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Curriculum-Based Support Group (CBSG)

Public Health & Prevention: School-based
  Literature review updated April 2018.

The Curriculum-Based Support Group (CBSG) program is a preventive intervention for youth between the ages of 4 and 17 identified as at-risk for future substance abuse, delinquency, and violence. The program is delivered in confidential small group sessions led by trained facilitators and is designed to help participants resist peer pressure, set and achieve goals, and make healthy choices. In the study included in this analysis, students in grades 2 through 5 participated in 12 weekly sessions. Each session lasted approximately one hour and group size was limited to 12 students.
 
ALL
META-ANALYSIS
CITATIONS

Meta-analysis is a statistical method to combine the results from separate studies on a program, policy, or topic to estimate its effect on an outcome. WSIPP systematically evaluates all credible evaluations we can locate on each topic. The outcomes measured are the program impacts measured in the research literature (for example, impacts on crime or educational attainment). Treatment N represents the total number of individuals or units in the treatment group across the included studies.

An effect size (ES) is a standard metric that summarizes the degree to which a program or policy affects a measured outcome. If the effect size is positive, the outcome increases. If the effect size is negative, the outcome decreases. See Estimating Program Effects Using Effect Sizes for additional information on how we estimate effect sizes.

The effect size may be adjusted from the unadjusted effect size estimated in the meta-analysis. Historically, WSIPP adjusted effect sizes to some programs based on the methodological characteristics of the study. For programs reviewed in 2024 or later, we do not make additional adjustments, and we use the unadjusted effect size whenever we run a benefit-cost analysis.

Research shows the magnitude of effects may change over time. For those effect sizes, we estimate outcome-based adjustments, which we apply between the first time ES is estimated and the second time ES is estimated. More details about these adjustments can be found in our Technical Documentation.

Meta-Analysis of Program Effects
Outcomes measured No. of effect sizes Treatment N Effect sizes (ES) and standard errors (SE) Unadjusted effect size (random effects model)
ES SE Age ES p-value
Alcohol use before end of middle school
Any use of alcohol by the end of middle school, typically by age 13.
9 1 147 0.000 0.170 9 0.000 1.000
Cannabis use before end of middle school
Any use of cannabis by the end of middle school, typically by age 13.
9 1 147 0.000 0.170 9 0.000 1.000
Smoking before end of middle school
Any smoking of tobacco by the end of middle school, typically by age 13.
 9 1 147 0.000 0.170 9 0.000 1.000
Illicit drug use before end of middle school
Any use of illicit drugs by the end of middle school, typically by age 13. When possible, we exclude cannabis/marijuana use disorder from this outcome.
 9 1 147 0.000 0.170 9 0.000 1.000

Citations Used in the Meta-Analysis

Hedl, J.J. (2009). Reducing interrelated risks for substance abuse, delinquency, and violence: Effects of the Rainbow Days' Curriculum-Based Support Group program. Nonequivalent control group study—Study conducted in 2003; analysis conducted in 2007. Final report: January, 2008 (Rev. ed.). Retrieved from http://rainbowdays.org/docs/CBSGProgramStudy2003.pdf.