Study 1
St. Pierre and colleagues (1992) used a pretest–posttest nonequivalent group design to evaluate the SMART Leaders and Stay SMART programs. Fourteen Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) clubs were chosen on the basis of their performance in the pilot study on the effectiveness of SMART Moves. Five clubs offered Stay SMART, five offered Stay SMART plus the 2-year booster, and four served as the control group (offering no prevention program). The 14 clubs were located in cities with populations of 17,000 to 630,000 in every region of the country—many in urban areas, and all in economically disadvantaged areas. For treatment sites, all 13-year-old club members were invited to participate in the program, until 24 youths had enrolled. For control sites, all 13-year-old club members were invited to participate in testing, until 30 youths had signed up. At baseline the average age was 13.6. Forty-five percent of participants were white, 42 percent African American, and 14 percent Hispanic. Seventy-five percent were male.
Three hundred seventy-seven youths were recruited for the study (129 in Stay SMART Only, 121 in Stay SMART + Boosters, and 127 control). Over the 27-month testing period, 161 youths completed all treatment sessions and testing that was required to be included in the study (52 in Stay SMART Only, 54 in Stay SMART + Boosters, and 55 control; a retention rate of 42.7 percent). Using an analysis of variance (or ANOVA), the researchers found that those who dropped out of the study had at baseline perceived more social benefits from using alcohol and marijuana and had more marijuana-related behavior. Researchers also found that those in the Stay SMART + Boosters and the control groups who stayed through the end of the project were predominantly white, while those who stayed in the Stay SMART Only group were predominantly African American.
Outcomes were assessed using a confidential self-report questionnaire administered by program staff for the two program groups and BGCA staff for the control group. Questions addressed attitudes, behaviors, and knowledge of alcohol, marijuana, other drugs, and cigarettes. The pretest was conducted before the Stay SMART program began. Three posttests were conducted: 1) after the completion of Stay SMART (3 months), 2) after the first booster (1 year), and 3) after the second booster (2 years). Follow-up tests were given to participants in the Stay SMART Only condition if they had attended 9 of the 12 sessions. Stay SMART + booster group participants were required to attend 9 of the 12 original sessions, 4 of the 5 SMART Leaders I sessions, and all 3 SMART Leaders II sessions to be posttested. The CrimeSolution.gov review compared the control group with the Stay SMART plus the booster SMART Leaders group. The study authors did not conduct subgroup analyses.