Preventing Substance Abuse in Special Education Students

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goal of this project is to create an interactive program designed to prevent substance abuse among youth with mental retardation and developmental disabilities (MRDD). Young people with MRDD strive to be like, and be accepted by their non-disabled peers. Research has shown that MRDD youth are more apt to use illicit substances in response to social (i.e., peer) pressure and modeling than their non-disabled peers. Additionally, approximately half of individuals with MRDD who use substances (including alcohol) may be characterized as substance abusers. Individuals with MRDD that abuse substances suffer the same health-related, social, economic, and emotional consequences as people without MRDD. This project will develop four stand-alone interactive multimedia programs specifically designed to prevent substance use by four sub-groups of users (i.e., middle and high school age males and females) with MRDD. Within each program, the social and behavioral skills required to recognize and respond to substance use risk situations will be taught via an interactive text-free program that incorporates graphic, animation, and video components. Direct Instruction (DI) methodology will be employed to facilitate mastery of program content. Two hundred MRDD high school and middle school males and females will evaluate the program in a randomized factorial design.