Effectiveness Evaluation of Smoking,Drug,and Alcohol Education Courses via Actual Relevant Behavior (The Smoking Education Curriculum MSACS as an Illustrative Case Study)

Abstract

The difference between the pre- and post-actual SDA (smoking, drug, alcohol) behavior of experimental and control groups is suggested as a major criterion for short-term effectiveness evaluation of SDA preventive education programs aimed at high school adolescents. This methodological approach has been successfully applied in the effectiveness evaluation of the newly-developed, knowledge-attitude, value-decision-making, and social competency-based anti-smoking MSACS program. The latter was shown to be effective in reducing the onset of smoking with fifteen to sixteen-year-old Israeli high school students. Based on the results and data analysis of the presented case study, both the program model and the methodology of its effectiveness evaluation appear to be generalizable to SDA education programs, and are proposed as appropriate “first approximations” to be used elsewhere for the same purposes.