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Project Northland

Overview

Project Northland is a prevention program that focuses specifically on alcohol use among youth. It is a multi-level program that looks at the influence of peers, family members, media, and community.

Target Problem

  • Alcohol

Setting

  • School
  • Community

Target Participants

  • Students grades 6-12
  • Gender: Male and female

Assumptions and Outcomes

Main intermediate factor(s) assumed to influence substance misuse

  • Peer influence
  • Functional meanings of alcohol use
  • Attitudes associated with alcohol
  • Parent-child alcohol-related communication

Underlying assumptions

  • The influence of peers, family members, school, the media, and the community have been shown to play a critical role in promoting or discouraging alcohol use among teens
  • For this reason, Project Northland focuses on engaging not only students but also schools, families, and the larger community in one comprehensive prevention effort

Non-substance misuse outcomes

  • Not documented, since the program is focused on alcohol use only

Program Structure

Lessons/activities

  • The curriculum is divided into two phases in which for each grade level there is a set of lessons that incorporates students, parents, peers, and community members:
  1. Phase I (for middle school students, grades 6, 7 and 8)
  2. Phase II (for high school students, grades 9, 11, and 12—no program for grade 10)

Staffing

  • Providers/facilitators: Typically, the program is run by a teacher who has been trained by Project Northland. Since the curriculum has family and community member components, the teacher has to facilitate the lessons for them as well.
  • Training needed: Yes, Project Northland requires a one-day training for each level that a prospective provider plans to offer.

Previous Implementations

History

  • Project Northland has been implemented in more than 4,000 sites and more than 10 countries
  • It has also been implemented among Native American tribal communities

Previous participants

  • White
  • American Indian or Alaska Native

Cultural relevance for Hawai‘i

0
No contextual relevance
1
Place-based or ethno-culture
2
Place-based and ethno-culture
3
Place-based or ethno-culture pertaining to Hawai‘i
4
Hawai‘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

Location
Time Period
Organization
Hawai‘i County
2010
Hawai‘i Police Department
Maui County
2011–2016
Institute for Family Enrichment

Is there any published study with Hawai‘i participants?

  • No

Other

Contact Information

  • For information about implementation, contact: Hazelden Publishing, 15251 Pleasant Valley Road, P.O. Box 176, Center City, MN 55012-0176, Phone: 800-328-9000, 651-213-4200
  • For information about research, contact: Kris Van Hoof-Haines, Phone: (651) 213-4331, Email: [email protected]
  • Project Northland’s website:http://www.hazelden.org/web/go/projectnorthland

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
  • 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.