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Project Towards No Drug Abuse (Project TND)

Topic Areas
Scientific Rating
Child Welfare Relevance
Substance Abuse Prevention (Child & Adolescent) Programs
3  — Promising Research Evidence
Medium

About This Program

Target Population: High school-aged youth in grades 9-12, between the ages of 14-19 years old, who are at various levels of risk for drug use and of diverse race/ethnicity and socioeconomic backgrounds in urban, suburban, and/or rural communities

For children/adolescents ages: 14 – 19

Program Overview

Project TND is an interactive classroom-based substance abuse prevention program for youth who are at risk for drug use and violence-related behavior. It focuses on three factors that predict tobacco, alcohol, and other drug use, violence-related behaviors, and other problem behaviors among youth, including: (a) Motivation factors (e.g., students' attitudes, beliefs, expectations, and desires regarding drug use); (b) Skills (e.g., effective communication, social self-control, and coping skills); and (c) Decision-making (i.e., how to make decisions that lead to health-promoting behaviors).

The curriculum contains twelve 40-50 minute interactive sessions taught by teachers or health educators over a 3-week period. Sessions provide instruction in motivation activities to not use drugs; skills in self-control, communication, and resource acquisition; and decision-making strategies. The program is delivered universally, and can be used in both traditional and alternative, high-risk high schools.

Program Goals

The goals of Project Towards No Drug Abuse (Project TND) are:

  • Stop, reduce, or not start the use of cigarettes, alcohol, marijuana and hard drugs
  • Stop, reduce, or not start weapon carrying
  • Provide accurate information about environmental, social, physiological, and emotional consequences of drug misuse and abuse
  • Demonstrate behavioral and cognitive skills
  • Make a personal commitment regarding drug use (e.g., to think about the dangers of drug use, reduce or quit drug use, or continue to be drug-free)

Logic Model

The program representative did not provide information about a Logic Model for Project Towards No Drug Abuse (Project TND).

Essential Components

The essential components of Project Towards No Drug Abuse (Project TND) include:

  • Project TND is designed to help break the chain between drug use and abuse at a critical point between use and abuse, which often occurs during the high school years.
  • The program is targeted for high school youth, ages 14 to 19 years old, at risk for drug abuse.
  • The theoretical background for Project TND is a motivation-skills-decision-making model. Drug misuse and other problem behavior (e.g., violence, risky sexual behavior) is predicted by three classes of variables:
  • Motivation variables consist of one's attitudes, beliefs, and desires regarding the target behavior. Drug misuse is more likely if a person:
    • Does not feel that drug use is wrong
      • Holds myths regarding the effects of drug use
      • Places a low importance on health as a value
      • Remains curious about using drugs
      • Skills variables consist of how well one functions in society. Drug misuse is more likely if a person cannot bond to lower risk groups (i.e., those that do not do drugs) because they:
        • Lack general social conversation skills
        • Lack self-control skills
      • Decision making skills help one make rational decisions. Drug misuse is more likely if a person lacks the rational decision-making skills that would allow them to be able to fully consider different options that include:
        • Inputs from motivation and skills information
        • Corrective inputs such as:
          • Correcting cognitive misperceptions about drug abuse (e.g., an injury caused by drug use is not "funny"; it's "sad")
          • Motivating change (e.g., to react against a self-fulfilling stereotype to continue using drugs).
        • Additional inputs such as:
          • Providing feedback on negative attitudes toward drug use held by most persons in the larger social environment
          • Thinking through and planning life options so that one can better decide to follow through with self-promoting behavior
    • Classroom management in Project TND involves development of positive norms of classroom behavior:
      • Although interaction among the youth is encouraged, the course is primarily teacher-directed and highly structured.
      • The teacher's role is to actively develop and maintain peer group support in the class by:
        • Modeling support
        • Positively reinforcing it among group members
        • Negatively reinforcing deviant peer bonds and activities
      • The teacher creates and structures interactions among youth in prosocial directions.
        • There are 12 sessions in the Project TND program:
        • Each session includes:
        • An introduction
        • One or two activities
        • A summary
      • One of the key activities included in every session is the TND Game:
        • This game was developed to:
          • Promote student participation
          • Reinforce learning
          • Aid the teacher with classroom management
        • With the exception of Session 1, the TND game is used at the beginning of each session (in the Introduction) as a review of the previous session.
        • In addition, it is used as a summary at the end of each class.
        • Those students who are absent on days that a lesson is implemented are provided with single-page summaries of the material (found in the Student Workbook) from each lesson that they can utilize as a means to "make-up" learning of missed lesson material.
        • The curriculum is clearly laid out, and in the plan for each session, the instructional steps are listed, followed by copies of the worksheets or information sheets that are included in the student workbook. All of the discussion questions are in bold font, followed by examples of student responses that the teacher should attempt to elicit:
          • Within the session plans, icons are used to denote:
            • 1) Summary Statements, which summarizes the material just learned and should be read verbatim
            • 2) Teacher Notes (tips for maximizing implementation of the specific activity)
            • 3) Group Format option (the option to deliver the same program content by use of small discussion groups, rather than with the entire class)
          • The Socratic method is used throughout the curriculum. Thus, the emphasis is on interactions between the students and the teacher and the students with each other. The teacher's use of questioning leads students to generate the answers based on the reasoning that information is internalized more readily when it is not imposed from someone else.
        • The overall instruction to students provides:
          • Detailed information about the social and health consequences of drug misuse
          • Motivation enhancement strategies (e.g., health as a value)
          • Instruction in:
            • Active listening
            • Effective communication skills
            • Stress management/ coping skills
            • Tobacco cessation techniques
            • Self-control
            • Decision-making to counteract risk factors for drug abuse relevant to older teens

Program Delivery

Child/Adolescent Services

Project Towards No Drug Abuse (Project TND) directly provides services to children/adolescents and addresses the following:

  • Lack of motivation in students, cognitive misperceptions about drug abuse, lack of listening and communication skills, lack of coping and stress management skills, lack of self-control and decisions making skills

Recommended Intensity:

3 days a week during a class period of 40-50 minutes; alternatively, can be done 2 days a week

Recommended Duration:

4 weeks if done 3 days a week or 6 weeks if done 2 days a week

Delivery Setting

This program is typically conducted in a(n):

  • School Setting (Including: Day Care, Day Treatment Programs, etc.)

Homework

This program does not include a homework component.

Languages

Project Towards No Drug Abuse (Project TND) has materials available in a language other than English:

Spanish

For information on which materials are available in this language, please check on the program's website or contact the program representative (contact information is listed at the bottom of this page).

Resources Needed to Run Program

The typical resources for implementing the program are:

  • Classroom or other space for implementation
  • Teacher or health educator
  • Chalkboard/White board or chart paper
  • Program materials include:
    • TND Teacher's Manual (curriculum)
    • TND Student workbooks (one per student)
    • TND Game Board
  • Optional resources include:
    • Drug's and Life's Dream's video (optional)
    • Computer with PowerPoint software (optional)
    • Copy of the program slides (optional; which accompany the Teacher's Manual)

Manuals and Training

Prerequisite/Minimum Provider Qualifications

The program is designed to be implemented by teachers or health educators. Thus a Bachelor's Degree in Secondary Education is recommended to provide this training. While there are no other specific minimum provider qualifications, it is strongly recommended that every facilitator who implements Project TND participate in a training workshop, conducted by a certified Project TND trainer, prior to beginning delivery of the program.

Manual Information

There is a manual that describes how to deliver this program.

Program Manual(s)

Sussman, S. (n.d.). Project TND teacher's manual (3rd ed.). University of Southern California.

Available for purchase through the developer https://tnd.usc.edu/, Phone: (800) 400-8461

Training Information

There is training available for this program.

Training Contact:
Training Type/Location:

Certified trainers will travel to the host site and deliver training to all implementers (max. 25).

The objectives of the Project TND training workshop are to provide teachers with an understanding of the theoretical basis, content, instructional techniques, and objectives of the program. In addition, the training is designed to build the skills that teachers need to deliver the lessons with fidelity. The certified trainers are health education specialists who have classroom experience with Project TND. Note that while training is not mandated for use of the program, it is recommended.

Number of days/hours:

In-person training workshops that last either one or two days. The cost of the training varies by regional location and length.

Implementation Information

Pre-Implementation Materials

There are pre-implementation materials to measure organizational or provider readiness for Project Towards No Drug Abuse (Project TND) as listed below:

Project TND info pack (overview of the program), logic model, and readiness checklist are available as resources by request by contacting the program representative (contact info at the bottom)

Also, the Penn State Evidence-Based Prevention & Intervention Support Center (EPISCenter) has a website devoted to TND, with such items available for free download: http://www.episcenter.psu.edu/ebp/nodrugabuse

Formal Support for Implementation

There is no formal support available for implementation of Project Towards No Drug Abuse (Project TND).

Fidelity Measures

There are fidelity measures for Project Towards No Drug Abuse (Project TND) as listed below:

A health educator self-report measure is available upon request but is not required. It provides an assessment of each session and space for listing any alterations of the session. A session observation measure is also available upon request, but not required.

Established Psychometrics:

Barnett, E., Spruijit-Metz, D., Unger, J. B., Sun, P., Rohrbach, L. A., & Sussman, S. (2012). Boosting a teen substance use prevention program with Motivational Interviewing. Substance Use & Misuse, 47(4), 418-428. https://doi.org/10.3109/10826084.2011.641057

Lisha, N., Sun, P., Rohrbach, L. A., Spruijt-Metz, D., Unger, J. B., & Sussman, S. (2012). An evaluation of immediate outcomes and fidelity of a drug abuse prevention program in continuation high schools: Project Towards No Drug Abuse (TND). Journal of Drug Education, 42(1), 33–57. https://doi.org/10.2190/DE.42.1.c

Rohrbach, L. A., Dent, C. W., Skara, S., Sun, P., & Sussman, S. (2007). Fidelity of implementation in Project Towards No Drug Abuse (TND): A comparison of classroom teachers and program specialists. Prevention Science, 8(2), 125–132. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-006-0056-z

Implementation Guides or Manuals

There are no implementation guides or manuals for Project Towards No Drug Abuse (Project TND).

Implementation Cost

There have been studies of the costs of implementing Project Towards No Drug Abuse (Project TND) which are listed below:

Benefit-cost analysis was independent and completed by Washington State Institute for Public Policy. See the website below:

http://www.wsipp.wa.gov/BenefitCost/Program/125

Research on How to Implement the Program

Research has been conducted on how to implement Project Towards No Drug Abuse (Project TND) as listed below:

Dent, C. W., Sussman, S., Hennesy, M., Galaif, E. R., Stacy, A. W., Moss, M. A., & Craig, S. (1998). Implementation and process evaluation of a school-based drug abuse prevention program: Project Toward No Drug Abuse. Journal of Drug Education, 28(4), 361–375. https://doi.org/10.2190/UFY9-WHXX-AFC1-RXB1

Rohrbach, L. A., Dent, C. W., Skara, S., Sun, P., & Sussman, S. (2007). Fidelity of implementation in Project Towards No Drug Abuse (TND): A comparison of classroom teachers and program specialists. Prevention Science, 8(2), 125–132. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-006-0056-z

Rohrbach, L. A., Gunning, M., Sun, P., & Sussman, S. (2010). The Project Towards No Drug Abuse (TND) dissemination trial: Implementation fidelity and immediate outcomes. Prevention Science, 11(1), 77–88. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-009-0151-z

Rohrbach, L. A., Gunning, M., Grana, R., Gunning, G., & Sussman, S. (2010). Dissemination of Project Towards No Drug Abuse (TND): Findings From a Survey of Program Adopters. Substance Use & Misuse, 45(14), 2551–2566. https://doi.org/10.3109/10826081003725278

Skara, S., Rohrbach, L. A., Sun, P., & Sussman, S. (2005). An evaluation of the fidelity of implementation of a school-based drug abuse prevention program: Project Toward No Drug Abuse (TND). Journal of Drug Education, 35(4), 305–329. https://doi.org/10.2190/4LKJ-NQ7Y-PU2A-X1BK

Sussman, S., Sun, P., McCuller, W. J., & Dent, C. W. (2003). Project Towards No Drug Abuse: Two-year outcomes of a trial that compares health educator delivery to self-instruction. Preventive Medicine, 37(2), 155–162. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0091-7435(03)00108-7

Valente, T. W., Okamoto, J., Pumpuang, P., Okatmoto, P., & Sussman, S. (2007). Differences in perceived implementation of a standard versus peer-led interactive substance abuse prevention program. American Journal of Health Behavior, 31(3), 297–311. https://doi.org/10.5555/ajhb.2007.31.3.297

Relevant Published, Peer-Reviewed Research

Child Welfare Outcome: Child/Family Well-Being

The CEBC reviews all of the articles that have been published in peer-reviewed journals as part of the rating process. When there are more than 10 published, peer-reviewed articles, the CEBC identifies the most relevant articles, with a focus on randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and controlled studies that have an impact on the rating. The articles chosen for Project Towards No Drug Abuse (TND) are summarized below:

Sussman, S., Dent, C. W., Stacy, A. W., & Craig, S. (1998). One-year outcomes of Project Towards No Drug Abuse. Preventive Medicine, 27(4), 632–642. https://doi.org/10.1006/pmed.1998.0338

Type of Study: Randomized controlled trial
Number of Participants: 1,208

Population:

  • Age — 14–19 years (Mean=16.7 years)
  • Race/Ethnicity — 46% Latino, 37% White, 8% African-American, 4% Asian, 3% Native American, and 2% Other
  • Gender — 62% Male
  • Status — Participants were high school students at high risk for drug abuse.

Location/Institution: Southern California

Summary: (To include basic study design, measures, results, and notable limitations)
The purpose of the study was to examine the evaluation of Project Towards No Drug Abuse (Project TND). Participant schools were randomly assigned by block to one of three conditions: standard care (control), classroom program (Project TND), and classroom program plus a semester-long school-as-community component. Measures utilized include a client engagement measure and a student questionnaire that assessed demographic characteristics, substance use behaviors, and psychosocial correlates of substance use. Changes in use of cigarettes, alcohol, marijuana, and hard drugs were assessed in a pretest to 1-year follow-up time interval. Results indicate that preventive effects were found on alcohol and hard drug use for the two intervention groups. No differences were found between the two classroom conditions. Limitations include high attrition, poor generalizability due to student composition, and reliance on self-reported student measures.

Length of controlled postintervention follow-up: 1 year.

Dent, C. W., Sussman, S., & Stacy, A. W. (2001). Project Towards No Drug Abuse: Generalizability to a general high school sample. Preventive Medicine, 32(6), 514–520. https://doi.org/10.1006/pmed.2001.0834

Type of Study: Randomized controlled trial
Number of Participants: 1,208

Population:

  • Age — 14–17 years (Mean=16.8 years)
  • Race/Ethnicity — 38% Latino, 34% White, 26% African-American, and 2% Other
  • Gender — 47% Male
  • Status — Participants were high school students.

Location/Institution: Three Los Angeles high schools

Summary: (To include basic study design, measures, results, and notable limitations)
The purpose of the study was to examine the generalizability of Project Towards No Drug Abuse (Project TND) for youth at alternative high schools (high risk) to youth at general high schools. Participant classrooms within each of three schools were randomly assigned to two conditions: classroom education (Project TND), or standard care control. Measures utilized include a client engagement measure and a student questionnaire that assessed demographic characteristics, substance use behaviors, and psychosocial correlates of substance use. Results indicate that statistically significant effects on alcohol and illicit drug use were achieved in this population through a 1-year period following the program, although effects were not achieved on cigarette smoking and marijuana use. Limitations include high attrition, poor generalizability due to student composition, and reliance on self-reported student measures.

Length of controlled postintervention follow-up: 1 year.

Simon, T. R., Sussman, S., Dahlberg, L. L., & Dent, C. W. (2002). Influence of a substance-abuse-prevention curriculum on violence-related behavior. American Journal of Health Behavior, 26(2), 103–110. https://doi.org/10.5993/AJHB.26.2.3

Type of Study: Randomized controlled trial
Number of Participants: 850

Population:

  • Age — 14–19 years (Mean=16.8 years)
  • Race/Ethnicity — 49% Latino, 34% White, 9% African American, 4% Asian American, 3% Native American, and 1% Other Race/Ethnicity
  • Gender — 55% Male
  • Status — Participants were high school students at high risk for drug abuse.

Location/Institution: 29 school districts from 5 Southern California counties

Summary: (To include basic study design, measures, results, and notable limitations)
The purpose of the study was to examine whether Project Towards No Drug Abuse (Project TND) had an impact on risk for violence. Participant schools were randomly assigned by block to 1 of 3 experimental conditions: Control, Project TND curriculum, and a third condition in which the Project TND curriculum was supplemented with school-wide activities. Measures utilized include a questionnaire regarding perpetration of violence. Results indicate that there was a higher risk for victimization among male control students. No intervention effect was observed for female students or for perpetration among males. Limitations include findings provide limited support for a generalization of Project TND’s preventive effect, high attrition, and reliance on self-reported measures.

Length of controlled postintervention follow-up: 1 year.

Sussman, S., Dent, C. W., & Stacy, A. W. (2002). Project Towards No Drug Abuse: A review of the findings and future directions. American Journal of Health Behavior, 26(5), 354–365. https://doi.org/10.5993/AJHB.26.5.4

Type of Study: Randomized controlled trial
Number of Participants: 2,468

Population:

  • Age — 13–19 years (Mean=15.3 years)
  • Race/Ethnicity — 42% Latino, 39% Anglo, 13% Black, 4% Asian, and 2% Other
  • Gender — 54% Male
  • Status — Participants were high school students at high risk for drug abuse.

Location/Institution: 42 high schools in Southern California

Summary: (To include basic study design, measures, results, and notable limitations)
The study included a subset of the same sample from Sussman et al. (1998). The purpose of the study was to present a review of the evidence from 3 experimental trials of Project Towards No Drug Abuse (Project TND). Participant schools were randomly assigned to standard care (control), classroom only (Project TND), or a classroom plus semester-long school-as-community component. Measures utilized include a questionnaire on drug use. Results indicate that the Project TND curriculum shows reductions in the use of cigarettes, alcohol, marijuana, hard drugs, weapon carrying, and victimization. Most of these results were replicated across the 3 trials. Limitations include low long-term follow-up rate, reliance on self-reported measures, attrition rate, only a subset of the original sample was used, and missing data.

Length of controlled postintervention follow-up: 1 year.

Sussman, S., Sun, P., McCuller, W. J., & Dent, C. W. (2003). Project Towards No Drug Abuse: Two-year outcomes of a trial that compares health educator delivery to self-instruction. Preventive Medicine, 37(2), 155–162. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0091-7435(03)00108-7

Type of Study: Randomized controlled trial
Number of Participants: 1,037

Population:

  • Age — 14–19 years (Mean=16.8 years)
  • Race/Ethnicity — 45% White, 42% Latino, 7% Asian American, 5% African American, and 1% Other
  • Gender — 54% Male
  • Status — Participants were high school students at high risk for drug abuse.

Location/Institution: Southern California

Summary: (To include basic study design, measures, results, and notable limitations)
The purpose of the study was to describe the 2-year follow-up for Project Towards No Drug Abuse (Project TND), a 12-session school-based curriculum targeting youth at risk for drug abuse. Participant schools were randomly assigned by block to one of three conditions: standard care (control), health educator-led classroom program (Project TND), and self-instruction classroom program. Participants were followed up 1 and 2 years later. Measures utilized include a questionnaire regarding current drug use. Results indicate that the self-instruction program produced no behavioral effects relative to the standard care control condition. The 2-year follow-up results indicate that there was maintenance of program effects on cigarette smoking and hard drug use in the health educator-led version. Limitations include attrition, selection bias, and the results are most generalizable to students who are not chronically absent.

Length of controlled postintervention follow-up: 1 and 2 years.

Sun, W., Skara, S., Sun, P., Dent, C. W., & Sussman, S. (2006). Project Towards No Drug Abuse: Long-term substance use outcomes evaluation. Preventive Medicine, 42(3), 188–192. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2005.11.011

Type of Study: Randomized controlled trial
Number of Participants: 1,578

Population:

  • Age — 13-19 years (Mean=15.3 years)
  • Race/Ethnicity — 62% Hispanic, 18% White, 8% Asian, 8% African American, and 3% Other Ethnicity
  • Gender — Children: 52% Male
  • Status — Participants were high school students at high risk for drug abuse.

Location/Institution: 18 high schools in Southern California

Summary: (To include basic study design, measures, results, and notable limitations)
The study used the same sample as Sussman et al. (1998). The purpose of the study was to present up to 5 years postprogram outcomes of Project Towards No Drug Abuse (Project TND). Twenty-one schools recruited were randomly assigned to standard care (control), classroom only (Project TND), or a classroom plus semester-long school-as-community component. Measures utilized include a questionnaire on drug use. Results indicate that there are significant positive long-term program effects for hard drug use at year 4 or 5 for the two program interventions. Limitations include reliance on self-reported measures, attrition rate, missing data, program effects failed to be found for years 2 and 3, and program effects failed to be found for cigarettes, alcohol, and marijuana.

Length of controlled postintervention follow-up: 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 years.

Sun, P., Sussman, S., Dent, C. W., & Rohrbach, L. A. (2008). One-year follow-up evaluation of Project Towards No Drug Abuse (TND-4). Preventive Medicine, 47(4), 438–442. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2008.07.003

Type of Study: Randomized controlled trial
Number of Participants: 2,734

Population:

  • Age — 13–19 years (Mean=15.3 years)
  • Race/Ethnicity — 62% Hispanic, 18% White, 8% Asian, 8% African American, and 3% Other Ethnicity
  • Gender — 52% Male
  • Status — Participants were high school students at high risk for drug abuse.

Location/Institution: 18 high schools in Southern California

Summary: (To include basic study design, measures, results, and notable limitations)
The purpose of the study was to describe the one-year outcomes of the fourth experimental trial of Project Towards No Drug Abuse (Project TND). Participant schools were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: Project TND, an adapted version of Project TND that added cognitive perception information to the curriculum, or standard care (control). Measures utilized include a questionnaire on drug use. Results indicate that across all program schools, the two different curricula failed to significantly reduce dichotomous measures of substance use (cigarette, alcohol, marijuana, and hard drugs) at one-year follow-up. Both curricula exerted an effect only on the continuous measure of hard drug use, indicating a 42% reduction in the number of times hard drugs were used in the last 30 days in the program groups relative to the control. Limitations include results are limited to only those students who remain in the school system and reliance on self-reported measures.

Length of controlled postintervention follow-up: 1 year.

Rohrbach, L. A., Gunning, M., Sun, P., & Sussman, S. (2010). The Project Towards No Drug Abuse (TND) dissemination trial: Implementation fidelity and immediate outcomes. Prevention Science, 11(1), 77–88. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-009-0151-z

Type of Study: Randomized controlled trial
Number of Participants: 2,998

Population:

  • Age — 13–18 years (Mean=14.8 years)
  • Race/Ethnicity — 40% White, 28% Hispanic, 16% African American, 7% Mixed, 6% Other, and 3% Asian American
  • Gender — 47% Male
  • Status — Participants were high school students at high risk for drug abuse.

Location/Institution: 65 high schools in 14 school districts across the USA

Summary: (To include basic study design, measures, results, and notable limitations)
The purpose of the study was to describe the 2-year follow-up for Project Towards No Drug Abuse (Project TND). Participating schools were randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions: comprehensive implementation support for Project TND (IMP-SUPPORT), regular workshop training only for Project TND teachers (REGULAR), or standard care control (CTRL). Measures utilized include a questionnaire regarding substance use intentions, addiction concerns, and beliefs about the immorality of drug use as well as the fidelity of program implementation. Results indicate that relative to the controls, both intervention conditions produced effects on hypothesized program mediators, including greater gains in program-related knowledge; greater reductions in cigarette, marijuana, and hard drug use intentions; and more positive changes in drug-related beliefs. There were stronger effects on implementation fidelity in the comprehensive, relative to the regular, training condition. However, seven of the ten immediate student outcome measures showed no significant differences between the two training conditions. Limitations include reliance on self-reported measures, observers were not blind to the experimental condition of the school. and poor generalizability due to ethnicity of participants.

Length of controlled postintervention follow-up: 2 years.

Rohrbach, L. A., Sun, P., & Sussman, S. (2010). One-year follow-up evaluation of the Project Towards No Drug Abuse (TND) dissemination trial. Preventive Medicine, 51(3–4), 313–319. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2010.07.016

Type of Study: Randomized controlled trial
Number of Participants: 2,538

Population:

  • Age — 13–20 years (Mean=14.8 years)
  • Race/Ethnicity — 40% White, 28% Latino/Hispanic, 16% African American, 7% Mixed, 6% Other, and 3% Asian American
  • Gender — Children: 47% Male
  • Status — Participants were high school students at high risk for drug abuse and high school teachers.

Location/Institution: 65 high schools in 14 school districts across the USA

Summary: (To include basic study design, measures, results, and notable limitations)
The study used the same sample as Rohrbach et al. (2010). The purpose of the study was to examine (1) the effectiveness of Project Towards No Drug Abuse (Project TND) at one-year follow-up when implemented on a large scale; and (2) the relative effectiveness of two training approaches for program implementers. Participating schools were randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions: comprehensive implementation support for Project TND teachers (IMP-SUPPORT), regular workshop training only for Project TND teachers (REGULAR), or standard care control (CTRL). Measures utilized include a questionnaire regarding substance use intentions, addiction concerns, and beliefs about the immorality of drug use as well as the fidelity of program implementation. Results indicate that when the program conditions were considered in aggregate and compared to controls, the program showed a marginally significant effect in lowering marijuana use from baseline to one-year follow up. Significant program effects on hard drug use were achieved for baseline nonusers only. There were no differences in the effects of the two program conditions. Limitations include attrition rate, that findings may be generalized only to those high schools that have teachers who are willing to implement evidence-based prevention curricula, and reliance on self-reported measures.

Length of controlled postintervention follow-up: 1 year.

Lisha, N. E., Sun, P., Rohrbach, L. A., Spruijt-Metz, D., Unger, J. B., & Sussman, S. (2012). An evaluation of immediate outcomes and fidelity of a drug abuse prevention program in continuation high schools: Project Towards No Drug Abuse (TND). Journal of Drug Education, 42(1), 33–57. https://doi.org/10.2190/DE.42.1.c

Type of Study: Randomized controlled trial
Number of Participants: 1,426

Population:

  • Age — 14–21 years (Mean=16.8 years)
  • Race/Ethnicity — 65% Hispanic, 12% Non-Hispanic White, 13% Mixed Ethnicity, 6% Other Ethnicity (including Asian, Native American, and “other”) and 4% African American
  • Gender — 57% Male
  • Status — Participants were high school students.

Location/Institution: Continuation high schools in four counties in Southern California

Summary: (To include basic study design, measures, results, and notable limitations)
The purpose of the study was to provide an implementation fidelity, process, and immediate outcomes evaluation of Project Towards No Drug Abuse (Project TND), a program targeting continuation high school youth at risk for drug abuse. Participant schools were randomized to one of three conditions: Project TND only, TND and motivational interviewing follow-up, and no treatment control. Measures utilized include questionnaires to address demographics, risky behaviors, motivation, knowledge, social self-control, assertiveness, decision making, and sexual behaviors. Results indicate that relative to controls, intervention conditions produced effects on hypothesized mediators, including greater gains in program related knowledge, greater reductions in drug use intentions, and positive changes in motivation. However, few generalizations to attitudes and intentions regarding risky sexual behavior were found. Limitations include reliance on self-reported measures, results are limited to students who remained in the continuation high school system and not to those who dropped out of the system, high attrition rate, and lack of follow-up.

Length of controlled postintervention follow-up: None.

Sussman, S., Sun, P., Rohrbach, L. A., & Spruijt-Metz, D. (2012). One-year outcomes of a drug abuse prevention program for older teens and emerging adults: Evaluating a motivational interviewing booster component. Health Psychology, 31(4), 476–485. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0025756

Type of Study: Randomized controlled trial
Number of Participants: 1,186

Population:

  • Age — 14–21 years (Mean=16.8 years)
  • Race/Ethnicity — 65% Hispanic, 13% Mixed Ethnicity, 12% Non-Hispanic White, 6% Other (including Asian, Native American, and ‘other’), and 4% African American
  • Gender — 57% Male
  • Status — Participants were high school students at high risk for drug abuse.

Location/Institution: Southern California

Summary: (To include basic study design, measures, results, and notable limitations)
The purpose of the study was to test the efficacy of motivational interviewing-based booster sessions for Project Towards No Drug Abuse (Project TND), a 12-session school-based curriculum targeting youth at risk for drug abuse. Participant schools were randomized to one of three conditions: Standard Care Control (SCC), Project TND classroom program only (Project TND-only), and Project TND plus Motivational Interviewing booster (Project TND+M). Measures utilized include a questionnaire that examined 30-day cigarette, alcohol, marijuana, and hard drug use, as well as measures of risky sexual behavior (number of sex partners, condom use, having sex while using drugs or alcohol). Results indicate significant reductions in alcohol, hard drug use, and cigarette smoking, relative to controls. These effects held for an overall substance use index. The MI booster component failed to achieve significant incremental effects above and beyond the Project TND classroom program. No effects were found on risky sexual behavior. Limitations include attrition and results may not be generalizable to students in other settings.

Length of controlled postintervention follow-up: 1 year.

Additional References

Sussman, S. (2015). Evaluating the efficacy of Project TND: Evidence from seven research trials. In L. M. Scheier, (Ed.), Handbook of adolescent drug use prevention: Research, intervention strategies, and practice (pp. 159–176). American Psychological Association.

Sussman, S., Rohrbach, L. A., & Mihalic, S. F. (2004). Book 12 Project Toward No Drug Abuse. In D. S. Elliott & S. F. Mihalic (Eds.). Blueprints for violence prevention. University of Colorado, Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence.

Contact Information

Leah Meza
Agency/Affiliation: University of Southern California
Website: tnd.usc.edu
Email:
Phone: (800) 400-8461

Date Research Evidence Last Reviewed by CEBC: November 2024

Date Program Content Last Reviewed by Program Staff: August 2020

Date Program Originally Loaded onto CEBC: November 2020