PPW Program's Evidence Base

Prevention Plus Wellness (PPW) programs have multiple layers of evidence supporting their efficacy to prevent and reduce substance use/misuse while promoting healthy lifestyle behaviors promoting the mental health of youth and adults.

SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) lists our single-session SPORT Prevention Plus Wellness intervention as an evidence-based prevention program for youth ages 10-17 in the Evidence-Based Resource Guide Series: Substance Misuse Prevention for Young Adults (pg. 66): https://odp.idaho.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/SAMHSA-EBP-Guide-pep19-pl-guide-1.pdf

SAMHSA also lists SPORT PPW as a promising marijuana use prevention intervention for youth 7-18 years old in the Evidence-Based Resource Guide Series: Preventing Marijuana Use Among Youth (pg. 23): https://store.samhsa.gov/sites/default/files/pep21-06-01-001.pdf

The SPORT PPW program for youth and/or the InShape PPW program for young adults are listed in a broad-range of federal, national and state evidence-based program registries and publications, including: 

  • Blueprints for Healthy Youth Development
  • Results First Clearinghouse Database: The Pew Charitable Trusts
  • NREPP (National Registry of Evidence-Based Programs and Practices)
  • Promising Practices Network
  • Child Trends
  • Prevention Matters
  • Excellence in Prevention Strategies List
  • Clearinghouse for Military Family Readiness
  • California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare (CEBC)
  • OASAS

Research evaluating the efficacy of PPW programs has been published in various scientific journals: https://preventionpluswellness.com/pages/research-evaluating-ppw-programs

In addition, PPW programs are screening and brief interventions (SBIs), including the prevention-focused PPW SBIRT (Screening, Brief Intervention & Referral to Treatment), which are identified as evidence-based practices by multiple federal and international agencies, including:

  • SAMHSA
  • NIDA (National Institute on Drug Abuse)
  • American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)
  • NIAAA (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism)
  • WHO (World Health Organization)

The evidence for SBIRT in adolescence has been published elsewhere: https://www.jahonline.org/article/S1054-139X(22)00540-7/fulltext

Prevention Plus Wellness programs also include evidence-informed interventions which are adaptations of our evidence-based SPORT and InShape PPW programs, including programs for adults, parent training programs, and media campaigns.