Media literacy education for elementary school substance use prevention: study of media detective.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

Media Detective is a 10-lesson elementary school substance use prevention program developed on the basis of the message interpretation processing model designed to increase children's critical thinking skills about media messages and reduce intent to use tobacco and alcohol products. The purpose of this study was to conduct a short-term, randomized, controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness of Media Detective for achieving these goals.

Methods

Elementary schools were randomly assigned to conditions to either receive the Media Detective program (n=344) or serve in a waiting list control group (n=335).

Results

Boys in the Media Detective group reported significantly less interest in alcohol-branded merchandise than boys in the control group. Also, studen

SUBMITTER: Kupersmidt JB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5559225 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature