Youth LEAD Project Youth LEAD The L.E.A.D. (Leading and Educating Across Domains) Initiative is a statewide substance abuse prevention program built on youth-empowerment. The key to the creation of the initiative is SAMHSAs Strategic Prevention Framework with an innovative approach of integrating youth-driven environmental strategies to reduce and prevention Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drug (ATOD) through a peer-to-peer message. A large scale quasi-experimental and multi-method evaluation of the L.E.A.D. Initiative for the academic year of 2011-2012 measured the effectiveness of the program. The analysis indicates that the L.E.A.D. Initiative interventions with the Outer Ring Youth (peers), those who were mentored by trained LEADers, facilitate a statistically significant stronger long-term resistance framework for younger youth who may otherwise be vulnerable as was the case with the control group.
Outer Ring Youth were more likely to make statistically significant better decisions regarding their choice of friends than the control group. They were less likely than the control group to have friends who use tobacco, marijuana and other drugs Outer Ring Youth were far more likely than the control group to perceive alcohol, tobacco and other drugs use negatively Outer Ring Youth were statistically more likely to participate in community activities, social volunteerism, clubs and pro-social activities Outer Ring Youth were less likely on a statistically significant level than the control group to continue being friends with those who use tobacco, marijuana, inhalants and other drugs The analyses indicates that the L.E.A.D. Initiative interventions with the Outer Ring Youth facilitate a statistically significant stronger long-term resistance framework for younger youth who may otherwise be vulnerable as was the case with the control group
The results demonstrated that the L.E.A.D. Initiative helps youth build a framework for resisting ATOD use. The Outer Ring Youth proved to make better decisions regarding their proximity to ATOD by choosing friends who do not abuse substances and they had more negative perceptions of ATOD use by youth.