Lifekills Training Research Paper

LifeSkills Training

DESCRIBE LifeSkills Training (LST) is a classroom based education and prevention program for middle and high school students about drugs, tobacco, alcohol, and violence. LST informs students of the consequences for engaging in previously mentioned activities, popularizes an anti-drug stance, and teaches students how to deal with peer pressure. This is a thirty session program that spans over three years. Two major sections of LST include Personal Self-Management Skills and Resistance Skills. Personal Self-Management Skills teaches students to self-reflect on their lives, struggles, goals, decisions, behavior, and their decision making process. Resistance Skills corrects common misconceptions students have about drugs, tobacco, and alcohol. In Resistance Skills, students learn how to effectively handle and communicate in peer pressure situations, and identify risky behavior. GOALS The goals of LST are to provide students with the knowledge and support they need to overcome the social pressures accompanying drugs, alcohol, tobacco, and violence, and other risky behaviors such as, sexual promiscuity. LST aims to increase the students’ self-confidence so they will feel empowered to make right decisions. This program also teaches students methods to manage their anger and anxiety, and improve communication and problem solving skills.
HOW ACCOMP GOALS To accomplish these goals, LST certified teachers use a series of approaches to engage each individual student. A few of these approaches are: rehearsal, demonstration, facilitation, reinforcement, and evaluation. LST lessons are based off skills previously learned in the program, so students continue to learn new skills while practicing and referring previous ones. Most teachers incorporate PowerPoint presentations into their lessons, which contain in-class quizzes, worksheets, and homework students must complete to advance throughout the levels. To keep, students receive a student guide book in addition to a stress management audio CD. TARGET POP The target population is geared towards students who have experienced peer pressure, those who have already experimented with drugs, alcohol, tobacco, or violence, and those who have not engaged in such activities. Peer pressure and/or experimentation usually begins in early adolescents with eleven year olds or middle schoolers; which is when LST is first implemented. LENGTH This program has three levels. Level one is the beginners level comprised of sixth and seventh graders, who receive fifteen educational sessions over the course of the school year. Level two participants are the seventh and eighth graders who must complete ten sessions to advance. Level three contains the oldest students of the program, the high schoolers, who will receive their last five, forty minute sessions of LST over the course of ten weeks. OUTCOMES Overall, LST strives to decrease the likelihood of students experimenting with and abusing drugs, alcohol, tobacco, and violence. The program hopes that with the education, resources, and support they provide to students that the likelihood and statistics of students engaging in these activities will continue to decline. IMPLEMENT The majority of LST programs are implemented into willing individual schools or entire school systems.
This is not a required program, it is implemented when school administrators reach out to LifeSkills Training. The process begins online by signing up for online or in-person training classes. Each teacher involved with LST is required to attend and pass training courses for each level. Once teachers become LST certified, they can obtain program materials and may begin incorporating LST knowledge into their everyday lessons, or have a separate class during the school day solely dedicated to LST
material.