Project ALERT

7th and 8th graders

Project ALERT is a classroom-based substance abuse prevention program for 7th and 8th graders designed to reduce the experimental and continued use of drugs. Through a series of comprehensive lessons, Project ALERT is aimed at motivating students against drug use, cultivating new nonuse attitudes and beliefs, and equipping teens with the skills and strategies they’ll use to resist drugs.

The goals of Project ALERT are to:

• Motivate students against drug use
• Provide skills and strategies to resist drugs
• Establish new nonuse attitudes and beliefs

The Project ALERT two-year core curriculum consists of 11 weekly lessons to be taught the first year, plus three booster lessons that should be delivered the following year. Project ALERT complements other curricula and can be implemented in conjunction with lessons from sex education, health, physical education, science, and social studies.

Project ALERT
Project ALERT

• www.projectalert.com/
• Email: projectalert@rand.org
• Phone: (800) 253-7810

Homework

This program does not include a homework component.

Languages

Project ALERT has materials available in the following languages other than English:

For information on which materials are available in this language, please check on the program's website or contact the program representative (contact information is listed in this page).

Manual Information

There is a manual that describes how to deliver this program.

Program Manual(s)

More information is available through the organization listed in the Contact Information section.

Training Information

There is training available for this program.

Training Type/Location:

More information is available through the organization listed in the Contact Information section.

“What is included in the Relevant Published, Peer-Reviewed Research section?”

• Ellickson, P. L., McCaffrey, D. F., Ghosh-Dastidar, B., & Longshore, D. L. (2003). New inroads in preventing adolescent drug use: Results from a large-scale trial of Project ALERT in middle schools. American Journal of Public Health, 93(11), 1830–1836. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.93.11.1830

  Type of Study: Randomized controlled trial

  Number of participants: 4,276

  Population:

  • Age — 7th grade (approximately 11–13 years)
  • Race/Ethnicity — 13% Non-White (largely Native American)
  • Gender — 50% Female
  • Status —

    Participants were 7th graders in middle schools in South Dakota.

  Location/Institution: South Dakota

  Summary:

  The purpose of the study was to evaluate the Project ALERT program across several schools and communities. Participants were fifty-five middle schools that were randomly assigned to the Project ALERT program or a control condition. Measures utilized include study developed measures to assess alcohol, cigarettes and marijuana lifetime use and frequency of use within the past month and the past year. Results indicate that the Project ALERT curriculum curbed cigarette and marijuana use initiation, current and regular cigarette use, and alcohol misuse. Reductions ranged from 19% to 39%. Program effects were not significant for initial and current drinking or for current and regular marijuana use. Limitations include the lack of longer term follow-up to examine whether the impact on drug use persists over time, high rates of alcohol use in the sample at baseline, and concerns about the generalizability of results from a largely rural sample to other areas.

  Length of controlled postintervention follow-up: Unclear – follow-up was in the spring of 8th grade, after administration of the 8th-grade lessons.

• Ghosh-Dastidar, B., Longshore, D. L., Ellickson, P. L., & McCaffrey, D. F. (2004). Modifying pro-drug risk factors in adolescents: Results from Project ALERT. Health Education & Behavior, 31(3), 318–334. https://doi.org/10.1177/1090198104263333

  Type of Study: Randomized controlled trial

  Number of participants: 4,276

  Population:

  • Age — 7th grade (approximately 11–13 years)
  • Race/Ethnicity — 13% Non-White (largely Native American)
  • Gender — 50% Female
  • Status —

    Participants were 7th graders in middle schools in South Dakota.

  Location/Institution: South Dakota

  Summary:

  The study used the same sample as Ellickson et al. (2003). The purpose of the study was to examine the impact of the Project ALERT program on risk factors for drug use in mostly rural Midwestern schools and communities. Participants were fifty-five middle schools from South Dakota that were randomly assigned to Project ALERT, ALERT Plus, or a control condition.  Measures utilized include the Beliefs About Drug Use Consequences, and the Normative Beliefs, Resistance Self-Efficacy, and Expectations About Future Use questionnaires. Results indicate that Project ALERT had statistically significant effects on all the targeted risk factors associated with cigarette and marijuana use and more modest gains with the pro-alcohol risk factors. Effect sizes were typically stronger for the low- and moderate-risk groups. Limitations include concerns about the generalizability of these results beyond the rural and small-town setting of this study and attrition.

  Length of controlled postintervention follow-up: Unclear – follow-up was in the spring of 8th grade, after administration of the 8th-grade lessons.

• Orlando, M., Ellickson, P. L., McCaffrey, D. F., & Longshore, D. L. (2005). Mediation analysis of a school-based drug prevention program: Effects of Project ALERT. Prevention Science, 6(1), 35–46. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-005-1251-z

  Type of Study: Randomized controlled trial

  Number of participants: 4,277

  Population:

  • Age — 7th grade (approximately 11–13 years)
  • Race/Ethnicity — 14% Non-White (primarily Native American)
  • Gender — 50% Female and 50% Male
  • Status —

    Participants were 7th graders in middle schools in South Dakota.

  Location/Institution: South Dakota

  Summary:

  The study used the same sample as Ellickson, P. L., McCaffrey, D. F., Ghosh-Dastidar, B., & Longshore, D. L. (2003). The purpose of the study was to examine the mechanisms by which Project ALERT, a social-influence-based school drug use prevention program, achieved its effects on past month cigarette use and alcohol misuse. Participants were fifty-five middle schools that were randomly assigned to the Project ALERT program or a control condition. Measures utilized include study developed measures that assessed at baseline and 1 year later on past month cigarette use and alcohol misuse, as well as cigarette- and alcohol-related mediating variables targeted by the Project ALERT curriculum (i.e., resistance self-efficacy positive and negative beliefs about use, and peer influence). Results indicate that for cigarettes all hypothesized mediating variables were significant mediators of Project ALERT’s effect on intentions to smoke and past month cigarette use, with peer influence being the strongest. Results for alcohol point to positive beliefs about the consequences of drinking as an important mediator for alcohol misuse. Limitations include small differences between the treatment and control groups at baseline, concerns about the generalizability of the results from primarily White and Native American students from a Midwestern state to students in other locations and with more diverse backgrounds, and the lack of longer-term follow-up.

  Length of controlled postintervention follow-up: Unclear – follow-up was in the spring of 8th grade, after administration of the 8th-grade lessons.

• St Pierre, T. L., Osgood, D. W., Mincemoyer, C. C., Kaltreider, D. L., & Kauh, T. J. (2005). Results of an independent evaluation of Project ALERT delivered in schools by Cooperative Extension. Prevention Science, 6(4), 305–317. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-005-0015-0

  Type of Study: Randomized controlled trial

  Number of participants: 1,649

  Population:

  • Age — 7th grade (approximately 11–13 years)
  • Race/Ethnicity — 81% Caucasian, 5% African American, 2% Native American, 1% Hispanic, 1% Asian American, and 9% Other
  • Gender — 51% Male
  • Status —

    Participants were 7th graders at eight Pennsylvania middle schools.

  Location/Institution: Eight Pennsylvania middle schools

  Summary:

  The purpose of the study was to report results of an independent effectiveness study of the Project ALERT drug prevention program implemented by outside program leaders employed by Cooperative Extension. Participants were classrooms in each school that were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: (1) adult-led Project ALERT; (2) adult-led, teen-assisted Project ALERT; or (3) a control group. Measures utilized include study developed measures to assess alcohol, cigarettes and marijuana lifetime use and frequency of use within the past month and the past year. Results indicate that analyses failed to yield any positive effects for substance use or mediators for use in the adult or teen-assisted delivery of the Project ALERT curriculum. An extensive set of additional analyses detected no differential program effects by student risk level, gender, school, or level of implementation quality. Limitations include the smaller sample of schools and students and concerns about the generalizability of the results from primarily White and Native American students from a Midwestern state to students in other locations and with more diverse backgrounds.

  Length of controlled postintervention follow-up: Approximately 12 months.