5 Research Annotations

SAMPLE RESEARCH ANNOTATION OF PEER-REVIEWED JOURNAL ARTICLE

Name of Student: ____________________ Page 1 of 6

Annotation # __

Title of Article/Report:

Juvenile and Adolescent Substance Abuse Prevention Program: An Evaluation

Date Submitted: April 12, 2015

Name of Student: _________________________________

Course Number: CCJ _____

Course Name: _______________________

SAMPLE RESEARCH ANNOTATION OF PEER-REVIEWED JOURNAL ARTICLE

Name of Student: ____________________ Page 2 of 6

Title: The Juvenile and Adolescent Substance Abuse Prevention Program: An Evaluation Authors: Medha Talpade, Diane Lynch, Barbara Lattimore, and Ashlee Graham Source: International Journal of Behavioral Consultation and Therapy, Volume 4, Issue 4, 2008, Pg. 304 -310 Principle Research Question: Is the decrease of the use of illicit drugs due to the increase of youth drug and alcohol prevention programs? Theories and Hypotheses Examined: The decrease in use of illicit drugs is due to the increased use of effective youth drug and alcohol prevention programs. Variables Examined: The variables consisted of an independent variable and dependent variables. The independent variable was the Juvenile and Adolescent Substance Abuse Prevention (JASAP) program, and the dependent variables were the effect of the education program on the teenagers exposed to the program. Specifically, the independent variables were the processes constituting the JASAP program such as: the tools/activities associated with the program and the entities involved in the implementation of the program. The dependent variables constituted the outcomes and products of the program’s education component. Research Design and Methods: Design: A “pretest posttest between-groups design was used,” in which the “pretest measures obtained from the participants entering the program” were compared. The items on the pretest and the posttest were the same. However, the posttest “evaluated some additional outcome measures deemed necessary to conduct implementation fidelity and products of the program.”

SAMPLE RESEARCH ANNOTATION OF PEER-REVIEWED JOURNAL ARTICLE

Name of Student: ____________________ Page 3 of 6

Participants: There was a total of 246 participants, in which they were “surveyed and information was entered into the database.” From reported attendance by participants, attendance “varied from 3 to 8 sessions.” According to “demographics from the database,” it was “indicated [that there was] an almost even distribution of males (57%) and females (43%).” The distribution of age/grade ranged from the “3rd grade to the 11th grade.” From this, the “average age was 13, [and] the average student GPA was 2.96” Intervention Methods/Experimental Condition: The curriculum used in the “educational intervention consisted of the following:

• Drug and alcohol prevention; • Promoting healthy lifestyles and introducing options to using drugs and smoking; • Alcohol Prevention Curriculum; • Review of the impact of smoking on the body; • Short term and long term effects of smoking; • Review of the effects of peer pressure associated with drinking; • Identify advertising techniques for media which promote drinking, smoking and advocate

unhealthy lifestyles; • Decision Making - Improving and developing healthy decision making and

communication skills; • Identifying positive and negative influences; • Developing Relationships; • Identifying Problems; • Developing resolution for problems; • Making informed choices; • Career planning; • Identifying long term and short term goals; • Career Development; • Introduction to career development; • Introduction to career choices and options; • Advocacy in the community; • Advocating Drug free and Healthy behaviors and lifestyles; • Identifying and explaining why it is important to become involved in your community; • Presenting examples of how students can become more involved in their schools and

communities.”

SAMPLE RESEARCH ANNOTATION OF PEER-REVIEWED JOURNAL ARTICLE

Name of Student: ____________________ Page 4 of 6

In addition, the program’s “curriculum was adapted according to age group as follows:

• Ages 10-12: Life Skills training, Communication Skills, [and] a letter informed parents of what topic was taught to encourage them to follow up with re-enforcing the lesson at home.

• Ages 13-17: Begin with the ‘Drug Free Living for Teens’- Power Point presentation,” which “emphasized Values, Facts about drugs, Kind of offers, What to say or do in different situations, Positive vs negative influences, [and] figuring out if a friend has a drug problem.”

Program/Project Procedures/Implementation Methods Followed: In order to deliver a “Curriculum Based Education Program Utilizing Best Practices,” workers such as “Health Outreach workers (HOWs) in social work, public health, or a related field were trained by the supervisor.” This particular curriculum “delivered information about substance abuse which was accurate and developmentally appropriate.” In regards to the participants, they were “taught to identify and resist social pressure, and the information was presented interactively, including role playing, discussion and small group activities.” Specifically, the “Life Skills trainings were utilized during the educational sessions” and the “Health Outreach workers conducted home visits using a structured form.” When it came to recruitment, the “participants [came from] Fulton county partners, and a contact person at each site was established.” Furthermore, the “parental permission was obtained and assessment sheets were administered to the participants as a prerequisite to for entering the program.” These particular sheets “noted participant demographics and psychosocial baselines related to substance abuse.” Evaluation Methods and Measures: The evaluation tools (methods and measures) used “were developed to assess the dependent variables.” Included in these tools were “survey questions and archival records.” The scales that were used were the “Stages of Change and Readiness Ruler, the Self-efficacy scale, the Knowledge, attitudes, short-term behaviors, and peer use behaviors survey.” Each of the sites were “evaluated by an adaptation of the follow tool: Youth Program Quality Assessment.” In addition, there were “instructor evaluation forms” that were used and “students evaluated their teachers on the following three elements: Instructor Appraisal, Course Appraisal, and Self-Appraisal.” The pretest was “administered to establish the knowledge and attitudes baselines for substance abuse.” The “HOWs met the participants for 8, one hour sessions.” Close to the end of the sessions, the “DiClemente’s pros/cons sheet and readiness ruler was administered.” Prior to

SAMPLE RESEARCH ANNOTATION OF PEER-REVIEWED JOURNAL ARTICLE

Name of Student: ____________________ Page 5 of 6

graduation, the “posttest was finally administered.” The additional information on the posttest included “an equivalent forms ‘knowledge of substance abuse’ test, a set of scenarios where participants were asked to make healthy decision about substance abuse, and ratings of confidence in future productive activities such as career and education.” When giving home visits, the HOWs “referred participants for further treatment if [it deemed] necessary.” The “evaluation team compiled the tests for the participants and evaluated the participant responses, sites, instructors, and delivery of the curriculum.” Data Analysis/Statistical Methods Employed: Not addressed

Results: The “results pertaining to the cognitive outcomes revealed that when participants were asked where they were in their readiness to change their problematic behaviors on a scale of 0 (not at all ready to change) to 10 (already changed), the mean readiness to change was 6.9” These problematic behaviors “identified by most of the children included attitude, anger, behaviors.” The “students were evaluated on their perceptions of pros and cons related to a problematic behavior.” Overall, the “students identified the same number of pros and cons (2.0) for changing behaviors, with the cons for not changing the behaviors (1.8) being more than the cons for changing behaviors (.8).” When it came to “decision making skills regarding alcohol/drug abuse,” the participants were also evaluated on their responses. The results “indicated that the majority of the participants (94%) made significantly more healthy decisions.” Moreover, the participants were “asked to indicate if they have considered career options and higher education.” However, these “considerations are incompatible with substance abuse and hence were considered important queries.” Participants “rated their confidence in their choices on a scale of Strongly Disagree to Strongly agree.” The participants “reported a higher confidence in future decisions such as jobs and education.” The pre-post tests “assessed knowledge gain and attitude change.” These results “indicated that the knowledge on the similar pretest increased significantly after the educational program to the posttest.” The scores on the test of “knowledge about alcohol and substance abuse revealed that participants scored an average of 9 points out of a total of 12.” It was also found that the “attitude about alcohol and drugs improved from the pretest to the posttest,” even though it wasn’t

SAMPLE RESEARCH ANNOTATION OF PEER-REVIEWED JOURNAL ARTICLE

Name of Student: ____________________ Page 6 of 6

significant. The rest of the results deal with how the program was implemented and how every component was evaluated. Conclusion: The findings from the research prove that this program is effective in its efforts. It was even found later from the follow-up a year later that the positive effects were sustained or at least for a short period of time. It was shown that even though the program shows very promising results, the effects do only continue for a short time, and long term support may be essential in sustaining that positive impact. Relevance and Potential Use: This article is the perfect example of how a program can be successful, but still need improvement in order to continue its positive results. This can be used in my paper to show how each program needs continued support and frequent evaluations in order to be continuously successful in its full implementation and further implementations.

References Talpade, M., Lynch, D., Lattimore, B., & Graham, A. (2008). The Juvenile and Adolescent

Substance Abuse Prevention Program: An Evaluation. International Journal of Behavioral Consultation and Therapy, 4(4), 304-310. doi:10.1037/h0100860