An outcome evaluation of project model health: a middle school health promotion program

Abstract

This article reports findings from the outcome evaluation of Project Model Health (PMH), an intensive in-school health promotion program for middle school students. Promising prevention strategies identified in past research based on social influences theory were combined in PMH, targeting multiple health behaviors in the areas of nutrition, marijuana use, tobacco use, drinking and driving, and sexuality. Results reported in this paper are based on an experimental group of 115 eight graders who were exposed to the 32 hour program, taught by college-age "role models." The evaluation included both an extensive qualitative process evaluation and a quasi-experimental outcome evaluation. The outcome evaluation used both a prior year's cohort and students from a similar untreated school for comparison purposes. While an immediate post-test showed only inconsistent results, a 20-month follow-up resulted in clear positive outcomes for experimental students on measures of cigarette smoking and improved food choices, and ambiguous but positive results on rates of intercourse. Limitations of the methodology (nonexperimental assignment to conditions, reliance only on self-report data) are such that further more rigorous testing of this program model is called for. However, PMH shows significant promise as an effective adolescent health promotion approach.