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Drug prevention programs are a significant part of the national strategy to reduce the prevalence of substance use disorders. Schools are an important setting for these interventions because drug use typically begins during adolescence and schools provide easy access to large numbers of youth.
Although the approaches that programs take to drug prevention are quite varied, they are generally designed to reduce the impact of risk factors (e.g. drug-using peers, impulsivity), while also harnessing the buffering effects of protective factors (e.g. social bonds, self-efficacy). The primary goal of school-based drug prevention programs is to prevent or delay the onset of substance use among students.
School-based programs are led by facilitators, who take the primary role in implementing prevention curriculum with students. Their responsibilities usually involve delivering classroom-based drug prevention lessons, leading interactive activities (e.g. games, role-playing, debates), managing classroom behavior, involving parents and community members (where appropriate), and ensuring fidelity. Research underscores the importance of facilitators and suggests that "who" is implementing the program can sometimes be as important as "what" program is being implemented.
The problem is that most school-based programs do not specify who should be the facilitator and schools are often left without a guide for selecting providers, which can result in poor decision-making regarding implementation. Here are some practical considerations for school officials, prevention professionals, and policymakers as they make choices regarding who should implement school-based drug prevention programs. The discussion is focused on three of the most commonly used types of facilitators: a) classroom teacher, b) mental health professional, and c) police.
Classroom teachers as facilitators
Advantages
- Because students are organized by class periods, teachers can provide insight regarding how best to schedule and coordinate implementation so that all students receive the program, and overlap of instruction is avoided.
- In addition to being excellent educators, classroom teachers already have an established rapport, trust, and bond with students, which will likely enhance student learning motivation and behavior change.
- Classroom teachers are often aware of individual student needs and can tailor or adapt program instruction to the learning style of the student.
Practical Challenges
- With recent shifts toward high-stakes testing and student achievement, schools must be mindful that using teachers to lead drug prevention programs takes them away from academic instruction and planning time.
- Teachers typically do not get paid extra to facilitate drug prevention programs which may lead to poor ‘buy in’ and a lack of care regarding implementation.
- Finding the funds to train classroom teachers to implement programs is another challenge. Sometimes budgets only provide for the purchase of the materials (e.g. teacher manuals and student workbooks), leaving the classroom teacher to implement the program with little to no support.
Mental health professionals as facilitators
Advantages
- Mental health professionals are likely to have drug-involved clients and are relatively knowledgeable about the psychosocial consequences that addiction can cause. Students may also perceive them as being more credible when it comes to drug use topics.
- Experienced, well-trained mental health professionals will know that prevention is about far more than drug education, and often involves developing self-efficacy, decision-making skills, effective communication and anger management.
- Their clinical training also makes them adept at developing trust and rapport (e.g. through therapeutic alliances), as well as identifying and responding to youth in crisis.
Practical Challenges
- There is a nationwide shortage of mental health professionals in the U.S., which means they may not be available to facilitate prevention programs when needed. In addition, school-based mental health professionals tend to be inundated with multiple competing demands (e.g. supervising standardized tests), which may further narrow their availability.
- Mental health professionals, such as social workers, counselors, and psychologists, tend to have graduate level training which can make them an expensive option to facilitate programs.
- Mental health professionals may be less familiar with how to manage the behavior of a large classroom of students because most of their work typically involves interaction with individual clients or small groups.
Police as facilitators
Advantages
- Police can make credible prevention messengers because students are usually interested to hear from police due to the perception that their jobs are exciting. This perception is bolstered by the popularity of current television shows and movies that portray police work as thrilling and dangerous.
- Police tend to be knowledgeable on the legal sanctions associated with misusing various drugs (e.g. illicit drugs vs prescription medications vs alcohol). This is particularly useful in the current climate of rapidly changing drugs laws at the federal (e.g. drug scheduling), state (e.g. marijuana laws), and local level (e.g. county drug citations).
- There can also be an economic advantage to using police as program providers. Some police officers facilitating drug prevention programs are retired (or already employed by the school) and require less compensation than other facilitators or may simply volunteer their time.
Practical Challenges
- A key argument for not using police is that some young people harbor negative attitudes towards them, stemming from negative personal experiences with law enforcement.
- Due to police use of excessive force and the recent push from the federal government to expand the use of local police in carrying out deportation orders, some neighborhoods (especially minority communities) have a strained relationship with law enforcement. Rather than being a trusted authority figure, police officers may be viewed by some students as someone who may deport, harass, or arrest them, making it difficult for them to get their prevention message across.
- Schools should also be aware of a growing commitment to a ‘softer’ response to drug use that de-emphasizes police involvement. Drug use is increasingly being viewed as a public health problem rather than a criminal issue, and some may view using police as an antiquated strategy that sends the improper message that individuals with drug problems need punishment, not help.
Schools may wish to consider the issues raised here before making a selection about which type of facilitator is most appropriate for the communities they serve.
