The NIDA Enters College Project (NECP) proposes to develop a neuroscience and biology of drug abuse and addiction (science of addiction) curriculum that can be easily infused into existing introductory undergraduate college courses in addiction counseling, criminal justice, nursing and social work, and to study its impact on students'knowledge and attitudes. Specifically, the NECP seeks to address four identified problems regarding the dissemination and understanding of the science of addiction research. First, the majority of educational curricula regarding the science of addiction focuses on students in grades K-12 or on professionals practicing in the treatment or prevention fields, with little emphasis on college students. Second, academic programs in criminal justice, nursing and social work do not consistently provide students with adequate information on substance abuse. Third, it is difficult for academic programs to find room in their existing programs of study for substance abuse curriculum. Lastly, there is limited data regarding what academic programs in addiction counseling teach students about the science of addiction. NECP will address these four problems by (a) developing a science of addiction curriculum specifically designed for undergraduate college students, (b) surveying University of Nevada Reno's (UNR) criminal justice, nursing and social work faculty to establish the amount of science of addiction content in current courses, (c) creating a curricular infusion model in order to increase the likelihood of adoption by targeted academic departments, and (d) surveying academic addiction counseling programs to determine the level of penetration of the science of addiction information in courses and curriculum. Dr Paula Riggs is NECP's designated scientist and will guide the content development of the science of addiction curriculum. Development, implementation, infusion, and evaluation of the NECP proposed science of addiction curriculum will focus on the following research questions: Does exposure to the curriculum infusion lead to increased knowledge of the science of addiction;does exposure to the curriculum infusion lead to a reduction of stigmatizing attitudes towards substance abusers;is implementation fidelity associated with student knowledge gain;and, is the reported satisfaction with curriculum (both student and instructor) associated with knowledge gain. Satisfaction surveys will be used for both faculty and students regarding the curriculum while knowledge tests and attitude measures will be used with students (pre and post test administration). Fidelity to the curriculum will be evaluated by instructor self-report and by evaluator observation. Finally, the NECP will use the tenets of technology transfer to increase the awareness of the curriculum and promote its use (e.g. using science to promote the use of science).
NIH ExPorter
NIH ExPorter