PRELIMINARY EVALUATION OF A RESILIENCY-BASED PRESCHOOL SUBSTANCE-ABUSE AND VIOLENCE PREVENTION PROJECT

The Resilient Children Making Healthy Choices (RCMHC) Project is an ea rly childhood prevention initiative designed to promote health and soc ial competence in young children by training their teachers in skills aimed at nurturing children's resilient development. Through a model p rogram implemented in ten Head Start and other community-based prescho ol classrooms, teachers were trained in the use and integration of res iliency-based substance abuse/violence prevention strategies in their teaching practices. Analysis of outcome data from a pre-post compariso n group design revealed increases in teacher interactional skills desi gned to enhance children's resiliency, and improvements in children's prosocial behaviors.