IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/evarev/v33y2009i4p396-414.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Social Construction of ``Evidence-Based'' Drug Prevention Programs

Author

Listed:
  • Dennis M. Gorman

    (Texas A&M Health Science Center School of Rural Public Health, gorman@srph.tamhsc.edu)

  • J. Charles Huber Jr

    (Texas A&M Health Science Center School of Rural Public Health)

Abstract

This study explores the possibility that any drug prevention program might be considered ``evidence-based'' given the use of data analysis procedures that optimize the chance of producing statistically significant results by reanalyzing data from a Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program evaluation. The analysis produced a number of statistically significant differences between the DARE and control conditions on alcohol and marijuana use measures. Many of these differences occurred at cutoff points on the assessment scales for which post hoc meaningful labels were created. Our results are compared to those from evaluations of programs that appear on evidence-based drug prevention lists.

Suggested Citation

  • Dennis M. Gorman & J. Charles Huber Jr, 2009. "The Social Construction of ``Evidence-Based'' Drug Prevention Programs," Evaluation Review, , vol. 33(4), pages 396-414, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:evarev:v:33:y:2009:i:4:p:396-414
    DOI: 10.1177/0193841X09334711
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0193841X09334711
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0193841X09334711?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ellickson, P.L. & McCaffrey, D.F. & Ghosh-Dastidar, B. & Longshore, D.L., 2003. "New Inroads in Preventing Adolescent Drug Use: Results from a Large-Scale Trial of Project ALERT in Middle Schools," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 93(11), pages 1830-1836.
    2. Hallfors, D. & Cho, H. & Sanchez, V. & Khatapoush, S. & Hyung, M.K. & Bauer, D., 2006. "Efficacy vs effectiveness trial results of an indicated "model" substance abuse program: Implications for public health," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 96(12), pages 2254-2259.
    3. Ellickson, P.L. & Bell, R.M. & McGuigan, K., 1993. "Preventing adolescent drug use: Long-term results of a junior high program," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 83(6), pages 856-861.
    4. Gorman, D. M., 2002. "Defining and operationalizing `research-based' prevention: a critique (with case studies) of the US Department of Education's Safe, Disciplined and Drug-Free Schools Exemplary Programs," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 295-302, August.
    5. Perry, C.L. & Williams, C.L. & Veblen-Mortenson, S. & Toomey, T.L. & Komro, K.A. & Anstine, P.S. & McGovern, P.G. & Finnegan, J.R. & Forster, J.L. & Wagenaar, A.C. & Wolfson, M., 1996. "Project Northland: Outcomes of a communitywide alcohol use prevention program during early adolescence," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 86(7), pages 956-965.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gorman, Dennis M. & Conde, Eugenia, 2010. "The making of evidence-based practice: The case of Project ALERT," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 214-222, February.
    2. Gorman, Dennis M. & Conde, Eugenia, 2007. "Conflict of interest in the evaluation and dissemination of "model" school-based drug and violence prevention programs," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 422-429, November.
    3. Allison Gruner Gandhi & Erin Murphy-Graham & Anthony Petrosino & Sara Schwartz Chrismer & Carol H. Weiss, 2007. "The Devil Is in the Details," Evaluation Review, , vol. 31(1), pages 43-74, February.
    4. Ji Yan & Sally Brocksen, 2013. "Adolescent risk perception, substance use, and educational attainment," Journal of Risk Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(8), pages 1037-1055, September.
    5. Kevin N. Griffith & Lawrence M. Scheier, 2013. "Did We Get Our Money’s Worth? Bridging Economic and Behavioral Measures of Program Success in Adolescent Drug Prevention," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-28, November.
    6. Chen, Huey T., 2010. "The bottom-up approach to integrative validity: A new perspective for program evaluation," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 205-214, August.
    7. Bikram Karmakar, 2022. "An approximation algorithm for blocking of an experimental design," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series B, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 84(5), pages 1726-1750, November.
    8. Dana L. Wenter, MPH & Sondra Blackwell, MEd & Kevin C. Davis, MA & Matthew C. Farrelly, PhD, 2002. "American Legacy Foundation, Using Multiple Strategies in Tobacco Use Prevention Education," University of California at San Francisco, Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education qt6bk9b677, Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, UC San Francisco.
    9. Sechrest, Lee & Sidani, Souraya, 1995. "Quantitative and qualitative methods: : Is There an Alternative?," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 77-87.
    10. Richard F. Catalano & M. Lisa Berglund & Jean A. M. Ryan & Heather S. Lonczak & J. David Hawkins, 2004. "Positive Youth Development in the United States: Research Findings on Evaluations of Positive Youth Development Programs," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 591(1), pages 98-124, January.
    11. Philip J. Cook & Robert MacCoun & Clara Muschkin & Jacob Vigdor, 2006. "Should Sixth Grade be in Elementary or Middle School? An Analysis of Grade Configuration and Student Behavior," NBER Working Papers 12471, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Suhail Ahmad Bhat & Mushtaq Ahmad Darzi & Iqbal Ahmad Hakim, 2019. "Understanding Social Marketing and Well-being: A Review of Selective Databases," Vikalpa: The Journal for Decision Makers, , vol. 44(2), pages 75-87, June.
    13. Philip J. Cook & Robert MacCoun & Clara Muschkin & Jacob Vigdor, 2008. "The negative impacts of starting middle school in sixth grade," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(1), pages 104-121.
    14. Timothy J. Beebe & Patricia A. Harrison & Anu Sharma & Scott Hedger, 2001. "The Community Readiness Survey," Evaluation Review, , vol. 25(1), pages 55-71, February.
    15. Beau Kilmer & Rosalie Liccardo Pacula, 2010. "Preventing Drug Use," NBER Chapters, in: Targeting Investments in Children: Fighting Poverty When Resources Are Limited, pages 181-220, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Kimberly S. Compton & Peter Barr & Katherine J. Karriker-Jaffe & Cristina Bares & Fazil Aliev & Brian Mustanski & Danielle Dick & Karen G. Chartier, 2019. "Evaluating Neighborhood, Social, and Genetic Influences on Precursors of Alcohol Use Risk Behavior in African American Adolescents," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-17, August.
    17. Katarzyna Jóźwiak & Mirjam Moerbeek, 2012. "Power Analysis for Trials With Discrete-Time Survival Endpoints," Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, , vol. 37(5), pages 630-654, October.
    18. Brian Gill & P. Mike Timpane & Karen E. Ross & Dominic J. Brewer & Kevin Booker, "undated". "Rhetoric Versus Reality: What We Know and What We Need to Know About Vouchers and Charter Schools," Mathematica Policy Research Reports 89d65ce14efd402a9de58cf93, Mathematica Policy Research.
    19. Mizel, Matthew L. & Miles, Jeremy N.V. & Pedersen, Eric R. & Tucker, Joan S. & Ewing, Brett A. & D'Amico, Elizabeth J., 2016. "To educate or to incarcerate: Factors in disproportionality in school discipline," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 102-111.
    20. D.M. Gorman, 1998. "The Irrelevance of Evidence in the Development of School-Based Drug Prevention Policy, 1986-1996," Evaluation Review, , vol. 22(1), pages 118-146, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:evarev:v:33:y:2009:i:4:p:396-414. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.