Developing a school-based drug prevention program to overcome barriers to effective program implementation: The CLIMATE schools: Alcohol module

Although effective school-based alcohol prevention programs do exist, the overall efficacy of these programs has been compromised by implementation failure. The CLIMATE Schools: Alcohol Module was developed to overcome some of the obstacles to high fidelity program implementation. This paper details this development of the CLIMATE Schools: Alcohol Module. The development involved two stages, both of which were considered essential. The first stage, involved reviewing the literature to ensure the program was based on the most effecttive pedagogy and health promotion practice and the second stage involved collaborating with teachers, students and specialists in the area of alcohol and other drugs, to ensure these goals were realised. The final CLIMATE Schools: Alcohol Module consists of computer-driven harm minimisation program which is based on a social influence approach. The program consists of six lessons, each with two components. The first component involves students completing an interactive computer-based program, with the second consisting of a variety of individual, small group and class-based activities. This program was developed to provide an innovative new platform for the delivery of drug education and has proven to be both feasible and effective in the school environment. The success of this program is considered to be testament to this collaborative development approach.