IMPLEMENTATION AND PROCESS EVALUATION OF A STUDENT SCHOOL-AS-COMMUNITY GROUP - A COMPONENT OF A SCHOOL-BASED DRUG-ABUSE PREVENTION PROGRAM

Little documentation exists regarding the functioning of formalized ad olescent groups or; drug abase prevention agents. Two studies are desc ribed that were conducted at high schools whose students are of high r isk for drug abuse Twenty-one schools were randomly assigned to one of three conditions (a) standard care, (b) classroom drug abuse educatio n only, arte) classroom plus school-as-community. Results of the first study indicated that the school-as-community component-which involved weekly meetings and periodic events at seven schools-was implemented as planned drug abused focused and perceived as productive in discoura ging drug abuse. In the second study, staff in the classroom plus scho ol-as-community condition self-reported involvement in the greatest nu mber of community activities across the school year; compared with sta ff from the other two conditions. These two studies support the feasib ility of formalized groups of high-risk youth to promote drug-free eve nts.