Axis
Policing
Youth Violence Prevention
Problems addressed
Alcohol abuse
Drug abuse

Effectiveness

No Effect

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No Effect

¿Quieres saber más acerca de esta clasificación? Consulte nuestro manual metodológico.

Description

Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) programs are a type of intervention aimed at preventing the use of psychoactive substances, focusing on school-age children and adolescents. Originally conceived by the Los Angeles Police Department (USA) in 1983, this type of program seeks to warn young people of the risks associated with drug abuse and violent practices. D.A.R.E. has inspired similar initiatives in several countries (PROERD in Brazil, for example). The program has gone through different versions associated with revisions made to its curriculum over the years. “Keepin’ It REAL” (KiR) is the most recent iteration of the program and has been applied since 2007.
Generally, this type of intervention is structured through conferences held in schools and delivered by police officers. Those lectures combine approaches to disseminate information about drugs and their effects, fear education (risks associated with substance use), moral appeal (raising awareness regarding the harms associated with substance abuse), and affective education (promoting self-esteem and responsibility in decision making, especially in resisting peer pressure).

Country of application
  • Brazil
  • United States
Evidence

A meta-analysis, which included 11 experimental and quasi-experimental studies published in academic journals, found that the magnitude of the weighted effects of D.A.R.E. was extremely small overall (about 20 times smaller than the magnitude usually accepted as “small” in this type of research), although some studies pointed to results in the right direction. The authors of the meta-analysis also performed a cumulative significance test to determine whether there were differences between D.A.R.E. participants and non-participants. This test yielded nonsignificant results, and the authors therefore concluded that these interventions are generally ineffective [1].
A systematic review, which included 11 studies focused on the reformulation of the KiR curriculum found no evidence of the program’s efficacy to reduce substance abuse among students [2].

Bibliography

[1] West, S. L., O'Neal, K. K. (2004). Project D.A.R.E. outcome effectiveness revisited. American Journal of Public Health, 94(6), 1027-1029. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1448384/

[2] Caputi, T. L., McLellan, A. T. (2017). Truth and D.A.R.E.: Is D.A.R.E.’s new Keepin’ it REAL curriculum suitable for American nationwide implementation?, Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy, 24(1): 49-57, 2017. DOI: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/09687637.2016.1208731?needA…

Information Source

Evaluated cases

Drug Abuse Resistance Education Program (PROERD)

Axis: Youth Violence Prevention
Type: Drug Abuse Resistance Education Programs
Effectiveness:

Negative Effect

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Negative Effect
Problem type:
Alcohol abuse, Drug abuse
Country:
Brazil
Open

Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE)

Axis: Youth Violence Prevention
Type: Drug Abuse Resistance Education Programs
Effectiveness:

No Effect

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.

.

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No Effect
Problem type:
Drug abuse, Alcohol abuse, Low social–emotional competences, Externalizing behaviors/problems
Country:
United States
Open

Why might the cases evaluated have different levels of effectiveness in relation to their respective type of solution?
Click here to understand why.

Some cases were not included in the evidence bank due to deficiencies detected in the methodology of their impact evaluations.
Click here to see the list

 

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