The SPORT (Alcohol/Drug) Prevention Plus Wellness (PPW) program was provided to 90 middle school students in New York City by counselors during the 2023-2024 academic year.
Students were provided with an online pretest survey before the SPORT PPW lesson and a posttest after the lesson.
Most students were female (58%), 13 years of age (72%), and were White (73%).
Improved Mental Health
Over 1 in 4 youth showed improvement on a key indicator of mental health from pretest to posttest.
After receiving the SPORT PPW program, there was an increase of 27% students who were unlikely or very unlikely to feel so sad or hopeless that they would stop doing some of their usual activities.
There was also a 10% increase in students who were happy a little to a great deal with their current physical and mental health.
Low Substance Use Risk
At posttest, nearly all students were unlikely to try substance use in the future, including:
- Alcohol: 90%
- Cigarettes: 100%
- Marijuana: 99%
- E-Cigarettes: 100%
- Opioids: 99%
In addition, there was an 18% increase in youth who thought that drinking alcohol would harm their health or healthy behaviors.
Positive Program Reviews
Lastly, most students both enjoyed and found the SPORT Prevention Plus Wellness program useful.
A total of 94% of youth enjoyed the SPORT PPW program a little to a great deal, and 94% felt the lesson would help them avoid drug use and improve their healthy habits.
Conclusion
The key findings from these data indicate the one-lesson SPORT Prevention Plus Wellness program can have a significant impact on improving the mental wellbeing of adolescents.