Higher Ed
Prescription Drugs
Prescription Drugs is an interactive role-play simulation to prepare students to make healthy decisions that support themselves and peers. Students assess misconceptions about prescription drug use; learn to safely use, store and dispose of their prescriptions; practice applying refusal skills and explore help-seeking strategies for themselves and friends.
Market:
Higher Ed
Audience:
Student
Topic:
Alcohol and Substance Use
Duration:
30 Minutes
Overview
Adults ages 18-25 misuse prescription drugs more than any other age group, and prescription drug misuse has become a major concern among college students. More than 40% of young adults in college report having misused some type of prescription psychotherapeutic drug at least once in their lifetime. This rising trend of prescription drug misuse is paralleled by an increase in adverse health consequences, including emergency department visits and hospital admissions. Substance misuse, both alcohol and other drug, is a primary barrier to student success and academic achievement. It is a root cause of many other related challenges like mental health issues, negative socialization patterns, violence and injury.
Kognito’s Prescription Drugs is an interactive role-play simulation to prepare students to make healthy decisions that support themselves and peers. Students assess misconceptions about prescription drug use; learn to safely use, store and dispose of their prescriptions; practice applying refusal skills and explore help-seeking strategies for themselves and friends. Users have access to customized national, local, and school-specific resources in addition to simulation content.
The goal of Prescription Drugs is to reduce the use and associated risks of alcohol and other drugs on college campuses.
Learning objectives:
- Understand the social norms around drinking and other drugs on college campuses
- Apply strategies that help an individual know when and how to say no
- Examine the risks associated with alcohol and other drug use
- Recognize when and how to refer peers to seek out additional help
- Apply safe, positive, actionable strategies for intervening in situations where alcohol or other drugs are being misused
- Compose a personal positive behaviors action plan
Peer influence and misconceptions: One in four teenagers believe that prescription drugs can be used as a study aid even if the student does not have ADHD.
Refusal skills: Practice refusal skills against diversion and peer pressure, framed around positive relationships and helping a friend.
Safe medication use, storage, and disposal: Two-thirds of teens who misused pain relievers or stimulants in the past year say that they got them from family and friends. Eliminating diversion, teaching proper use, safe storage and disposal of medications diminish opportunities for misuse.
Help-seeking and helping a friend: Understand the signs of addiction and misuse.
Prescription Drugs learning design incorporates evidence-based prevention methods including social norming, refusal skills, and values and goal setting. Research shows that with experiential practice, increased emotional engagement and reflective thinking leads to stronger self-efficacy and behavior change.
Public health prevention specialists, campus wellness professionals, and real students contributed to the simulation content.
Students receive customized feedback based on their in-simulation choices.
The simulation is available online 24/7. Users are asked to complete pre-, post-, and 3-month follow up surveys to assess changes in skills. Attitudes, and behavior. Upon completion, users receive a certificate of completion. Clients have access to usage reports and evaluation data via the Kognito client portal.
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