Journal of Drug Education: Substance Use Research and Prevention

One approach to the prevention of drug abuse is to provide socializing experiences aimed at helping children and adolescents acquire the basic social competencies needed to cope with life situations involving other people and one's own inner experiences. Social competencies are developed within meaningfully interdependent relationships. While adult-child relationships have long been emphasized, there is increasing evidence that constructive peer relationships are a necessity for successful socialization. And since the children and adolescents most in need of constructive socializing experiences tend to come from stressful, abusive, or indifferent families, the most promising approach for intervention is within the school. Instructional experiences may be structured cooperatively, placing students in meaningful, interdependent relationships with their peers, and allowing teachers to emphasize within a task situation the development of social skills, roles, and sensitivity; the peer accountability essential for the development of values and self-control; and the autonomy necessary to resist social pressures to use drugs abusively.

An interactive theory of drug use is outlined which provides the framework for integrating current knowledge and initiating new research. The theory has as its major characteristics: 1) attempted comprehensiveness; 2) explicit design for empirical test using causal models; 3) differentiation of direct and indirect causes of drug use and the consequences of drug-taking; 4) the delineation of mechanisms associated with different stages of drug use. The theory is applied to major issues implicit in the design and implementation of primary and secondary prevention programs, as well as to issues in professional training and the evaluation of programs. The model is presented as an evolutionary one which will grow as new data and clinical experiences are collected.

The values of twenty-four drug users were measured using the Rokeach Value Survey (RVS). Their perceptions of the values of society were measured by altering the instructions for the RVS. Background information on drug usage and social economic status was also obtained. The value systems which the drug users espouse and perceive to be in opposition to society's values form three themes: tranquility, aesthetics, and humanism. Although this group of drug users is often perceived by society as deviant, they appear to adhere to the literal meaning of these cultural ideals.

The examination of clients and staff members perceptions of treatment environments is an area in which insufficient research has taken place. This study reports the results of an attempt to evaluate perceptions of treatment environments within the Comprehensive Drug Program of Dade County (Miami) Florida. The Moos Community Oriented Programs Environment Scale (COPES) was given in a self-administered form to a sample of 238 clients and fifty-five staff members in eight treatment programs. Analysis revealed that the perceptions of drug clients toward their treatment environments were generally more positive than those of clients in other types of medical and psychiatric treatment and that perceptions tended to vary directly with the extent and continuity of contact between clients and staff members. Finally, it is suggested that the evaluation of perceptions of treatment environments be made an essential aspect of treatment evaluation.

This paper reports the results of a questionnaire administered to participants in an antagonist drug outpatient clinic and an antagonist drug work-release program. The aim of the study was to obtain an awareness of the degree of acceptance of the program by actual participants and any possible modifications that could be made.

The questionnaire explored the reactions and responses of the participants in the program in areas that included: likes and dislikes of the program, drug treatment, counseling, recommendations of the participants. In addition, work-release inmates were asked about various components of the program including: work-release rules, demerit system, security, strip down, work, money system, weekend furloughs, attitude of the officers, attitude of the staff, treatment programs and food. The authors draw conclusions, and make recommendations relative to the programs.

A survey of college student interests in drug information was conducted in 1977 with eighty-six undergraduate students at the SUNY campus at Brockport, New York. A questionnaire was constructed which specifically allowed students to write out questions they felt college students had about seven categories of drugs, including: herbal drugs, over-the-counter drugs, prescription drugs, unrecognized drugs, tobacco, alcohol and illicit drugs. The current paper summarizes data on type and frequency of questions asked, as well as the relationship between the drug categories used.