The Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services reports that 10% of adolescents self-report illicit drug use in the past month.  Substance use prevention programming is critical to the prevention, delayed onset, and/or early identification of substance use.  The Life Skills Training (LST) program, developed by Botvin and colleagues, is one of the most successful substance use prevention programs available in the country. It teaches a variety of personal self-management skills and social skills in order to increase perceived self-efficacy and reduce the perceived incentives of substance use in youth and young adults.  

Carroll County was identified as a county to invest in as a part of a Rural Opioid Technical Assistance grant secured by University of Kentucky Family and Consumer Sciences Extension, to provide funding to institute Botvin’s Life Skills Training (LST) program in rural Kentucky counties.   As a part of this grant, Carroll County received approximately $800 in facilitator training at no cost to the county, and $1,140 in program materials to implement the program at Carroll County Middle School.  

The two Carroll County Extension Agents for 4-H and Family and Consumer Sciences were trained to implement the program.  Throughout the course of the 2020-2021 school year, approximately 125 students participated in the 15 lesson program.  On post-test surveys, 93% of Carroll County students who participated in the LST program reported that they would use a relaxation strategy to cope with stress, as opposed to engaging in deviant or unhealthy behavior.  

On a post-test survey, one student reported, “No one had ever told me before about why drugs are bad, or why I should stand up for myself.  I’m glad that now I know what to say if I get pressured to make bad choices or feel stressed out.”