cluster effect when class and social position may skew the result in homogeneous areas. The process was not what the program sponsor were interested in. How you get to the end result is minor although it was a monumental task. This process is as open as the studies research team can make it. This is a necessity as the data is being collected from schools and about children.

            There are 7 pages of charts and tables. These are necessary to help understand the results of such a massive study. The tables break down the results into useable bits of information. The statistics are impressive but alone do not provide evidence of support or failure of the premise.

            500 words is not enough to adequately review this evaluation this is a very in-depth study with an overabundance of experimental evidence. This evaluation does an excellent job of summarizing the study. The material is clear and well written with a good understanding of the results and the method used. According to the summary there is some evidence that the program works with alcohol and cannabis. The study does not present conclusive evidence of the original thesis. There is enough evidence from similar studies in the United States and the preliminary results on this study to continue with the longer term portion of this study.

             This Program Evaluation is available to the public on line at http://www.eudap.net/pdf/FinalReport2.pdf

References

http://www.eudap.net/pdf/FinalReport2.pdf retrieved 12/1/2012