Delaware’s Division of Public Health has launched a life-skills pilot program at eight middle schools across Delaware.
The Botvin LifeSkills Training Program teaches students the skills they need to prevent addiction, promote positive decision-making and reduce violence.
Rebecca King is the DPH Nursing Director overseeing this program and she says her agency and the Department of Education identified the need for such a program.
"It was an understanding between the Division of Public Health and the Department of Education, because it was felt that health education in school was really fragmented.” said King. “There’s lots and lots of really great programs out there and we don’t want to discount any of those. But they’re often taught in like a stand-alone fashion where don’t build upon the previous skills that you’ve learned.”
King adds a small study conducted by the Department of Education revealed educators at the local level wanted assistance in identifying appropriate health education:
“[They wanted a program] specifically around drug and alcohol education in light of our national epidemic," said King. "So we agreed to assist the Department of Ed in identifying the best evidence-based instructional curriculum that was out there, that could actually become part of a cohesive K to -12 education program. And that’s why we chose the Botvin LifeSkills Program.”
The pilot program kicked off last week with a train-the trainer session for 10 teachers who will be using the curriculum. Teachers learned interventions to address the social and psychological factors that lead to experimentation with drugs and other undesirable behaviors.
The eight schools currently involved in the program include: Brandywine Springs Middle School, William Henry and Capital Middle Schools, Seaford Middle School and Selbyville, Millsboro and Georgetown Middle Schools - as well as Delaware School of the Arts.
Through games, discussion, role-playing, and other exercises, students practice refusing drugs, communicating with peers and adults, making choices in problem situations, and confronting peer pressure. Materials range from worksheets and posters, to videos and online content. Schools will decide individually how to best incorporate the 15 class sessions that run 30 to 45 minutes.
Training will be implemented in the 2017-2018 school year, beginning with sixth-graders and reaching approximately 2,000 students. Students will complete pre- and post-tests, which Botvin will analyze and summarize for DPH.
Both Div. of Public Health and the Dept of Education hope to increase the number of schools involved in the program in the future.
