SCHOOL-BASED PREVENTION OF ANABOLIC STEROID USE

Anabolic steroid (AS) use has many detrimental health effects.
Nevertheless, adolescent use, especially among those engaged in high
school (HS) football, is increasing. AS availability has varied between
32 and 60%, with use increasing from 1.1% to 5.7% during the period
1987-1991 in the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area. During 1987, for
every 36 HS football players claiming steroid availability, one student
used AS. This increased to one player using AS for every 6 reporting
availability in 1991. Over 250,000 adolescents are using or have used
AS in the United States. The aim of this proposal is to develop and
evaluate a school-based AS prevention program designed to prevent
initiation and use of AS and other drugs among high risk adolescents.
The intervention is based on five years of prospective prevention
research and uses a multidimensional, cognitive-behavioral approach,
including knowledge of AS, promoting AS alternatives (nutrition and
exercise), and resistance and communication skill training. The program
intervenes at the individual, peer, adult and environmental levels. In study years 02, 03, 04, and 05 all students engaged in football at 36
high schools will be randomly assigned by school to one of two groups:
1) a 20 session intervention: 12 in a classroom setting and 8 weekly
exercise training periods or 2) a minimum information control. Intervention components will be delivered by coaches, peers and certified
athletic trainers. The intervention will be repeated annually for new
players, with additional yearly booster sessions for returning athletes
during years 03, 04 and 05. Coaches, parents and peer educators will
receive instruction on program objectives and implementation.
Questionnaires will be administered prior to and after the intervention
and at year-end follow-up, to assess availability, knowledge, attitudes,
intent to use and use of AS and other drugs. Attitudes and behaviors
concerning nutrition and exercise will be examined, along with
demographics, resistance skills, environmental factors, intrapsychic
constructs, peer influences and anthropometric measures. Program
implementation and its effects will be assessed by audiotape, observation
and surveys. The link between mediators targeted by the program
components and reduction of drug use will be studied. The relationship
of intervention components with positive and negative outcomes
(knowledge, attitudes, intent and behaviors) will be determined. The
study will identify protective and risk factors for AS use and provide
an understanding of how and under what conditions AS use can be
prevented.