This review is one of 23 conducted by the Effective Public Health Practice Project to provide easily accessible, reliable information about research evidence related to public health practice. It was undertaken to determine the effectiveness of school-based prevention programs in reducing adolescent risk behaviors (i.e. smoking, alcohol and other drug use and sexual risk behaviors). Since there is a vast literature in this area, only reviews were included in this project. This presentation will outline the following steps in this systematic review of reviews: electronic (n=7 databases) and other searching for literature (1987-1999), relevance testing, quality assessment, data extraction, and results. Two reviewers independently rated relevance and quality assessment. Disagreements were solved through consensus. Only methodologically strong reviews (n=15) were included in this synthesis. There were nine related to drug use prevention and six related to sexual risk behaviour prevention. Didactic programs have no effect on behaviour. Theory-based (e.g. social learning theory, social norms and social reinforcement) interactive programs are most effective and result in modest behaviour changes. Some programs work for some subgroups of youth. Successful programs should be implemented, provided resources are available to adequately train and monitor those delivering them. Generic programs that address the antecedents of all risk behaviors should be developed, implemented and rigorously evaluated. Strategies focused on high-risk youth need to be developed and evaluated. Future program evaluation should focus on behavior change, not on knowledge acquisition or attitude change.
Learning Objectives: At the completion of this session, participants will be able to: 1. Articulate the rationale for systematic reviews of the literature 2. Describe the steps in a systematic literature review 3. List the primary results of this review of school-based prevention programs for adolescents
Keywords: Adolescent Health, Evidence Based Practice
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.