A Look at Our Commitment to Preventing
Drug Abuse Among Youth
The National Association of School Nurses
Leading worldwide expert for school health services
501c3 non-profit organization representing 15,000 school nurses
School Nurses
Foundation of health care in schools Trusted by students and parents Logical – yet untapped prevention
agents
Are nurses employed in schools today?
NASN’s 2007 School Nursing Study (conducted in over 1,000 school districts) reported school nurses at least part time in 75.1% of all schools
Disparities between states and within states Nurse-to-student ratios Number of bachelor-prepared RNs
Prescription Drug Abuse - Online Survey Results
September 2007 membership survey 1,327 respondents 78% indicated that prescription drug abuse is
a problem in their community Nearly 60% indicated a “growing or significant
problem” 95% indicated they would like to take an
active role in community prevention
NASN’s Current Involvement with Prevention Projects
NASN is a signatory on three Open Letters to Parents from ONDCP’s National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign regarding OTC and Rx drug abuse
Focus Groups and Workshops at NASN’s National Conferences
NASN’s Current Involvement with Prevention Projects
Partnership for Drug-Free America
Strategic Partner for “Time To Talk”
Consulting on Meth 360 Project
NASN’s Current Involvement with Prevention Projects
Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA) and D.A.R.E. America Disseminating & implementing “Helping
Communities Respond to Rx and OTC Abuse”
NASN’s Current Involvement with Prevention Projects
Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) Formalized partnership (as of 1/08) Helping community coalitions with greater
access to schools
NASN’s Current Involvement with Prevention Projects
PriCara, a Division of Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals Partnering with Synermed Communications to
develop “The Current State of Teenage Drug Abuse: Trend Toward Prescription Drugs”
Online continuing education program and toolkit Supplement to the Journal of School Nursing
(June) Workshop at NASN’s 2008 Conference
Smart Moves, Smart Choices A Prescription Drug Abuse
Prevention Program
March 7, 2008
Key Objective
Help safeguard youth from abuse of prescription drugs
Program Goals
Create innovative content for middle and high school students about the dangers of prescription drug abuse
Put school nurses on the front lines in educating teens about prescription drug abuse
Engage parents and the educational community
Smart Moves, Smart Choices
Program Overview
Four videos for the.Medic, a health and wellness feature of the.News, a daily news broadcast in development by MacNeil/Lehrer Productions
Four-minute news-format videos narrated by journalism graduate
Standards-based Science and Language Arts curricula developed by educators (members of National Science Teachers Assoc., Assoc. for Supervision and Curriculum Development)
Parent video and guidebook
Video SeriesResearch & Content Development
Extensive research, pre-filming/on-camera interviews with educators, scientists, health practitioners, parents and teens. Interviews included:
Nora Volkow, MD, Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse Susan Foster, VP, Director of Policy Research and Analysis,
National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University
Jay Giedd, MD, Chief of Brain Imaging, National Institutes of Mental Health
Carl Hart, PhD, Assistant Professor of Clinical Neuroscience, Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University
Renee Hobbs, Director, Media Education Lab, Temple Univ. and Founder, Alliance for a Media Literate America
Ralph Lopez, MD, author and adolescent medicine specialist
Video SeriesTopics
Segment One: Myth Busting Segment Two: Defining Prescription Drugs (and
Impact on the Brain) Segment Three: Abusing Prescription Drugs can
Change Your Life Segment Four: Media Literacy and Drug Abuse Segment Five: Guidance for Parents
Pilot Program Segment One: Myth Busting
Reno Valley Middle School, Hutchinson, Kansas
38 seventh-grade students in student advisor science classes
Video segment revisions made based on feedback from teacher and students
Getting the Word Out
NASN press release announcing program (April) Will include findings from NASN membership survey
Publicity campaign to national, grassroots and online media
Education reporters at national and local newspapers Parenting and teen magazines and online news and info sites National and local TV Nursing and education trade press
Direct liaison organizations and public to the.Medic site for video and information about prescription drug abuse
Reaching Hard Hit CommunitiesSchool Assemblies
Significant response to program featured in electronic NASN Weekly Digest – more than 30 school nurses have inquired about program
Hold four school assemblies for teens in areas hard hit by prescription drug abuse
School principals as assembly leaders/school nurses as emcees
Use videos as platform for discussion Feature teen(s) who can relay negative impact of addiction to
prescription drugs Local elected officials; VIPs; local media in attendance
Thank You