The other side of the story. Student narratives on the California Drug, Alcohol, and Tobacco Education Programs

Within the context of a large-scale, comprehensive evaluation of the California Drug Alcohol Tobacco Education (DATE) program, this study sought to extend knowledge of student perceptions of prevention education using a naturalistic approach. The constant comparative method was used to analyze 40 focus group interviews of risk and thriving groups conducted in 11 high, middle, and elementary school districts. This article presents three assertions generated solely from 490 "narrative stories" found in the data set. "At-risk" and "thriving" students at all three levels of schooling (a) use "story" to make sense of prevention education, and (b) distinguish use from abuse. High school students of both groups (c) believe that hearing only one side of the substance use/abuse story and strict expulsion policies further alienate students most in need of help. Implications for the use of story as an assessment tool are discussed, as are implications for substance use prevention policy.