Reconnecting Youth (RY)
Reconnecting Youth: A Peer Group Approach to Building Life Skills (RY) is a school-based prevention program for youth in grades 9 through 12 (ages 14–18) at risk for potential school dropout. These youth may exhibit multiple behavioral problems, such as substance abuse, aggression, depression, or suicide-risk behaviors. RY uses a partnership model involving peers, parents, and school personnel to deliver interventions that address the three central program goals of Reconnecting Youth:
- Increased school performance
- Decreased drug involvement
- Increased mood management
Students work toward these goals by participating in a comprehensive, sustained, semester-long high school class that integrates small-group work and life-skills training models to effectively enhance the personal and social protective factors of high-risk youth. RY students learn, practice, and apply self-esteem enhancement strategies, decision-making skills, personal control strategies, and interpersonal communication techniques.
High school-aged youth who are at risk of potential school dropout, in grades 9 through 12 (ages 14–18) in suburban, urban and rural areas. Also used with middle-school aged youth.
RY is classified as an indicated prevention program that is intended for high-risk youth and is effective with multicultural groups from diverse racial/ethnic populations as well as monocultural groups. It was adapted in the early 1990’s to address youth at suicide-risk as well as those at risk for potential dropout and drug involvement. Efficacy tests showed that RY worked to decrease suicide-risk factors, drug involvement and poor school performance. RY has been adapted by others for use in alternative high schools, juvenile correction programs, group homes and middle schools.
There are four major components of RY:
- The RY Class—A daily (or block scheduled), semester-long class, taken for credit, and covering 5 units: Getting Started, Self-Esteem Enhancement, Decision Making, Personal Control, and Interpersonal Communication. Teachers administer the 90-sesson curriculum to a class of 10-12 students. A separate student workbook includes over 250 pages of activities, examples and worksheets.
- The Social Bonding Component—Strategies for establishing drug-free activities and friendships and for improving a teenager’s bond to school. School-based as well as community-based activities are used to encourage and support student bonding to healthy, safe behaviors and lifestyles.
- Parent Involvement Component—Connects RY students, parents, and school. Parents are essential for providing support at home for day-to-day life skills learned in RY. Parent support is encouraged through on-going contact between the RY teacher/program staff and the parents.
- A School System Crisis Response Team—A detailed plan with team responsibilities and timelines for school-based suicide prevention and post-suicide intervention; this is geared toward identifying and countering high risk behaviors such as suicide and suicidal attempts.
Training is highly recommended. Program implementation and student outcomes depend heavily on the classroom teacher, coordinator and administration who are required to undergo training to administer the curriculum and provide assistance to participating youth. The classroom teacher is aided by a supportive administration and a trained RY coordinator who provides in-class support through observation and regular supervision meetings. The RY classroom teacher must undergo four days of initial training; the RY coordinator takes the same 4-day initial training plus 1-2 days additional training in teacher supervision, supportive motivation, and how to coordinate the implementation of RY components and monitor implementation fidelity. After the initial training, additional training and consultation is available if requested. In addition to the RY Coordinator and the classroom teacher, there is also a need to involve key personnel in the implementation of the program. They include: administrative staff (e.g., principals, assistant-principals, district personnel), school support personnel (e.g., attendance, student support), and parents. The 1-day Administrator Training (available online soon) is available for this group, and recommended prior to implementation of the intervention. Program implementation requires that all parties meet frequently to discuss implementation. Evaluation is recommended to track implementation fidelity and student outcomes and to support sustained funding.
Reconnecting Youth Inc.
Ms. Beth McNamara, Director
Phone: (425) 861-1177
Email: info@reconnectingyouth.com
Web site: http://www.reconnectingyouth.com/
Copies of the RY curriculum and Student Workbook, as well as evaluation materials may be obtained from Reconnecting Youth Inc., as above.
The cost of the RY curriculum is $299.95 +shipping/handling; the RY student notebook is $24.95 (reduced rates for bulk orders) plus shipping/handling. Additional direct and indirect costs associated with implementing RY include: Staff Costs—i.e., .2 FTE for each RY teacher/class, and .2 - 1.0 FTE for an RY coordinator; Training and evaluation costs (Contact the RY Inc. office: (425) 861-1177; info@reconnectingyouth.com); School Bonding Activities costs, classroom supplies and materials (variable depending on cost of living index and activities chosen).
A quasi-experimental design with repeated measures was used to test the efficacy of the RY indicated preventive intervention. Relative to controls, high-risk youth participating in RY demonstrated the following results:
- 18% improvement of grades (Grade-Point Average) in all classes
- 7.5% increase in credits earned per semester
- 54% decrease in hard drug use
- 48% decrease in anger-control and aggression problems
- 32% decline in perceived stress
- 23% increase in self-efficacy (sense of personal control)
PROCESS EVALUATION
To assess if the RY leader is delivering the class as designed.
OUTCOME EVALUATION
To assess how well the students did in achieving program goals
- Increasing School Achievement:
- Decreasing Drug Involvement:
- Increasing Mood Management:
And the immediate intervention outcomes (the mediators):
- Increased personal competencies (skills)
- Increased social support resources
- SAMHSA National Registry of Evidence-Based Programs and Practices
- Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) Model Programs Guide
- National Dropout Prevention Center/Network - Model Program
- U.S. Department of Education (DOE) - Model Program
- Healthy Communities Institute - Promising Practices Library
- Child Trends - What Works/LINKS
- Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) - Model Program
- Mihalic & Aultman-Bettridge (2004) - Favorable Program
- National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) - Effective Program
- Title V (OJJDP) - Effective Program
- Exemplary Substance Abuse Prevention Awards (2000) presented at the U.S. Congress - Model Progam
Eggert, L. L., Nicholas, L. J., Owen, L. (2004). Reconnecting Youth: Peer Group Approach to Building Life Skills. 2nd Ed. Bloomington, IN: National Educational Service.
Eggert, L. L., Thompson, E. A., & Herting, J. R. (2001). Reconnecting youth to prevent drug abuse, school dropout and suicidal behaviors among high-risk youth. In E. F. Wagner & H. B.
Waldron (Eds.), Innovations in adolescent substance abuse interventions (pp. 51-84). Amsterdam, Netherlands: Pergamon/Elsevier Science Inc.
Eggert, L. L. (1998). Reconnecting youth: An indicated prevention program. In National Conference on Drug Abuse Prevention Research: Presentations, Papers, and Recommendations. NIH Publication #98-4293. Rockville, MD: DHHS, NIA, NIDA.
Eggert, L. L., & Kumpfer, K. L. (1997). Drug abuse prevention for at-risk individuals (NIH Publication No. 97-4115). Rockville, MD: Office of Science Policy and Communication, National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Eggert L. L., Thomson, E. A., Herting, J. R., & Nicholas, L. J. (1995). Reducing suicide potential among high-risk youth: Tests of a school-based prevention program. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 25, 276–296.
Eggert L. L., Thompson E. A. , Herting J. R. & Nicholas L. J. (1994). Prevention research program: Reconnecting at-risk youth. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 15, 107–135.
Eggert, L. L., & Herting, J. R. (1991). Preventing teenage drug abuse: Exploratory effects of network social support. Youth and Society, 22(4), 482-524.
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