Abstract
Numerous studies emphasize the role of student engagement in academic learning and performance. Less known is whether engagement plays a role in drug prevention program outcomes. We examined a self-report measure of engagement as part of the All Stars Core drug prevention program evaluation, assessing its impact on target risk mechanisms and behavioral outcomes. Students completed pretests just prior to and posttests just after completing the intervention. Surveys assessed demographics, proximal intervening measures (i.e., commitments to avoid substance use and antisocial behavior, perceived lifestyle incongruence with substance use and antisocial behavior, normative beliefs about substance use and antisocial behavior, and parental attentiveness), and distal outcome measures of alcohol, cigarette use, and antisocial behaviors. A brief 6-item posttest measure including items tapping the students’ perspective on the quality of teaching the program material and their level of engagement with the program was internally consistent (α = .79). Multi-level analyses positing engagement effects at both the classroom- and individual-level indicated that classroom average engagement was significantly associated with all the targeted risk mechanisms, and outcomes of antisocial behavior and alcohol use, controlling for pretest measures and classroom size. Individual student engagement relative to classroom peers was significantly associated with all posttest target risk mechanisms and behavioral outcomes. The current findings suggest that students should routinely provide assessments of engagement and perceived quality of teaching, which would improve our understanding of how prevention programs work. Teachers can improve engagement by paying attention to students when they speak in class, making the program enjoyable to participants, encouraging students to share opinions, stimulating attentiveness, being well prepared to deliver the intervention, and helping students think broadly about implications of drug prevention as it affects their lives. This type of support will ultimately engage students in ways that will enhance the likelihood that these programs will have their desired effects.
Highlights
School-based drug prevention programs are increasingly being disseminated, most notably as they achieve the desired evidence-based benchmark
We present findings from a school-based drug prevention program conducted in Northern Ireland and that assessed student-level measures of engagement in relation to both proximal and distal outcomes
With the exception of the antisocial behavior analysis, the relation between engagement and classroom size became somewhat trivial once we modeled pretest values and targeted program outcomes
Summary
School-based drug prevention programs are increasingly being disseminated, most notably as they achieve the desired evidence-based benchmark. Notwithstanding, this benchmark does not guarantee effectiveness when the programs are adopted for local implementation. Among the implementation factors proposed to account for program effectiveness is student engagement. There has been only limited examination of student engagement as a potential moderator of program effectiveness. The goal of this paper is to examine engagement using extant data collected from students who received a disseminated program, All Stars Core (Hansen, 2015). We examine the role of self-reported engagement in accounting for proximal outcomes targeted by the program and focal behaviors. Because All Stars Core is delivered in classroom settings, we examine both individual-level and classroomlevel models of engagement
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