Project Towards No Drug Abuse (TND): needs assessment of a social service referral telephone program for high risk youth.

The purpose of this study was to conduct a needs assessment of a potential social service resource telephone program component among high risk youth who received the Project Towards No Drug Abuse (TND) classroom-based program (approximately 1 year earlier). Results supported youths' overwhelming receptiveness of a social service referral program. The vast majority of respondents indicated a strong desire for resource and referral information on vocational, educational, recreational, transportation, and mental health and drug counseling.

Identifying opinion leaders to promote behavior change.

This article reviews 10 techniques used to identify opinion leaders to promote behavior change. Opinion leaders can act as gatekeepers for interventions, help change social norms, and accelerate behavior change. Few studies document the manner in which opinion leaders are identified, recruited, and trained to promote health.

Differences in perceived implementation of a standard versus peer-led interactive substance abuse prevention program.

Objective: To assess perceived implementation of 2 substance-abuse prevention programs: a standard one and a peer-led interactive one.

Methods: Data from 16 health educators were collected after 504 classroom sessions, 63 of which were observed by 24 monitors.

Results: In the interactive program, health educators (HEs) followed the curriculum less closely, reported less favorable classroom processes and less off-task talking than in the standard one.