ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT. Alcohol and drug use education and prevention continue to be core educational issues. In seeking to inform students at all levels about drug use, the present exploratory study highlights the potential educational use of interactive computer programs for this purpose. Seventy-three college students from two substance abuse classes interacted for at least 20 minutes with a CD-ROM program that was developed to explicitly teach and demonstrate concepts of addiction and recovery. Results indicated that most participants reported increased interest in course material and felt they had learned more about various drugs and their consequences after using the interactive program. Specifically, 81% of the participants indicated that the program increased their knowledge of drug use and addiction. Components of the interactive exercises were also evaluated separately. One implication of the study is that multimedia programs can be effective tools that complement current substance abuse education methods.
