Twelfth grade follow-up of the effectiveness of a middle school-based substance abuse prevention program.

A twelfth-grade follow-up afforded the opportunity to assess the long-term effects of substance abuse prevention delivered in sixth and seventh grades. A social pressures resistance skills curriculum implemented by classroom teachers had been evaluated with short-term positive results previously reported. Students completed self-administered questionnaires at sixth grade pre- and posttests, and at seventh and twelfth-grade posttests. Curriculum group students received lessons on alcohol, tobacco (cigarettes and smokeless), marijuana, and cocaine, which were later incorporated into the Michigan Model for Comprehensive School Health Education. This evaluation used data from 262 students who completed all four questionnaires and who received the complete two-year intervention or no intervention. Repeated measures analyses of variance demonstrated that significant effects evident at seventh grade for alcohol use and misuse, as well as cigarette, cocaine, and other drug use were generally not maintained through twelfth grade. Ongoing reinforcement of effective prevention is recommended.

Baccalaureate nurse educators' and critical care nurse managers' perceptions of clinical competencies necessary for new graduate baccalaureate critical care nurses.

BACKGROUND: Although nurse educators and nurse managers have disagreed about which clinical competencies are necessary for new graduates to begin working in critical care, the competencies are in need of revision and reassessment. OBJECTIVES: To validate a list of beginning-level competencies and to compare baccalaureate nurse educators' and critical care nurse manager's current perceptions of beginning clinical competencies for new baccalaureate graduates in critical care settings. METHODS: An expert panel of nurses from across the United States critiqued a questionnaire about which clinical competencies were considered relevant to critical care nursing practice. The revised questionnaire, containing 105 clinical competencies, was mailed to a randomly selected sample across the United States. Forty-one baccalaureate nurse educators and 41 critical care nurse managers completed the mail survey questionnaire (94% response rate) by rating the necessity ("essential," "desired," or "not required") of the clinical competencies for new baccalaureate nurses. RESULTS: A high degree of agreement was generally seen between nurse educators and nurse managers on the necessity ratings of the 105 competencies. The majority of nurse educators and nurse managers rated 81 of the 105 competencies as either "essential" or "desirable." Only five competencies showed considerable disagreement between nurse educators and nurse managers, and none of these competencies were rated "essential" by more than a few raters in either group. CONCLUSIONS: The agreement between nurse educators and nurse managers supports a competency list for baccalaureate nursing curricula and hospital inservice programs to integrate new graduates into critical care.

Effectiveness of a school-based substance abuse prevention program.

A grade five through eight substance abuse prevention program, later incorporated into the Michigan Model for Comprehensive School Health Education, was developed, implemented, and evaluated. Results focus on students who received seven lessons on alcohol in grade six, and eight lessons on tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, and cocaine in grade seven taught by their regular classroom teachers (after a 6-hour training in the social pressures resistance skills curriculum). Students (N = 442) received either two years of the program or none, and completed individually-coded questionnaires. Repeated measures analysis of variance resulted in significant treatment by occasion interactions on the use of alcohol, cigarettes, marijuana, cocaine, and other drugs, as well as on knowledge. At the end of grade seven, program students' rates of substance use had increased significantly less and knowledge of alcohol pressures, effects, and skills to resist had increased significantly more than those of comparison students.