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The DARE to be You Program (DTBY) began in 1979 and is designed to reduce poor
outcomes among youth, especially ATD use, by increasing resiliency factors and reducing risk
factors in families with young children. The target population is 2-5 year old children and their
family, including parents and other extended family who fill caregiving roles and siblings who have
a variable number of risk factors. DARE to be You was originally developed and tested with
four diverse populations and has been subsequently replicated with many more populations. The
program has shown to be effective in rural and urban settings, with families with a wide range of
risk indicators, with communities from two Native American tribes, six Asian and Pacific Islander
populations, Hispanic, African-American and mixed cultures. Part of the program process
outlines that it is appropriate and desirable to adapt at least 10% of the curriculum to culturally
specific issues.
DTBY is a multilevel intervention because children's developmental trajectories, including
avoidance of experimentation with illicit substances, are influenced by nested systems that include
individual traits, family functioning, the school and community contexts. Therefore, the
intervention focuses on the following four domains: 1) The Individual Child: DTBY works to
increase intermediate protective factors of developmental level, self-worth, empathy,
competence, problem solving, social skills, and self management. These resiliency factors are
linked to success in school, good peer relations, and assertiveness, 2) The Family Environment:
DTBY works to improve parents self-efficacy, self-esteem, internal locus of control,
decision-making and reasoning skills, stress management skills, and child-rearing practices, 3) The School
Environment: DTBY includes training components for caregivers in the children's program as
well as the caregivers of the children who work in the community. DTBY targets teacher's
efficacy and sense of self-worth as well as effecting methods of teaching children, and 4) The
Community: DTBY also trains teams of community workers who work with the target families.
Awareness of negative messages and skills to alter these messages are vital to changing the
community environment.
The Intervention Components for the Family and Individual include simultaneous parent and child
workshops of at least 20 hours provided over a minimum of 12 weeks. These are followed by
periodic After-DARE support groups or community events and yearly reinforcing workshops of
at least eight hours. The weekly workshops include a social meal (30 minutes), a parent-child
activity (15 minutes), and simultaneous classes for the parents, preschool youth, and siblings (2
hours). Usually at least three concurrent age groups are in the session. Incentives of meals,
children's program and $200 honorarium for each completing adult family member were used for
recruitment and high retention (consistent dosage).
The Intervention Components for the School include a minimum of 15 hours of training for
preschool, Head Start, or day care providers. Teachers of the youth in the program are the
primary targets for this training. The Intervention Component for the community includes a 15
hour training for a team of community members who work with the families in the intervention.
In the original model, over a five year period, successive cohorts of families were randomly
assigned to an experimental (n = 472) or control (n = 272) groups and were followed for up to
three years. In the subsequent self replication, 263 experimental and 163 controls participated
and were followed for up to three years. Participants completed baseline, 12, 24 and 36 month
surveys. Experimental parents also completed a post test after the series of workshops.
Statistically significant changes occurred in most of the targeted constructs in the original model in
all four sites: 1) Parents increased their self-efficacy (self-worth and competence), sense of
positive relationships with their children, and satisfaction in the parenting role, 2) Parents
decreased their external locus of control, sense of being stressed, their child blaming attributions
and their use of harsh punishments, 3) Parents increased their nurturing and inductive family
management styles and ability to set limits and provide autonomy, 4) Children increased their
developmental level (6% higher than control peers), and 5) Children were reported to decrease
their aggressive and hostile behaviors by parents. Similar trends and findings were reported in the
self-replication with the addition of a statistically significant decrease in use of alcohol and other
drugs in the families in the experimental groups.
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