Prevention Services & Programs

Programmatic Information

Strategic Prevention Framework
State Incentive Grants (SPF-SIG)

SPF SIG grants are authorized under Section 516 of the Public Health Service Act, as amended which addresses Healthy People 2010 Focus Area 26, substance abuse.

The SPF SIG program is one of SAMHSA's infrastructure grant programs. SAMHSA's infrastructure grants support an array of activities to help grantees build a solid foundation for delivering and sustaining effective substance abuse and/or mental health services. The SPF SIGs, in particular, provide funding to States and federally recognized Tribes and Tribal organizations to implement SAMHSA's Strategic Prevention Framework in order to:

• prevent the onset and reduce the progression of substance abuse, including childhood and underage drinking,
• reduce substance abuse-related problems in communities, and
• build prevention capacity and infrastructure at the State/Tribal and community levels.

The Strategic Prevention Framework is built on a community-based risk and protective factors approach to prevention and a series of guiding principles that can be operationalized at the Federal, State/Tribal and community levels. Although the direct recipients of SPF SIG funds are States and federally recognized Tribes and Tribal organizations, SAMHSA envisions the SPF SIGs being implemented through partnerships between the States/Tribes and communities.

SAMHSA's Strategic Prevention Framework

SAMHSA's revised approach to substance abuse prevention. One which creates a strategic prevention framework that is built on science-based theory, evidence-based practices and the knowledge that effective prevention programs must engage individuals, families and entire communities.

The new Strategic Prevention Framework presents a step-by-step process that empowers communities to identify and implement the most effective prevention efforts for their specific needs. It also includes feedback to ensure accountability and effectiveness of the program effort.

The Guiding Principles for the Strategic Prevention Framework

The Strategic Prevention Framework is grounded in the public health approach and based on six key principles. SPF SIG grantees are required to base their SPF SIG projects on these six principles:

1. Prevention is an ordered set of steps along a continuum to promote individual, family, and community health, prevent mental and behavioral disorders, support resilience and recovery, and prevent relapse. Prevention activities range from deterring diseases and behaviors that contribute to them, to delaying the onset of disease and mitigating the severity of symptoms, to reducing the related problems in communities. This concept is based on the Institute of Medicine model that recognizes the importance of a whole spectrum of interventions.
2. Prevention is prevention is prevention. That is, the common components of effective prevention for the individual, family or community within a public health model are the same--whether the focus is on preventing or reducing the effects of cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, substance abuse or mental illness.
3. Common risk and protective factors exist for many substance abuse and mental health problems. Good prevention focuses on these common risk factors that can be altered. For example, family conflict, low school readiness, and poor social skills increase the risk for conduct disorders and depression, which in turn increase the risk for adolescent substance abuse, delinquency, and violence. Protective factors such as strong family bonds, social skills, opportunities for school success, and involvement in community activities can foster resilience and mitigate the influence of risk factors. Risk and protective factors exist in the individual, the family, the community, and the broader environment.
4. Resilience is built by developing assets in individuals, families, and communities through evidenced-based health promotion and prevention strategies. For example, youth who have relationships with caring adults, good schools, and safe communities develop optimism, good problem-solving skills, and other assets that enable them to rebound from adversity and go on with life with a sense of mastery, competence, and hope.
5. Systems of prevention services work better than service silos. Working together, researchers and communities have produced a number of highly effective prevention strategies and programs. Implementing these strategies within a broader system of services increases the likelihood of successful, sustained prevention activities. Collaborative partnerships enable communities to leverage scarce resources and make prevention everybody's business. National prevention efforts are more likely to succeed if partnerships with States, Tribes, communities, and practitioners focus on building capacity to plan, implement, monitor, evaluate, and sustain effective prevention.
6. Baseline data, common assessment tools, and outcomes shared across service systems can promote accountability and effectiveness of prevention efforts. A Strategic Prevention Framework can facilitate Federal agencies, States, Tribes, and communities to identify common needs and risk factors, adopt assessment tools to measure and track results, and target outcomes to be achieved. A data-driven strategic approach, adopted across service systems at the Federal, State, Tribal, community, and service delivery levels, maximizes the chances for future success and achieving positive outcomes.

Infusion of the Strategic Prevention Framework

GEORGIA RECEIVED A SAMHSA SPF-SIG AWARD
September 19, 2006

The Georgia Department of Public Health, Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Addictive Diseases, Office of Prevention Services and Programs in Atlanta, Georgia has received the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Strategic Prevention Framework Incentive Grant. The SPF-SIG will support an extensive state/local collaboration to build and implement a data-driven prevention system that provides tools and supports to promote substance abuse prevention and health promotion. The program will create unified structures for local planning and programming, and provide guided funding for local delivery of evidence-based prevention strategies statewide.

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