Project Overview
The Drug Resistance Strategies (DRS) Project grew out of the need to understand the adolescent perspective on drugs and drug offers. DRS research describes the process of drug offers - the "who, what, where, how and why" of the process. Most importantly, it describes effective ways for youth to refuse or resist these offers.
Based on this knowledge, DRS created an effective, multicultural middle school drug prevention program, kepin' it REAL, that reduces alcohol, marijuana, and tobacco use. The culturally grounded curriculum consists of 10 school lessons, PSA's, billboards, and boosters and has been selected as a "Model Program" by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
The project has been conducted in a series of phases, each founded by the National Institute of Drug Abuse. These grants, DRS 1-4, are described below:
DRS 1: The High School Study
DRS 2 and 3: The Middle School Sudies
DRS 4: Middle and Elementary School Study
The high school study 1988-1991 - DRS 1
The goals of the 1988 Arizona high school study were to: (1) begin to
identify adolescents' perceptions of drug resistance strategies, (2) design
a training program for teaching resistance skills and (3) conduct a pilot
study of its effectiveness. This project identified the drug resistance
strategies used by teens in the Southwestern United States then created
and assessed a live performance, film-based performance, and discussion
prevention program teaching these strategies along with general skills
in communication competence to a predominantly white population.
The studies from this phase of the Drug Resistance Strategies Project produced a set of resistance strategies and specified some of the situations under which these strategies were effective and ineffective. In addition, these studies suggested differences in resistance to alcohol and other drugs, the importance of resistance beyond the initial refusal, the role of implicit and explicit peer pressure, the utility of language analysis, and the significance of initial skill level.
The Middle School Studies 1993-2001 - DRS 2 & 3
This externally funded grant supported a project to create, implement and evaluate a culturally grounded, substance abuse prevention program in every middle school seventh grade class in the city of Phoenix (35 schools, 6,000 students). First we studied how middle school aged adolescents were offered and resisted drugs. Then we developed prevention materials and the research design. We are currently implementing and evaluating the program.We are testing innovative approaches to teach youth how to avoid drug abuse using their strengths and the strengths of their families and communities. We are developing culturally grounded interventions with Mexican-American, European-American and African-American foci. Selected teachers from all the middle schools of Phoenix will be trained on how to implement the curriculum in their classrooms. We will receive referrals from teachers for students in need of special psychosocial support.
Instead of teaching students just to say no, we are teaching them how to say no. Videos produced by youths for youths are a central component of the curriculum. Phoenix South Mountain High School students are producing a series of educational videos teaching drug resistance strategies based on middle school students' real-life stories. These resistance strategies are Refuse, Explain, Avoid, and Leave (R.E.A.L.). REAL is also the title we are using for the school-based prevention program.
DRS has the potential to reduce substance abuse while teaching communication and life skills to Phoenix seventh graders. Through television and radio Public Service Announcements (PSAs), billboards, and citywide contests, the DRS Project will reinforce the messages learned in the classroom and reach many additional children and parents throughout the valley. Once assessed, the project may be replicated in other parts of Arizona and other areas of the United States.
For more information on curriculum
For more information on project findings
Link these series of studies DRS Project research publications