COUNTRY: UNITED STATES
REGION: AMERICAS
Developer: Lions Club International Foundation (LCIF)
Partners: Arkansas Lions; Arkansas Service Commission
Program Overview: Lions Quest Skills for Adolescence (SFA) is a school-based life skills curriculum which aims include delaying initiation of alcohol consumption, preventing use of tobacco and drugs; and reducing alcohol consumption or drug use among students who have already initiated use.
Program Design: Curriculum is designed to be administered through teachers in a school setting. Over 100 lessons are available for purchase, and additional products are available here.
The evaluations described below used trained and monitored teachers to administer 40sessions of 35-45 minutes. Lessons included were:
- Challenges in teen years - 3 sessions
- Self-confidence and communication - 4 sessions
- Managing emotions - 5 sessions
- Improving peer relationships and resistance skills - 8 sessions
- Living health and drug free - 20 sessions
Evaluation: A randomized multi-site trial of 7,426 6th grade students was conducted in order to assess the impact of this evaluation. 34 middle schools across three metropolitan areas in the US were included in the trial. Schools were pair matched based on reported alcohol and drug prevalence and recent use. Schools were then randomized to control or intervention conditions.
Students in both groups were surveyed before the intervention and then annually until 8th grade. Data were collected on:
- Tobacco use (items from National Cancer Institute questions1)
- Alcohol consumption quantity, frequency, and personal effects (items from Monitoring the Future)
- Marijuana, cocaine and other illicit substance use quantity, frequency, and personal effects (items from Monitoring the Future)
Key findings: Evaluations of program effects found positive results on behavior outcomes at one and two year follow ups.
One year follow up showed statistically significant reductions among the intervention group for the following measures2:
- Recent cigarette use (p < .05)
- Lifetime marijuana use (p < .06)
- Lifetime alcohol consumption, recent consumption (among Hispanic participants only)
Two years after the intervention data were reassessed and found the effects existed for the following outcomes3:
- Intervention groups reported lower rates of lifetime and recent marijuana use
- Baseline binge drinkers receiving the program were less likely to report recent binge drinking than controls
Program Website: www.lions-quest.org
References:
1. Perry, C., Kelder, S., Murray, D., & Klepp, K. (1992).Communitywide smoking prevention: Long term outcomes of the Minnesota heart health program and the class of 1989 study. American Journal of Public Health, Vol. 82(9), 1210-1216.
2. Eisen, M., Zellman, G. L., Massett, H. A., & Murray, D. M. (2002). Evaluating the Lions-Quest "Skills for Adolescence" drug education program: First-year behavior outcomes. Addictive behaviors, 27(4), 619-632.
3. Eisen, M., Zellman, G. L., & Murray, D. M. (2003).Evaluating the Lions-Quest "Skills for Adolescence" drug education program: Second-year behavior outcomes. Addictive behaviors, 28(5), 883-897.
Target Audience: Middle school (10-14 years)
Issues: Underage Drinking
Setting: School clubs or community organizations, Schools
Approach: Multi-Component
