IMPORTANT LEGACY NOTICE: Legacy Programs have not been reviewed by the current National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices (NREPP). The programs in this database were reviewed only under the previous National Registry of Effective Prevention Programs system. This section is intended to be used for historical reference only. If you would like more information about a program listed here, please contact the program developer directly. The program developer of each Legacy Program listed here agreed to post program information on this site.

The Great Body Shop

Brief Program Description

The Great Body Shop (GBS), a curriculum developed by the Children's Health Market (CHM), is a comprehensive health, substance abuse and violence prevention curriculum, preschool through middle school that has been utilized nationally in large inner-cities, medium sized metropolitan cities, suburban communities and rural and remote areas. The GBS curriculum contains a Teacher's Guide, Student Issues, and Parents Bulletins that support ten monthly themes, which are taught through forty lessons. A supplemental Coordinated School Health Kit links the eight components of school health and institutions involved with promoting public health to those that educate youth in order to improve the school environment, quality of health education in the classroom and increase healthy choices by students.

Program Strategies

The content of GBS is divided among ten subjects or tracks, each of which is developed from one grade level to the next according to state and national guidelines. Health topics addressed include Injury Prevention, Personal Safety, Functions of the Body, Nutrition, Community Health and Safety, Violence Prevention, Self Worth, Growth and Development, and the Cycle of Family Life, Substance Abuse Prevention, HIV/AIDS & Illness Prevention, Environmental Health, Consumer Health and Physical Fitness. Each grade level of the program from preschool through middle school is structured so that knowledge, values, life skills, and critical thinking skills are introduced through concepts that are age appropriate and familiar.

Each Teacher's Guide includes a classroom copy of the Student Issue and ten monthly instructional units. Monthly thematic units contain tools which allow teachers to customize their instruction to meet district guidelines and integrate the prevention lessons into other parts of the curriculum.

Time Required

Weekly lessons range in length from 10 to 15 minutes for preschool, 20 to 35 minutes at the primary level to 45 to 60 minutes at the intermediate and middle school level.

Population Focus

The curriculum is intended for children in pre-kindergarten, kindergarten through sixth grade, and middle school.

Suitable Settings

This intervention is suitable for implementation in a school setting.

Required Resources

The GBS Teacher's Guide, Student Issues, and Parent Bulletins are required. Student Issues are published in English and Spanish. Parent Bulletins are available in four additional languages.

Outcomes

The study investigated whether students exposed to GBS 1) use less health risk behaviors compared to the control, 2) experience fewer health risk and more protective factors than the control, and 3) make greater gains in healthy behaviors and risk/protective factors than controls. Results indicated that:

• Students with greater exposure to GBS reported significantly lower use of alcohol, cigarettes, marijuana, and other substances than comparison students not exposed to GBS.
• Students with greater exposure to GBS reported significantly fewer violent acts and conduct problems than comparison students.
• Students with greater exposure to GBS reported significantly more family caring, higher self-esteem, lower emotional distress, and less antisocial behavior than comparison students, living in similar communities with no exposure to GBS.
• Students with greater exposure to GBS reported significantly more improvement on the Others Caring scale, the Antisocial Behavior Scale, the School Risk scale, and the Violent Behavior scale when compared to students not exposed to GBS.

Contact Information

For indepth information on this program, please use the contact listed below.

Program Developer

In January 2004, this program was designated as a Promising Program under SAMHSA's previous National Registry of Effective Prevention Programs system.