Many prevention approaches focus on helping people develop the
knowledge, attitudes, and skills they need to change their
behavior. Most of these strategies are classroom-based. A
comprehensive review of classroom-based programs yielded these
conclusions about effective programs: - Programs that focus on
life and social skills are most effective. - Programs that
involve interactions among participants and encourage them to
learn drug refusal skills are more effective than non-
interactive programs. - Interventions that focus on direct and
indirect (e.g., media) influences on substance use appear to be
more effective than interventions that do not focus on social
influences. - Programs that emphasize norms for and a social
commitment to not using drugs are superior to those without this
emphasis. - Adding community components to school-based programs
appears to add to their effectiveness. - Programs delivered
primarily by peer leaders have increased effectiveness. - Adding
training in life skills to trainings t