Lifeskills Training

Overview

Botvin LifeSkills Training (LST) is a program proven to reduce the risks of alcohol, tobacco, drug abuse, and violence by targeting the major social and psychological factors that promote the initiation of substance use and other risky behaviors.

Target Problem 
  • Alcohol
  • Drugs
  • Tobacco
Setting 
  • Various settings including school classrooms, after-school programs, summer camps, and community- and faith-based organizations
Target Participants 
  • Students grades 3 to 12 (or equivalent age-groups in non-school settings)
  • Gender: male and female

Assumptions and Outcomes

Main intermediate factor(s) assumed to influence substance abuse 
  • Personal and social skills
Underlying assumptions 

Rather than merely teaching information about drugs, the Botvin LifeSkills Training program consists of three major skills critical to drug-use problem:

  • Personal self-management skills
  • General social skills
  • Dru g resistance skills
Non-substance abuse outcomes 
  • Crime/delinquency
  • Violence

Program Structure

Lessons/activities 

For elementary-school students

  • 8 class sessions per year, for three years.
  • Each session is 30-45 minutes.

For middle-school students: Sessions vary according to their level

  • Each session is 30-45 minutes.
  • 15 class session for Level 1 (Grade 6/7)
  • 10 class session for Level 2 (Grade 7/8)
  • 5 class session for Level 3 (Grade 8/9)

For high school students

  • 10 class session. Each session is 30-45 minutes
Staffing  
  • Providers/facilitators: Lifeskills Training providers could be classroom teachers, school counselors, prevention specialists, health professionals, mental-health professionals, social workers, community youth educators, law-enforcement officers, or even older peer leaders.
  • Tranining needed: In order to implement Lifeskills Training effectively, training is needed. Lifeskills Training offers online, in-site, and open-training workshops to prepare providers with better skills.

Previous Implementations

History 
  • Life Skills Training has been implemented in 50 states and more than 30 countries
  • It has been adapted to various cultures and locales
Previous participants 
  • White middle-class students 
  • Ethnic minority students (primarily African-American and Hispanic) 
  • Inner-city urban populations 
  • Suburban populations 
  • Rural populations
Cultural relevance for Hawai‘i 
0No contextual relevance
1Place-based or ethno-culture
2Place-based and ethno-culture
3Place-based or ethno-culture pertaining to Hawai'i
4Hawai'i-oriented contextual relevance

Note: This framework was based on a study which examined several nationally recognized prevention programs to determine whether any may have cultural relevance to the context of Hawai'i (Rehurer, Hiramatsu & Helm, 2008 ). We borrowed this framework and applied it to a more current list of EBPs. This approach looks at whether or not a program’s curriculum content was originated and developed with a certain place or culture in mind. A score of 0 (zero) indicates no specific reference to a place or an ethno-culture was included in the program’s development (no contextual cultural relevance) and a score of 4 (four) indicates that the program was developed either specifically for Hawai'i or was developed somewhere else but was then also adapted for "local" and/or Native Hawaiian cultures. Placement of a program on the continuum was based on the sample population listed in their study reports and included considerations of 1) whether the program was ever implemented with populations similar to the racial/ethnic composition of Hawai’i's population and 2) whether the program was ever adapted to meet the needs of a specified local or ethnic culture (for instance, was the curriculum has successfully implemented in Spanish or languages other than English?).

Ever implemented in Hawai‘i?  
  • Yes
Previous implementation in Hawai‘i 
LocationTime PeriodOrganization
Hawai'i County2010–2016Salvation Army Family Intervention Services
2011–2012Big Island Substance Abuse Council
2011–2012Hawai'i Academy of the Arts and Science
2011–2012People's Advocacy for Trails Hawai'i
Honolulu County2010–2013City and County of Honolulu, Dept. of Community Services, Youth Services Center
Maui County2011–2011Coalitions for a Drug-Free Lana'i
Kaua'i County2010–2012Kaua'i Economic Opportunity
2012–2016Life Choices Kaua'i

 

Is there any published study with Hawai‘i participants?  
  • No

Other

Contact Information 
  • National Health Promotion Associates, 711 Westchester Avenue, White Plains, NY 10604, Phone: 1-800-293-4969, Fax: 914-421-2007, Email: LSTinfo@nhpamail.com
  • Lifeskills Training website: www.lifeskillstraining.com
  • Lifeskills Training on Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SHAMSA)’s National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices (NREPP): LifeSkills Training
Reference 
  • Center on the Family, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa.  (2016).  Prevention Programs Online Survey, 2014–2016  (Tool C2 & D5)
  • Center on the Family, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa.  (2013).  Substance Abuse Prevention Resource Mapping Project
  • Rehuher, D., Hiramatsu, T., & Helm, S. (2008). Evidence-based youth drug prevention: a critique with implications for practice-based contextually relevant prevention in Hawai'i. Hawaii Journal of Public Health. 1(1): 52-61. Retrieved from http://health.hawaii.gov/hjmph/files/2013/09/Volume1.1.pdf
  • Staff reports (2012, May 20). Youth Program: Botvin LifeSkills Training Available on Kauai. Retrieved from HawaiiAhe.com: http://hawaiiahe.com/youth-program-botvin-lifeskills-training-available-on-kauai/
  • Yuan, S., Sabino, S., & Wongkaren, T. (2013). Final evaluation report: Strategic Prevention Framework State Incentive Grant, State of Hawaii, 2006-2012. Honolulu, HI: Center on the Family, University of Hawai’i at Mānoa.

  

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