An innovation in drug prevention programs for adolescents: The Hong Kong Astro project

Recent approaches to drug prevention have turned to focus on comprehensive strategies that target early risk factors and that strengthen protective factors in adolescence. Objective: To develop a drug prevention program that is evidence-based and conceptually sound for the Chinese community. Study group: The "Astro" project was designed for high-risk youths in Hong Kong and consisted of three psychosocial primary prevention programs conducted in structured group sessions. Methods: A three-year longitudinal study and control group comparisons are integrated in this project for the program evaluation. Results and conclusions: The findings showed that the experimental group, after participating in the programs, was generally better than the control group in terms of social skills, knowledge of drugs, refusal skills, attitudes towards drugs, and the behavioral intention to avoid drug abuse. It suggests that this program could function well as a drug prevention program.