Teens as Advocates for Substance use Prevention: Strategies for Implementation

Abstract

Substance use by adolescents is a growing public health problem, especially among youth in low-income neighborhoods. School-based substance use prevention programs can be effective but are compromised by the alcohol, tobacco and other drug (ATOD) messages that saturate the community environments. The Teen Activists for Community Change and Leadership Education (TACCLE) program engaged ethnically diverse high school students from low-income communities in advocacy activities that addressed environmental influences related to ATOD in their schools and communities. The intervention took place during the 1996-1997 school year and involved 116 students in the 9th and 10th grades at six sites. Using social learning and empowerment theories, teens identified an ATOD advocacy issue on which to focus. The program succeeded in engaging teens from at-risk communities in advocacy projects that successfully modified negative ATOD influences in their schools and communities. Ten guiding principles and their implications for practitioners are presented and discussed.