An Evaluation of Health Rocks! with a Control Group
Youth substance use challenges their health and well-being. There is research and practical need for rigorous evaluation of substance use prevention programs in prompting positive youth development. This study examined the program effectiveness of Health Rocks!, a youth substance use prevention prog...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Mississippi State University
2024-12-01
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| Series: | Journal of Human Sciences and Extension |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/jhse/vol12/iss3/4/ |
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| author | Dan Wang Yunqi Wang Maria R. de Guzman Yan R. Xia Kieu-Anh T. Do Zhenqiao Yang |
| author_facet | Dan Wang Yunqi Wang Maria R. de Guzman Yan R. Xia Kieu-Anh T. Do Zhenqiao Yang |
| author_sort | Dan Wang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Youth substance use challenges their health and well-being. There is research and practical need for rigorous evaluation of substance use prevention programs in prompting positive youth development. This study examined the program effectiveness of Health Rocks!, a youth substance use prevention program, with a quasi-experimental two-factor mixed evaluation design. We gathered data from 584 participants (i.e., 475 youth in the treatment group and 109 youth in the control group) and conducted paired-sample t-tests for each group to compare youth substance use-related outcomes before and after the training. Results showed that youth in the treatment group reported significant increases in substance use knowledge, perceived support, and assets to make healthy life decisions, whereas the youth in the control group showed no significant differences in these outcomes. These findings, consistent with previous evaluations, highlight program effectiveness and the continued use of post-then-pre-evaluations in practice. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e522098e45464915b51a2025109944fd |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2325-5226 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-12-01 |
| publisher | Mississippi State University |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Human Sciences and Extension |
| spelling | doaj-art-e522098e45464915b51a2025109944fd2025-01-21T15:27:04ZengMississippi State UniversityJournal of Human Sciences and Extension2325-52262024-12-01123https://doi.org/10.55533/2325-5226.1485An Evaluation of Health Rocks! with a Control GroupDan Wang0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1707-2532Yunqi Wang1Maria R. de Guzman2Yan R. Xia3Kieu-Anh T. Do 4Zhenqiao Yang5University of OklahomaUniversity of Nebraska-LincolnUniversity of Nebraska-LincolnUniversity of Nebraska-LincolnUniversity of Nebraska-LincolnUniversity of Nebraska-LincolnYouth substance use challenges their health and well-being. There is research and practical need for rigorous evaluation of substance use prevention programs in prompting positive youth development. This study examined the program effectiveness of Health Rocks!, a youth substance use prevention program, with a quasi-experimental two-factor mixed evaluation design. We gathered data from 584 participants (i.e., 475 youth in the treatment group and 109 youth in the control group) and conducted paired-sample t-tests for each group to compare youth substance use-related outcomes before and after the training. Results showed that youth in the treatment group reported significant increases in substance use knowledge, perceived support, and assets to make healthy life decisions, whereas the youth in the control group showed no significant differences in these outcomes. These findings, consistent with previous evaluations, highlight program effectiveness and the continued use of post-then-pre-evaluations in practice.https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/jhse/vol12/iss3/4/health rocks!youth substance usepreventionprogram effectivenesstwo-factor mixed evaluation |
| spellingShingle | Dan Wang Yunqi Wang Maria R. de Guzman Yan R. Xia Kieu-Anh T. Do Zhenqiao Yang An Evaluation of Health Rocks! with a Control Group Journal of Human Sciences and Extension health rocks! youth substance use prevention program effectiveness two-factor mixed evaluation |
| title | An Evaluation of Health Rocks! with a Control Group |
| title_full | An Evaluation of Health Rocks! with a Control Group |
| title_fullStr | An Evaluation of Health Rocks! with a Control Group |
| title_full_unstemmed | An Evaluation of Health Rocks! with a Control Group |
| title_short | An Evaluation of Health Rocks! with a Control Group |
| title_sort | evaluation of health rocks with a control group |
| topic | health rocks! youth substance use prevention program effectiveness two-factor mixed evaluation |
| url | https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/jhse/vol12/iss3/4/ |
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