Prevention Services & Programs
Acronyms and Terminolgy Glossary
Sources: Southwest Prevention Center, Partners for Substance Abuse Prevention, a SAMHSA/CSAP
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Safe and Drug-Free Schools (SDFS)
SDFS is the Federal government's primary vehicle for reducing drug, alcohol and tobacco use, and violence, through education and prevention activities in our nation's schools to ensure a disciplined environment conducive to learning. These initiatives are designed to prevent violence in and around schools, and to strengthen programs that prevent the illegal use of alcohol, tobacco, and drugs, involve parents, and coordinate with related Federal, State, and community efforts and resources.
The Safe and Drug-Free Schools Program consists of two major programs: State Grants for Drug and Violence Prevention Programs and National Programs. State Grants is a formula grant program that provides funds to State and local education agencies, as well as to Governors, for a wide range of school- and community-based education and prevention activities. National Programs carries out a variety of discretionary initiatives that respond to emerging needs. Among these are direct grants to school districts and communities with severe drug and violence problems, program evaluation, and information development and dissemination.
The Safe and Drug-Free Schools Program (SDFS) of the U.S. Department of Education is also launching an expert panel process to identify, validate, and recommend to the Secretary of Education those programs that should be promoted nationally as promising and exemplary. This Expert Panel oversees a valid and reliable process for identifying exemplary school-based programs that promote safe, disciplined, and drug-free schools. Once programs are designated as exemplary or promising, the Department will disseminate information about the programs and will encourage their use in new sites.
The Expert Panel initiative is a way of enhancing prevention programming by making schools aware of alternative programs that have proven their effectiveness when judged against rigorous criteria.
Science-Based Prevention
A process in which experts use commonly agreed-on criteria for rating research interventions and come to a consensus that evaluation research findings are credible and can be substantiated. From this process, a set of effective principles, strategies, and model programs can be derived to guide prevention efforts. This process is sometimes referred to as research- or evidence-based. Experts analyze programs for credibility, utility, and generalizability. Credibility refers to the level of certainty concerning the cause and effect relationship of program to outcomes. Utility refers to the extent to which the findings can be used to improve programming, explain program effects or guide future studies. Generalizability refers to the extent to which findings from one site can be applied to other settings and populations. Definition source:
http://www.ccapt.org/scibase.html
Lists of science-based programs are beginning to appear in CSAP and other Internet sites, notably in the Centers for the
Application of Prevention Technologies.
Secondary Prevention
Prevention activities designed to intervene when risk factors or early indicators of substance abuse, such as marital strife or poor school performance, are present. This also refers to prevention strategies designed to lower the rate of established cases of a disorder or illness in the population (prevalence).
Stakeholders
A stakeholder is someone who has a stake in an organization or a program. Stakeholders either affect the organization/program or are affected by it. Stakeholders include people who staff a program (e.g., management, staff); people who are affected by a program (e.g., clients, their families, and the community); people who contribute to a program in other ways (e.g., contributors, funding agencies and foundations, volunteers, partner organizations, board members, etc.); and people with a vested interest in the program (e.g., politicians, neighbors, etc.).
Strategic Planning
A deliberate set of steps that assess needs and resources; define a target audience and a set of goals and objectives;
plan and design coordinated strategies with evidence of success; logically connect these strategies to needs, assets, and desired outcomes; and
measure and evaluate the process and outcomes.
Strategy
Strategies are types of activities (e.g., policy) that can be implemented to achieve specific objectives and for which a strong evidence base may or may not exist.
Surveys
Surveys are a useful tool for gathering statistical information. Surveys are used to get a general idea of a situation, to generalize about a population. or to get a total count of the aspects concerning a group of people. The information gathered is limited and easier to analyze and offers little or no explanation about the reasons behind the results. Surveys are useful for evaluations that deal with things other than the success of the program (e.g., If an evaluation is in part to identify barriers to participating in the program, questions on a survey may ask about access to transportation, childcare, etc.). A census is an example of a survey.
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Tertiary Prevention
Intervention, also known as treatment, that seeks to address symptoms of substance abuse and prevent further problems. It also refers to strategies designed to decrease the amount of disability associated with an existing disorder or illness.
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Universal Prevention Measure
A preventive measure directed to a general population or general s ubsection of the population not yet identified on the basis of risk factors, but for whom prevention activity could reduce the likelihood of problems developing.
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Wraparound Services
Services that address consumers' total healthcare needs in order to achieve health or wellness. These services "wrap around" core clinical interventions, usually medical. Typical examples include such services as financial support, transportation, housing, job training, specialized treatment, or educational support
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