keepin’ it REAL is a culturally grounded substance abuse prevention program which was developed, tested, and evaluated in 35 middle schools in the city of Phoenix. The goals of the program are to enhance life skills and communications skills (focusing on drug-refusal skills and strategies) among middle-school students. Innovative approaches are used in the program to teach youth to use the protective social processes present in their families and communities to resist drug offers (including offers of alcohol, cigarettes and marijuana). Although developed for students in Phoenix, the program is currently being replicated in other parts of Arizona, the United States and Mexico.

About the keepin it REAL. curriculum

Project Development History

1988 -1991 (High School Pilot Study) - Arizona State University researchers began to identify adolescents’ perceptions of drug resistance strategies, learning the situations under which strategies were effective or ineffective. Researchers also learned that there were differences in resistance to alcohol and other drugs, the importance of resistance beyond the initial refusal, the role of peer pressure, and the significance of communication skill levels.

1993 - 1997 (Middle School Studies) - Having discovered that drug involvement begins before high school, DRS researchers targeted middle-school students in their next phase of prevention testing and research. In this phase, supported by an externally funded grant, researchers developed the keepin’ it REAL prevention curricula using research from the high school pilot study that identified drug resistance strategies used by adolescents. The students then created 5 video-based performance lessons which were incorporated into 10 lessons to be implemented by teachers in the classroom. The curriculum was taught in 35 middle schools in Phoenix.

1997 - 2001 (Efficacy Trial Phase) - Using data collected from the previous studies, an interdisciplinary team of researchers from Arizona State University and Pennsylvania State University began testing the effectiveness of the program. Results showed the program to be effective in reducing drug use and pro-drug attitudes more than 12 months after the program was taught.

2002- Present (Adaptation Phase) - This NIDA funded R01 study is a 5 year longitudinal randomized trial of an adapted and enhanced version of keepin' it REAL involving 7 Phoenix school districts, 32 schools, 96 teachers and over 2000 students.  Study aims are: (1) to describe the development of ecological risk and resiliency factors as Mexican/Mexican American students transition from 5th to 9th grade and undergo acculturation processes; (2) to enhance the existing 7th grade keepin' it REAL multicultural intervention (a SAMSHA model program) by increasing the dosage adding acculturation related material and by examining the most efficacious age of intervention, 5th versus 7th grade; and (3) to examine ecological risk and resiliency factors such as parental monitoring, perceived discriminatin and acculturation stress as moderators of prevention effects.

Research findings on effectiveness and more.

Publications about the keepin’ it REAL. curriculum and its effectiveness.

The DRS Project is funded by a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) through the Pennsylvania State University. Although the Arizona State University branch of the DRS project is housed in the School of Social Work, we are a multi-disciplinary research team with members from other fields such as Education, Communication and Sociology.