A School-Based Alcohol, Tobacco, and Drug Prevention Program for Children: The Wise Mind Study

The Wise Mind pilot study compared the efficacy of an environmental Alcohol/Tobacco/Drug (ATD) prevention program with an obesity prevention program of Healthy Eating and Exercise (HEE) as an active control group for modifying expectancies related to alcohol and tobacco use in children. Four Catholic schools (N = 670 students) were randomly assigned to the treatment conditions (2 schools in each condition). Children were followed over two academic years. At an 18-month assessment, the ATD program resulted in healthier alcohol and tobacco expectancies as compared to the HEE program. Children in the ATD program did not differ from those in the HEE program in alcohol, tobacco, or drug use prevalence. However, prevalence rates of use were very low across all schools. Findings can benefit future prevention efforts with young children and suggest that strategies for preventing continued smoking in this age group are needed.