Evaluating substance abuse programs.

The use of drugs by youth and adults in the United States has reached alarming proportions. The evidence of this problem's magnitude is presented almost daily in newspapers, magazines and professional writings. According to Lauro E Cavazos, former Secretary of Education, "The United States continues to have the highest rate of teenage drug use of any nation in the industrialized world." Tobacco, for example, is considered a "gateway drug" to substance abuse. Data from one county in Ohio indicated that in several high schools more than 70 percent of the students used tobacco products

Survey results on drug use released by the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research showed that 33 percent of all high school seniors polled said they had taken at least one illicit drug during the past year; this is down from a peak of 54 percent in 1979. The U.S. Department of Education in 1989 reported that 92 percent of the students in the class of 1988 had used alcohol; 33 percent reported using marijuana and eight percent of the seniors indicated they had used cocaine.

There is little question about the seriousness of the substance problem in America affecting all levels of society and virtually all age groups. In examining the relationship between alcohol consumption and outdoor recreation activities, R. Young and S. Kronus found a positive relationship between drinking and the activities of fishing, hunting, camping and outdoor sports. M.E Stuck found that the popular notion of sport and clean living appeared to be a myth. His study showed that 50 percent of youth who participated in organized sports used beer occasionally or regularly, 28 percent used liquor and 48 percent used marijuana. Seventy-five percent of recreational participants used beer, 63 percent liquor and 54 percent marijuana. Use by non-participants was only slightly higher. S.E. Iso-Ahola and E.D. Crowley studied the leisure pursuits of two groups of children with a mean age of 16.6. They divided the children into two groups, substance abusers and non-substance abusers. They found that substance abusers had a tendency to be more active generally than non-substance abusers. Substance abusers participated more frequently in such physical recreation activities as football, baseball, gymnastics, skate, boarding and rollerskating.

Michael Corwin, Parks & Recreation editor, believed that young adults may become involved with drugs because of boredom, peer pressure and low self-esteem. He suggested that park and recreation professionals should offer solutions to this problem by providing meaningful activities and exposing children to peers who do not use alcohol and drugs. He also emphasized the importance of training recreational personnel in specific substance abuse program skills.

Viable Alternative to Substance Abuse

Robin Kunstler stated that, "If we recognize and accept what substance abusers are seeking, then perhaps therapeutic recreation can help them find a healthier, more long-lasting and more fulfilling means to achieve this, through recreation and leisure." O'Dea-Evans stated that, "Recreation is viewed by addiction specialists as a viable alternative to substance abuse in Illinois: prevention activities focus on alcohol and drug addiction, as well as leisure alternatives." Dwyer, Murrell, Wages and Lisco concentrate more on drug enforcement in parks. Their approach would be to target the producers, dealers and users. They suggest an entrapment strategy which raises some legal questions.

Some efforts are being made by various communities to combat the problem of substance abuse affecting young people. In Detroit a substance abuse recreation league emphasizes exercise as a means to emotional health. In Philadelphia, block parties were held in parks to disrupt drug dealers' activities. The Raleigh North Carolina Parks and Recreation Department has established goals for stopping the sale and use of drugs, including tree pruning and upgrading of lighting in areas of frequent drug use, family recreation programs and counseling. Perhaps the greatest effort in drug prevention programs designed for public leisure service agencies is the National Recreation and Park Association's "Exercise the Right Choice" program begun in 1989.

Michael Corwin pointed out that the goals of Exercise the Right Choice are directed at training professionals to implement anti-drug programs and to inform the public that their local park and recreation department can offer activities and help. Exercise the Right Choice offers a strategy of educating staff, developing policies, implementing specific activities and evaluation.

This study explored a number of variables concerning the extent of public leisure service agency programs directed toward drug and alcohol abusers and/or programs directed toward neighborhoods in which drugs and alcohol are known to be problems. For this study, "substance abuse" means the abuse of drugs and/or alcohol, including tobacco. "Programs" refer to any type of recreational, educational, health or peer program whose purpose is to educate about and/or reduce or eliminate the improper use of drugs and alcohol by constituents of local public leisure service agencies.

Questions were asked regarding opinions on the existence of substance problems in communities; the perceived degree of seriousness of the problem for the agency; and whether agencies should, or should not, offer substance abuse programs. Specific questions were asked regarding the sale and use of alcohol and cigarettes in programs and facilities; sponsorship of teams by bars; cooperative programming with allied agencies; target populations and types of programs offered by the agency and level of staffing and funding for substance abuse programs.

The study surveyed local public leisure service agencies in eight states in the NRPA Great Lakes Region. The states included: Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio and Wisconsin. Therefore, the results are generalizable only to this region of the country. The sample included professionals from local public leisure service agencies identified from a list supplied by the NRPA Great Lakes Regional Office. Of the 1,076 professionals identified, there was a response from 546, for a 51 percent return. Forty-four percent of the respondents represented municipal park and recreation agencies, while park districts made up 26 percent of the agencies; ten percent were identified as county park systems; two percent school systems; two percent special recreation associations; other categories comprised six percent.

Survey Makeup 

The survey instrument was a questionnaire containing 39 questions. The survey was developed by reviewing other studies on substance abuse programs and through discussions with several chief executive officers of leisure service agencies. The questions were primarily fixed-choice with several questions which asked for the agency's operating budget and opinion on the success of their substance abuse programs. The survey was presented to the subjects in a booklet containing eight pages with introductions printed at the top. The questionnaire was pretested with two chief executive officers randomly selected from each of the eight states. A cover letter explained the purpose of the study and the pretest and requested suggested revisions, deletions or additions to the instrument. Several comments were received and incorporated into the questionnaire.

The final survey was mailed with two cover letters, one from the investigator and one from a representative of a state university who would likely be known to the recipient, encouraging the respondent's cooperation. The mailing also included a self-addressed, stamped envelope for easy return. Four weeks after the initial mailing a follow-up postcard was mailed to non-respondents encouraging them to respond. These procedures resulted in a 51 percent return rate.

Descriptive Focus

The study is intended to provide descriptive information upon which decisions may be made and from which individual agencies may critically review their own opinions and procedures as they relate to substance abuse programs. Given this descriptive focus, statistical analyses of these data include only frequency distributions. These distributions were generated for the total responses on each survey item, and some were further broken down for each of the eight states in the NRPA Great Lakes Region.

Several variables were concerned with population ranges, budgets and number of staff and volunteers in the agency. The average population served by the responding agencies was 24,404. The average operating budget was $711,764. The average full-time staff was ten, with a high of 2,014; part-time employee staff numbered 56 and the average number of volunteers was 53. Another general question related to whether funding had kept pace with needs. Sixty-four percent of the respondents indicated that funding had not kept pace while 33 percent indicated it had. When data were further broken down by state, a high of 40 percent of the respondents in Wisconsin indicated funding had kept pace, while only 18 percent in Missouri said it had (Figure 1).

Eighty-five percent of the agencies responded they did not have substance abuse programs, while 15 percent stated they did. When data were further broken down by state, out of all states responding, Illinois led with four percent of the agencies indicating they had substance abuse programs, followed closely by Michigan with three percent; Indiana and Minnesota with two percent; Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin and Ohio, all at one percent (Figure 2).

When asked why they did not have substance abuse programs, the responses were categorized as follows: "Other agencies are doing the job;" "It is not our mission;" 'There is no money;" "We do not have the staff;" "We do not see the need."

Of the 546 agencies responding to the question, "Do you believe substance abuse creates a problem in your community?," 87 percent responded "yes" and 13 percent responded "no." In rating the seriousness of the substance abuse problem in the community, nine percent indicated it was "very serious;" 23 percent "serious;" 47 percent "somewhat serious;" eight percent "not serious;" and 13 percent indicated they did not know (Figure 3).

When asked, "Do you believe substance abuse is a problem for your agency?," 79 percent responded "yes" and 21 percent said "no." Seventy-two percent of the agencies indicated they did not have a policy on substance abuse while 28 percent stated they did. Fifty-three percent of the respondents believe that agencies should offer substance abuse programs while 47 percent stated they should not. In addition, 77 percent indicated they do not plan to offer substance abuse programs. Of the 77 percent who stated they did not plan to offer substance abuse programs, 31 percent believe that such programs should be offered (Figure 4).

Selling and consuming alcohol and cigarettes at public sponsored activities has been a pervasive problem in the United States and has received increased emphasis in recent years both in public and commercial spaces. Respondents were asked if alcohol and cigarettes are being sold in agency facilities and if both are allowed to be consumed during agency sponsored activities. Eighteen percent of the respondents indicated that alcohol is sold and 47 percent stated that alcohol is allowed to be consumed at activities. Eighty-one percent stated that cigarettes were sold in facilities and 46 percent allowed smoking at activities. Seventy percent of the agencies have athletic teams which are sponsored by bars or businesses that sell alcohol. Of that group, 24 percent indicated that team members had taken the pledge not to drink, while 32 percent had not and 44 percent did not know if team members had taken the pledge. Thirty-nine percent stated that sponsorship by bars and businesses that sell alcohol contribute to substance abuse problems while 60 percent felt that such sponsorship did not.

Agencies Mostly Cooperate

Eighty percent of the agencies do cooperate with other agencies in offering substance abuse programs. The agencies are all local, although some are affiliated with national organizations such as the YMCA or Boys' Club. The organizations with which most agencies cooperate are the police (66 percent), followed closely by the schools (56 percent). Other agencies include hospitals, health agencies other than hospitals, YMCAs and Boys' Clubs (Figure 5).

The largest target population to which substance abuse programs were directed was toward grade school children (70 percent), followed closely by school students (64 percent). Forty-three percent were aimed at young adults between the ages of 18 and 30, pre-school children (32 percent), adults between the ages of 30 and 50 (24 percent) and older adults 50 and over (13 percent) (Figure 6).

Respondents were asked into which program categories their population fit. Drug free teens led with 46 percent followed by high risk youth at 43 percent; 24 percent of the program categories were directed at parents and eight percent were directed at children of addicts (Figure 7).

Respondents indicated they offered specific types of substance abuse programs. These programs included dissemination of information (59 percent); general education (56 percent); peer programs (39 percent) and health programs (37 percent) (Figure 8).

Agencies also included substance abuse prevention components in traditional recreation programs. Prevention components were included in 52 percent of general recreation programs, 44 percent of sports programs, 40 percent of fitness programs, 35 percent of peer programs and 15 percent of cultural arts programs (Figure 9).

The vast majority of respondents agreed that their substance abuse programs were successful (84 percent). When asked why they felt their programs were successful, the responses emphasized the educational nature of the programs, the importance of constant communication with their constituents and the availability of qualified staff.

Eighty-six percent of the respondents agreed that more money was needed for more extensive substance abuse programming. The amount of money reported spent yearly on substance abuse programs ranged from a low of $50 to a high of 8210,000 with an average of $4,300. Staff hours devoted monthly to substance abuse programs ranged from a low of one hour to a high of 1,000 with an average of 14.5 hours per month.

The large majority of those agencies offering substance abuse programs feel that such efforts are successful. However, of the 546 respondents to this survey, only 15 percent indicated their agencies offered substance abuse programs. One of the primary reasons advanced by respondents for not offering programs was that they felt it was not their mission. Yet, respondents indicated by a substantial majority that substance abuse was a problem both for the community and for the agency. In addition, while a majority of respondents believed programs should be offered, indications were they would not be. These results obviously raise the question, "Should public leisure service agencies be in the business of offering substance abuse programs or should such programs be better left to other agencies such as police departments and school authorities?" This question is one of policy and may be answered only by the members of governing bodies. Certainly other factors come into play when considering this question. Two factors that were mentioned center on money and the availability of qualified staff. The problem of lack of money might be approached through an aggressive policy of pursuing grants from whatever source may be available.

It was somewhat surprising to find that 81 percent of the respondents indicated that their agencies sell cigarettes, 46 percent allow smoking at activities, 18 percent sell alcohol and 46 percent allow the consumption of alcohol at activities. Much publicity has been given in the popular press recently concerning the hazards of smoking and drinking. Some cities and states no longer allow smoking in public buildings. Many restaurants either set aside smoking areas or no longer allow smoking. Seventy percent of the respondents indicated that bars and businesses that sell alcohol sponsor athletic teams. And 39 percent stated they believe such sponsorship contributes to substance abuse. It is, perhaps, in the best interests of constituents of public leisure service agencies that both recreation personnel and players look to alternative sources of sponsorship for their teams.

We need more information about substance abuse programming. This survey was not designed to analyze the content of substance abuse programs. Such additional information could be helpful to agencies in their planning to approach the problem of substance abuse. The information presented here may serve to enlighten those who have been struggling with the problem of substance abuse both in their community and in their agency.

Editor's Note: This study was partially financed by the Administration and Finance Section of the Illinois Park and Recreation Association. References to accompany this article are available from the author at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Department of Leisure Studies, Office of Recreation and Tourism Development, Rm. 104, Huff Hall, 1206 S. Fourth St, Champaign, IL 61820.

[TABULAR DATA OMITTED]