Measuring "Choice-10" Outcomes for Vocational School Freshmen

INTRODUCTION: Substance abuse, HIV/AIDS and crime are major problems among adolescents in Ukraine. Vocational school freshmen (15 years old) encounter more challenges than their contemporaries due to significant changes in social situations such as moving away from home for the first time without parental supervision, availability of drugs, drug abusers and social engagements involving drugs (NIDA, 2003). “Choice-10” is a program for the prevention of drug abuse, HIV/AIDS and crime among adolescents ages 15-16 years old. It includes weekly sessions over 10 weeks. The program is conducted by trained teachers and college students. A survey conducted in October 2015 prior to program implementation indicated that 52% of the intervention group freshmen had physical or verbal conflicts (control – 50%), 64% drank alcohol (control – 71%), 48% smoked tobacco (control – 50%), and 76% made wrong decisions (control – 72%) within the past 30 days. 48% of the freshmen showed lack of tolerance (control – 45%) to PLWH (People Living with HIV). Given these findings, decision has been made to conduct evaluation of “Choice-10” intervention.

METHODS: 214 freshmen were reached and voluntarily agreed to participate in the survey. 108 freshmen were included in an intervention group according to professions they major in (plumbers, electricians, locomotive driver assistants, painters) and 106 in a control group that was non-equivalent due to other majors of students. The median age of participants was 15.5 years. The experimental method of two groups (intervention/control) was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention. Participation in conflicts, attitude towards alcohol and tobacco, making wrong decisions during the past 30 days as well as tolerance to PLWH were measured. A questionnaire containing twelve questions was used for the evaluation. The schedule of assessments included: baseline evaluation and one month follow up after completion of sessions that was conducted in January, 2016.

RESULTS: At the follow up assessment, for those who participated in “Choice-10”, 61% of the students had physical or verbal conflicts (control – 67%), 57% drank alcohol (control - 79%), 38% smoked tobacco (control – 67%) and 57% made wrong decisions (control – 62%) within the past 30 days. 9% of the freshmen showed lack of tolerance to PLWH (control – 29%).

CONCLUSION: The findings demonstrate promising results of the intervention with regards to preventing alcohol use and smoking tobacco. Intervention group participants tend to make fewer wrong decisions and have less physical or verbal conflicts. They also show more tolerance to PLWH. In order to receive more data concerning intervention at vocational schools more research is needed.