Programming should start before students are pressured to experiment with risky behaviors and should continue through adolescence. Currently, there are too many ineffective prevention programs that stress knowledge about specific problems and fail to concentrate on the skills and values necessary to help children engage in health-protective behaviors. Effective instruction requires teaching methods that ensure active student engagement, emphasize positive behavior, and change the ways in which children and adults communicate about problem situations. Innovative teaching techniques such as modeling, role playing, performance feedback, and positive reinforcement are critical. Multilevel interventions in which peers, parents, the school, and community members create a learning climate and reinforce classroom instruction are needed to address the widespread social problems of children.
Children grow and develop at home and in the school and community.
Combining environmental support and reinforcement from peers, family members, school personnel, health professionals, religious leaders, and the media increases the likelihood that students will adopt healthier lifestyles. In every environment, greater cultural sensitivity to socio-demographically diverse students must be developed. System-level policies and practices to support program implementation and institutionalization must be developed. It is critical, for example, for teachers to be trained before the program is implemented and for them to be supported and coached for extended periods of practice. Coaching and other teacher supports communicate to teachers that their efforts and their training needs are being noticed and validated.