Guiding Good Choices
« Back to list| Category | Type | Target Age Group | Setting | Outcomes | Source of Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Promising Programs | Delinquency & Recidivism |
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7.2% reduction in recidivism |
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Description:
Guiding Good Choices (GGC), formerly Preparing for the Drug-Free Years (PDFY), is a family competency training program (part of the Families That Care series) that promotes healthy, protective parent-child interactions and reduces children’s risk for early substance use initiation. It is based on the social development model, which theorizes that enhancing protective factors such as effective parenting practices will decrease the likelihood that children will engage in problem behaviors. While most sessions are focused on improving parenting skills and parents’ self efficacy, the program also provides students with peer pressure refusal skills and has demonstrated reductions in children’s alcohol initiation.
GGC is a weekly, five-session multimedia program that strengthens parents’ child-rearing techniques, parent-child bonding, and children’s peer resistance skills. Children are required to attend one session, which focuses on peer pressure. The other four sessions involve only parents, and include instruction in the following areas:
- Identifying risk factors for adolescent substance use and creating strategies to enhance the family’s protective processes.
- Developing effective parenting skills, particularly those regarding substance use issues. Such techniques include creating clear guidelines regarding substance use, monitoring compliance with these guidelines, and providing effective and appropriate consequences when necessary.
- Managing anger and family conflict.
- Providing opportunities for positive child involvement in family activities.
Program Outcomes:
Evaluations of GGC have demonstrated positive effects for intervention parents and children. Compared to members of a control group, GGC parents have shown:
- Improvement in general child management skills, for mothers and fathers;
- Increases in parent-child affective quality; and
- Higher ratings of mothers’ self-efficacy.
Compared to members of a control group, GGC children have demonstrated:
- Significantly less alcohol initiation, and
- Positive trends in reducing tobacco and marijuana use.
Target Population
Parents of at-risk children in grades 4-8 (ages 9-14).
For more Information or to find Technical Assistance, visit:
Channing-Bete Company
http://www.channing-bete.com/ggc
More Resources
References and/or Published Evaluations
In a 4-year follow-up study, the Guiding Good Choices program was shown to:
- reduce current alcohol use by 40.6%
- significantly reduce the rates of initiation for marijuana and drunkenness. In other clinical studies,* the Guiding Good Choices program has been shown to significantly slow the typical rate at which multiple substance use (alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs) increases during adolescence.**
In a randomized clinical trial, the program was found to significantly reduce the rate at which adolescents develop depression. For one of the symptoms of depression -- feelings of worthlessness and inferiority -- risk reduction was as high as 28%. The program was also found to significantly slow the typical rate at which multiple substance use (alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs) increases during adolescence.**
*At 2- or 4-year follow-up compared to a control group of children whose parents did not participate in the program. Source: The original studies were published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. Specific citations are available upon request.
**Program tested under its previous name, Preparing for the Drug-Free Years® (PDFY). Mason, W.A., Kosterman, R., Hawkins, J.D., Haggerty, K.P., Spoth, R.L., Redmond, C., (2007). Influence of a Family-Focused Substance Use Preventive Intervention on Growth in Adolescent Depressive Symptoms. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 17(3), 541-564.
The following is a select bibliography of reference materials for Channing Bete Company's Families That Care -- Guiding Good Choices® (formerly Preparing For The Drug Free Years®):
Kosterman, R., Hawkins, J. D., Spoth, R., Haggerty, K., & Zhu, K. (1997). Effects of a preventive parent training intervention on observed family interactions: Proximal outcomes from Preparing for the Drug Free Years. Journal of Community Psychology 25(3): (277-292).
Spoth, R., Redmond, C., Haggerty, K., & Ward, T. (1995). A controlled parenting skills outcome study examining individual differences and attendance effects. Journal of Marriage and the Family 57, 449-464.
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Additional Information
Provided by the Channing-Bete web site and trainer Dr. Dorothy Ghylin-Bennett, in May 2010
- Has this program been replicated at other sites? If so, how many and where are they?
Yes, this program has been replicated all over the country, including several sites in California. CalGRIP funds have supported the implementation of the program in the California cities of Escondido, Vista and Watsonville.
- Is there a formal curriculum or program guidelines in place? What is the approximate cost for these materials?
Yes, program include:
- Workshop Leader's Guide (2 copies)
- Workshop Video (2 copies)
- Family Guide (2 copies)
- Every family should have its own. Additional Family Guides are available.
- 2 CDs for PowerPoint® presentations and handouts
- (One is included in each Workshop Leader's Guide.)
- Evaluation tools -- The Workshop Leader's Guide contains pre- and post-tests for each session and instructions for analyzing the results.
The Core Program (including the items listed above) costs $839. The Workshop Leader's Package (includes the Core Program plus 25 Family Guides) costs $1,079. Additional Family Guides are available at $13.99 each; volume discounts are available. (Please note: Every family should have its own Family Guide.) Prices effective January 1, 2009, subject to change without notice. Check the Channing-Bete web site for up-to-date pricing.
- Workshop Leader's Guide (2 copies)
- What kind of training and technical assistance is available for this program?
Training is available from certified, experienced trainers who will assist in the implementation of the program and help ensure its fidelity. The training contact for Guiding Good Choices is:
Dr. Dorothy Ghylin-Bennett
(360) 649-8903 (mobile) or (360) 692-9986
(360) 613-0726 (fax)
dr.d.ghylin@comcast.net
Dr. Ghylin-Bennett will travel to your site to train your group, or can tell you if there is a training session already scheduled that your group can join. The fee for the 3-day training (for up to 12 people) is approximately $4,200, plus travel expenses for the trainer.
- Once the program has been implemented, can an organization obtain assistance with fidelity monitoring or quality assurance?
As stated above, the trainer for Guiding Good Choices can work with an organization to help ensure program fidelity. This usually entails the trainer visiting the service delivery sites to do fidelity observations, for an additional cost. Another option is to build an internal Fidelity Observation team at your organization, made up of those who have attended the Workshop Leader’s training. This training would be to introduce fidelity observation forms and to discuss the details of observation and feedback. These Fidelity Observers would then be able to attend the GGC sessions and give specific feedback about the training delivery. Mentoring of the Fidelity Observers is available for an additional cost, and can be done in person (usually $1,200 per visit, plus trainer travel expenses) or by phone consultation ($25 per quarter hour).
- Can an organization obtain assistance with data collection or measurement of outcomes?
There are pre- and post-evaluations for each parent session built in to the GGC Program, to measure attitudinal and behavioral changes. There are also sample longevity survey templates available for use by providers (for 6 months, 1 year and 2 years out). The collection of data is the responsibility of the provider.
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