An international evaluation of DARE in São Paulo, Brazil

Introduction: Although Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) has been one of the most commonly used prevention programmes in the United States, few evaluations have shown DARE to be an effective prevention program. DARE (or PROERD) is frequently used in Brazil as well. A central component of DARE is police officers serving as instructors. It was of interest whether the differing context of Brazil, which provides a different social context and differing relationships between youth and police, may yield different findings. Methods: A post-test only, quasi-experimental study was conducted to examine the long-term effectiveness of DARE in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Participants were 1677 students completing DARE in 2003 and 1388 students from matched comparison schools. Results/Conclusion: There was little evidence to suggest that the DARE programme affected student outcomes or mediators of student outcomes. The policy implications of these findings are discussed.