Center for Health Communication & Marketing

Place-Based Social Marketing to Prevent Urban Youth Party Drug Use

We are developing and testing an innovative, participatory, community-based approach to reduce drug and alcohol use among inner-city youth (age 16-20). We are producing a series of shows at a local entertainment venue using local artists. The “Xperience” performances and visual art products contain messages about the risks of club drug use (including alcohol, marijuana, ecstasy, and angel dust) to prevent an increase in substance use over time. The study uses critical components of urban youth culture to deliver the drug prevention messages by demonstrating the fun in attending substance-free events, promoting and supporting substance-free group norms, and providing an opportunity for local celebrities to endorse substance free choices.

The project is a collaborative effort between an experienced team at the community-based Institute for Community Research (ICR) located in Hartford, CT, and investigators at UConn.

The project will provide a model for replicating this intervention by community or municipal organizations in other cities.

A manual will be produced to assist these organizations in conducting similar interventions and producing public service announcements, songs and spoken performances. Promotional information dissemination will be accomplished through web-streaming technology, print media and promotional object giveaways.

Project Director: Dr. Jean Schensul, Institute for Community Research (Hartford, CT)