The Youth Video Project: An Innovative Program for Substance Abuse Prevention

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article describes an innovative drug prevention pilot in which developing a substance abuse video served as a vehicle for teaching youth healthy attitudes and behaviors. Seven 10- to 12-year-old African Americans from a public housing development participated in 10 weekly sessions focusing on video skills and substance abuse. Based on the principles of capacity building and cognitive dissonance theory, the children learned about substance abuse in their community and movie-making, which they used to created an antidrug video. Six activities were identified as critical to the program's success: family involvement, community engagement, adapting drug education content to fit community characteristics, using the camcorder as a central vehicle for learning, community field assignments, and evaluation-based learning.