'Keepin' It REAL in Mexico: An Adaptation and Multisite RCT Implementation of a Substance Abuse Prevention Curriculum for Adolescents in Three Mexico Cities.

Sharp increases in substance use rates among youth in Mexico are a major concern, both in Mexico and the US. Although the Mexican government has elevated substance abuse prevention as a national priority, there are few school-based universal prevention programs to choose from that are culturally grounded, empirically tested, and shown to be efficacious. This study aims to address this gap by adapting, implementing, and testing the keepin' it REAL (kiR) prevention intervention in Mexico's three largest cities: Mexico City, Guadalajara, and Monterrey. kiR is a model program for middle school students on the US National Registry of Effective Programs and Practices, shown to be efficacious and cost-effective in reducing substance use among large multi-ethnic and Mexican American samples in the US. The proposed study will leverage the bi-national research team's expertise in developing and adapting kiR and build upon a series of feasibility studies across Mexico which showed that kiR's core elements are applicable there. However, evidence also suggested that further adaptation is needed to enhance the intervention's cultural fit. During the proposed study's Phase 1, students and teacher-implementers in three schools-one from each of the cities-will provide feedback about the original curriculum and identify culturally and contextually relevant scenarios and examples. The bi-national research team-including original kiR curriculum designers-will collaborate to ensure cultural applicability in Mexico and fidelity to core elements of kiR. In Phase 2, the efficacy of the culturally adapted Mexican version of kiR, relative to the original version of kiR and to a control condition, will be tested through an intent-to-treat analysis in a randomized controlled trial with 7,768 7th grade students in 36 middle schools, 12 from each city. The study will investigate and incorporate into the curriculum gender specific experiences with drug offers and appropriate drug resistance strat