Past Projects Fact Sheets
Mirame!/Look at Me! – Substance Abuse Prevention Video Series for Hispanic Adolescents
SUMMARY
Mirame!/Look at Me! was a substance abuse prevention program for low-income Mexican-Americans ages 9-13. The theory-driven curriculum featured social role models who demonstrated cognitive-behavioral skills and displayed conservative norms regarding substance abuse. The role models appeared in five-minute videos in each of 18 teaching sessions and were designed to be followed by discussion and social reinforcement from a teacher or volunteer. The videos also were inserted into regular weekly shows provided by TI-IN, a national educational satellite network that sent programming into 1,500 school districts in more than 40 states. The project video also was available each week over the entire school year and was repeated twice. Each program was aired three times a week in 18-week intervals. Programs also were distributed to many cable television subscribers in the United States and Latin America.
FUNDING
Center for Substance Abuse and Prevention, USDHHS
1990-1993
Project No. 1 U88 SPO3369-01
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
- Kipling J. Gallion, MA
IHPR, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (at South Texas Health Research Center for this project)
CO-PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
- Amelie G. Ramirez, DrPH
IHPR, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (at South Texas Health Research Center for this) - Renato Espinoza, PhD
At the Texas Department of Health for this project - Alfred McAlister, PhD
University of Texas School of Public Health in Houston - Patricia Chalela, MPH, PhD
IHPR, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (at South Texas Health Research Center for this project)
COLLABORATORS
TI-IN national educational satellite network in San Antonio, Texas, 30 local agencies and organizations, and 30 school districts in four participating states
LOCATION/SERVICE AREA
California, Colorado, New Mexico and Texas’ Lower Rio Grande Valley
CONCLUSIONS
The program was based on a media format that had been successful in other areas of health promotion and on learning techniques that had been shown to be vital in alcohol, tobacco, and drug prevention. Program development was guided by theory, prior research, and formative evaluation processes that the investigators believed improved young people’s interest in and attention to the communication materials. Unfortunately, resources were not provided to evaluate the project’s effects, experimentally. We know that the program reached a large audience, but accompanying discussions and social reinforcement after the viewings were not consistently carried out by teachers or volunteers. To more thoroughly investigate the potential effectiveness of this approach, future research efforts should be accompanied by more systematic research and evaluation of both implementation and impact.
PUBLICATIONS
- Ramirez, AG, Gallion, KJ, Espinoza, R, ↦ Chalela, P. 1999. Developing a media- and school-based program for substance abuse prevention among Hispanic youth: A case study of Mirame!/Look at Me! Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 1, Suppl 1, S99-104.
- Ramirez, AG, Gallion, KJ, Espinoza, R, McAlister, A, & Chalela, P. 1997. Developing a media- and school-based program for substance abuse prevention among Hispanic youth: A case study of Mirame!/Look at Me! Health Education & Behavior, 24, 5, 603-612.
- Ramirez, AG & Gallion, KJ. 1993. Nicotine dependence among blacks and Hispanics. In CT Orleans & JD Slade & et al. (Eds.), Nicotine addiction: Principles and management. (Vol. xvii, pp. 350-364). New York: Oxford University Press.