Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #107281

Araxi P. Macaulay, EdD, MPH¹, Elizabeth Gronewold, BA², Kenneth W. Griffin, PhD, MPH³, Chris Williams, PhD⁴, and Jessica Samuolis, PhD⁴. (1) NHPA, Columbia University, 711 Westchester Avenue, White Plains, NY 10604, 914-421-2525, amacaulay@nhpanet.com, (2) Research, NHPA Inc., 711 Westchester Ave, White Plains, NY 10604, (3) Public Health, Cornell Weill Medical College, 411 E 69 St., New York, NY 10021, (4) Research Department, National Health Promotion Associates, Inc, 711 Westchester Avenue, White Plains, NY 10604

Given the increased role of multimedia technology in the professional development of health educators, it is critical to use innovative channels such as the Internet to disseminate drug abuse prevention program adoption, implementation and maintenance information. The purpose of this study was to determine the overall usefulness and acceptability of an online pre- and post-implementation training program designed for middle school teachers providing a state-of-the-art drug prevention program called Life Skills Training (LST) to middle school students.

The LST e-toolbox materials were designed to present middle school drug prevention providers information on the adoption, training and post-implementation enrichment for the LST program. Approximately forty potential LST providers of the middle school LST curriculum were assigned to participate in a series of online focus groups: The overall purpose of the online focus groups was to ascertain the extent to which these health providers viewed the online e-toolbox materials as appealing, comprehensible, and feasible with respect to their needs and time constraints.

Data were examined to 1) determine the overall acceptability of the online e-toolbox for middle school drug prevention education providers and 2) determine the appropriateness of the online pre and post-implementation tool by gender, race and other demographic variables.

This innovative online project offers the potential for increasing implementation fidelity among those providing the already proven LST prevention approach to middle school health providers in an interactive, and flexible manner as well as influencing the decision to adopt the program among school health decision makers.

Learning Objectives: Learning Objectives

At the conclusion of the session, participants will be able to
• identify novel ways to disseminate drug abuse prevention training information using the Internet and
• assess the acceptability of an online pre and post implementation training intervention based on evidence-based middle school drug prevention program.

Keywords: Substance Abuse Prevention, School Health Educators

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.