Websites
Building a Successful Prevention Program (http://captus.samhsa.gov/Western/resources/bp/index.cfm) is an online resource that provides a seven step description of how to build a successful prevention program. The seven steps are:
- Assess community readiness and mobilize the community.
- Conduct a needs assessment
- Translate needs indicator data into risk and protective factors.
- Conduct a resource assessment.
- Select universal, selective, or indicated strategies.
- Select scientifically-defensible best practices to implement.
- Conduct evaluation planning, implementation, analysis, and use results for future program planning.
Community Tool Box (http://ctb.ku.edu/index.jsp) is a Web site created and maintained by the Work Group on Health Promotion and Community Development at the University of Kansas, in collaboration with AHEC/Community Partners in Amherst, Massachusetts. The Tool Box includes practical guidance for the tasks necessary to promote community health and development. Each section, including sections on Strategic Planning, Designing Community Interventions, and Implementing Community Interventions, includes the following:
- a description of the task
- advantages of performing this task
- step-by-step guidelines
- examples
- checklists of points to review
- training materials
National Implementation Research Network (http://nirn.fmhi.usf.edu/aboutus/01_whatisnirn.cfm) is an institute located at the University of Southern Florida which seeks to improve the science and practice of implementing evidence-based programs. Some of the publications available on its website include:
- Implementation Research: A Synthesis of the Literature
- Understanding Program Developers and Implementers Perceptions of Implementation of Evidence-based Programs and Practices
- Establishing a Framework for the Implementation of Evidence-based Programs
SAMHSA's Prevention Platform (http://www.preventiondss.org/) is a Web site created by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) which includes resources and tools for those working on substance abuse prevention. Areas covered include assessment, capacity, planning, implementation, and evaluation.
National Training and Technical Assistance Center for Drug Prevention and School Safety Coordinators Online Workshops.
Although these workshops were designed for coordinators working in middle schools, much of the information is useful for other school-based and community-based programs.
Implementing Research-Based Prevention Programs in Schools
(http://www.k12coordinator.org/onlinece/onlineevents/implementing/index.htm)
This workshop includes tips, tools, and resources that help participants understand and promote effective program implementation in their schools and districts.
Participants learn to:
- Review the meaning of quality program implementation
- Identify program features that can facilitate the ease and effectiveness of program implementation
- Explore ways to enhance contextual factors that can influence program implementation in school-based settings
- Establish a system for monitoring and documenting program implementation
Identifying Prevention Priorities and Strategies for Success
(http://www.k12coordinator.org/onlinece/onlineevents/priorities/index.htm)
This workshop is designed to facilitate efforts to develop a comprehensive plan for schools. Participants in this workshop:
- Receive an overview of the prevention planning process, with an emphasis on the importance of collaborating with school and community partners to establish prevention priorities and identify appropriate research-based strategies.
- Review a framework for examining needs assessment information and begin the process of establishing prevention priorities and developing long-term outcome statements.
- Learn how research-based approaches to substance use and violence prevention can be incorporated into the school setting.
- Explore factors to consider when developing a mission statement that accurately reflects community priorities, anticipated outcomes, and selected strategies for achieving those outcomes.
Publications Available Online
Conflict Resolution Education: A Guide to Implementing Programs in Schools, Youth Serving Organizations, and Community and Juvenile Justice Settings (http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles/conflic.pdf) by D. Crawford and R. Bodine. Washington, DC: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention and Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, 1996
This guide for educators, juvenile justice practitioners, and others provides background information on conflict resolution education, an overview of four promising and effective approaches that are widely used, and guidance on how to implement conflict resolution education programs in various settings.
Finding the Balance: Program Fidelity and Adaptation in Substance Abuse Prevention: A State-of-the-Art Review (http://modelprograms.samhsa.gov/pdfs/FindingBalance.pdf). Washington, DC: Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, 2001.
This review surveys 125 studies related to fidelity and adaptation balance. The report defines key terms and reviews the relevant research. The fundamental conclusion is that attention to both program fidelity and adaptation during program implementation is critical to successful, sustained implementation of science-based substance abuse prevention programs. In addition, this report proposes guidelines for program implementers and considers several unresolved issues that require attention.
Guidelines & Benchmarks for Prevention Program Planning:
Implementation Guide. Washington, DC: Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, 1997.
This publication is a simple presentation of guidelines and recommendations associated with promising prevention efforts. It reflects the best knowledge available and affords States, communities, and prevention professionals a framework for assessing present and future efforts. It can be downloaded from the Southeast CAPT website at http://www.secapt.org/NewFiles/GuidelinesBenchmarks.pdf
Getting to Outcomes 2004: Promoting Accountability Through Methods and Tools for Planning, Implementation and Evaluation
(http://www.rand.org/publications/TR/TR101/TR101.pdf) by M Chinman, P Imm, and A Wanderman. Santa Monica: Rand Health, 2004.
This manual presents a ten-step process that enhances practitioners’ prevention skills while empowering them to plan, implement, and evaluate their own programs. It was specifically designed to help agencies, schools, and community coalitions improve programs aimed at preventing or reducing drug and tobacco use among youth. The manual includes text and worksheets and can be applied to any type of prevention programming. It includes chapters on needs and resource assessment; goals and objectives; choosing best practice programs; ensuring program “fit;” capacity,
planning, process, and outcome evaluation; continuous quality improvement, and sustainability.
Northeast CAPT FAQs on Program Design, Implementation, and Adaptation
(http://www.northeastcapt.org/PRODUCTS/faq/program_design.html)
This series of FAQs was developed by Northeast CAPT, a project funded by CSAP to support the application of science-based substance abuse prevention programs and strategies at the regional, state and local levels, and enhance collaboration between and within each level. The FAQs include:
- Balancing Fidelity and Adaptation (http://www.northeastcapt.org/products/faq/faq65.html)
- Program Replication (http://www.northeastcapt.org/products/faq/faq4.html)
- Training On Science-Based Programs (http://www.northeastcapt.org/products/faq/faq_68.html)
Predicting Teachers’ and Schools’ Implementation of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program: A Multilevel Study (http://journals.apa.org/prevention/volume6/pre0060021a.html) by J. Kallestad and D. Olweus. Prevention & Treatment, Volume 6, Article 21. 2002
Little is known about factors that predict or affect differences in teachers’ and schools’ implementation of school-based intervention or prevention programs. The main purpose of the present project was to study this important issue. Some important predictors of success in implementation were Perceived Staff Importance, Perceived Level of Bullying, Openness in (Staff) Communication and School Attention to Bullying Problems.
Sustaining Community-based Initiatives
(http://www.wkkf.org/Pubs/CustomPubs/SusComBasedInits/SusComBasedInits.asp)
The W.K. Kellogg Foundation and The Healthcare Forum partnered on these modules designed to help grantees sustain community-based initiatives. Program planning and implementation are discussed in Chapter 6./Module 2. (Implementing Strategies).
