The effectiveness of a community engaged prevention focused program for youth in schools of Punjab, India

Pages: 822-825
Rosy Chhabra (Department of Pediatrics, Albert Einstein, College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA)
Carolyn Springer (Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies, Adelphi University, Garden City, NY, USA)
Naina Sharma (Department of Distance Education, Punjabi University, Patiala, Punjab)
Shivnath Ghosh (Department of Psychology, Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla)
Nehama Teitelman (Department of Pediatrics, Albert Einstein, College of Medicine, Bronx, NY 10461, USA)
Sunil Kumar Sharma (Department of Psychology, Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla)

The focus of the current School-based Teenage Education Program (STEP) was on HIV prevention with youth in public schools in Punjab, India. Utilizing Train-the-Trainer model, we trained undergraduate students from local undergraduate colleges to provide this program to 794 8th and 9th grade students (13-16 years) in 15 schools. The mean age was 14.11 years (SD=.66) and 53.4% were males. Close to 8.9% of the sample reported ever using some kind of illicit drugs (alcohol, marijuana, tobacco, sniffing glue, steroids). About 16% had reported an intention to use drugs within the next three months before the intervention, majority were boys. Repeated measures analyses of variance after intervention showed an overall decrease in intentions in youth to use substance over time and the experimental group overall showed less intentions to use drugs than the control group. There is clearly a need for behaviorally oriented substance abuse focused programs in India. STEP, among many other programs, clearly demonstrates the need and community acceptance of these programs. Schools agreed to provide permission, space and time for the program indicating a recognized need for such programs.