Model Smoking Prevention Program

The Model Smoking Prevention Program (MSPP), formerly known as the Minnesota Smoking Prevention Program, is a school-based smoking prevention curriculum for students in grades 4-8 (ages 9-13). The program targets this age group to start primary prevention strategies before the peak years of smoking onset (seventh through ninth grades). The program consists of six developmentally appropriate classroom sessions. Educational strategies include cooperative learning groups, large-group discussions, interviews, role-playing, media use, writing reports, and setting goals. Each session is 45 to 50 minutes long. In a typical lesson, students may participate in a small peer-led group discussion, analyze mock social situations, identify influences to use tobacco, practice resistance skills, participate in role-plays, create antitobacco advertisements, or make personal public commitments to establish their intention not to use. A facilitator's manual contains detailed instructions for each session. Transparencies and handouts are included. Peer leaders participate in a 30-minute training session conducted by the teacher. The peer leadership guide is written specifically for these students and is geared to make their experience successful.

The goals of this program are to 1) help youths identify the reasons kids smoke (peer pressure, advertising, lack of self-confidence), 2) provide youths with resistance tools they can really use, and 3) teach youths the value of social support in resistance through peer leadership activities.

The evaluation results suggest that MSPP has a significant impact on the smoking behaviors of teens. Smoking rates among students in the intervention community were significantly lower following their participation in the program. At the end of 10th grade, 13.1 percent of students in the intervention community were current smokers, compared with 22.7 percent of students in the control group. At the end of 12th grade, 14.6 percent of intervention community students were weekly smokers compared with 24.1 percent of control group students.