Center for Substance Abuse Prevention
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Center for Substance Abuse Prevention
The Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) is part of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). CSAP works with states and local communities to help them develop comprehensive prevention systems that create healthy communities.
CSAP Mission
The stated mission of CSAP is to “Bring effective substance abuse prevention to every community.”
CSAP’s Role in Prevention
In fulfilling its mission, CSAP’s role in prevention is to create healthy communities in which people have a quality way of life:
• Healthy work and school environments
• Supportive neighborhoods and communities
• Drug- and crime-free
• Connections with family and friends
What CSAP Does
CSAP provides national leadership in the Federal effort to prevent problems with alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs. In its role to help this nation’s citizens lead happier and more productive lives, CSAP promotes a structured, community-based approach to prevention of substance abuse through its strategic prevention framework (SPF). States and communities can use the SPF-provided information and tools to build their own sustainable and effective prevention infrastructure.
SPF goals are to:
• Build assets and resilience
• Prevent problem behaviors across an individual’s life span
• Promote youth development
• Reduce risk-taking behaviors
SPF uses a five-step process to achieve these goals, including assessment, capacity, planning, implementation and evaluation.
Assessment
In the assessment phase, CSAP helps to define an issue or problem that a project needs to tackle. This phase involves data collection in order to understand the needs of the population, to review available and required resources, and to identify the community’s readiness to address both prevention needs and gaps in service.
Assessment tools include:
• Prevention platform – This is a Web-based platform to assist communities in assessing their needs, readiness and resources. In addition, the platform’s measures and instrument resource can be used to collect data online as well as determine how programs can independently collect the information.
• State prevention profiles – States and jurisdictions can view state funding summaries and prevention resources.
• National outcome measures – These are SAMHSA’s current core outcome measures for substance abuse prevention, treatment and mental health. The tool can be used to find data online or to collect data.
• State juvenile justice profiles – Information and analysis on each state’s juvenile justice system provided by the National Center for Juvenile Justice (NCJJ).
• Find Youth Info program tool database – This database tool contains risk and protective factors listed by: individual, family, school, peer and community, and environment/society where applicable. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Preventing Drug Use among Children and Adolescents provides prevention principles that also risk and protective factors. Statistics and data resources include:
• Monitoring the Future
• National Survey on Drug Use and Health
• Risk and Protective Factors
• The Dawn Report
Capacity
CSAP’s capacity building includes training and education, mobilizing human, financial, and organizational resources to meet project goals. Extensive technical assistance and training programs are provided by CSAP to facilitate adoption of science-based prevention policies, programs and practices and to fill readiness gaps.
Programs, technical assistance and resources provided by CSAP include:
• Prevention platform
• CADCA’s Coalition Institute
• CSAP’s Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) Center for Excellence
• Centers for the Application of Prevention Technologies
• Foundations of Prevention – an online course in core knowledge of substance abuse prevention
• Prevention Education tools – Programs ranging from raising awareness of the dangers of underage drinking to how families can live a healthy, drug-free lifestyle
• Older Americans Substance Abuse and Mental Health Technical Assistance Center
• Online courses – CSAP-designed courses on important subjects such as: substance abuse and older adults, binge drinking on college campuses, violence against women, program evaluation and more
• CSAP Training Library
• Resources
• NCADI – National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information, a resource for information about substance abuse prevention and addiction treatment
Planning
CSAP planning phase involves creating a comprehensive plan consisting of goals, objectives and strategies – all aimed at meeting the needs of the community for substance abuse prevention. In this phase, organizations work on selecting logic models, evidence-based policies and programs, determine costs and resources required for effective implementation.
Planning phase tools include CSAP Prevention Platform and Prevention Pathways. To help in the development of logic models and strategic plans, CSAP makes the following resource available: Environmental Strategies – A Guide to Helping the Prevention Professional Work Effectively in the Community.
Implementation
This phase involves carrying out the prevention plan and identifying and overcoming any barriers to the plan. During implementation, organizations identify evidence-based policies and practices they need to undertake, develop specific timelines and determine ongoing program evaluation needs.
CSAP has effective prevention programs for various groups, including:
• Model programs – information on rigorously evaluated science-based model prevention programs
• Division of workplace programs – resources for employers and others who are concerned with preventing substance abuse in the workplace
• Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) Center for Excellence
• Faith-based and community initiatives
Prevention strategies and approaches include CSAP Training Library and online courses for community-based strategies, online courses for environmental strategies, and the National Registry for Evidence-based programs and practices.
Prevention principles resources include online courses and the NIDA publication Preventing Drug Use among Children and Adolescents: a Resource-based Guide for Parents, Educators, and Community Leaders With recent focus on policy as a prevention strategy, the CSAP site includes a link to Policy: A Strategy for Prevention Planners
Evaluation
Organizations need to evaluate what they do well and areas that need improvement. This CSAP phase involves measuring the impact and effectiveness of programs and practices so that future planning can take advantage of the knowledge gained. Several tools assist organizations in the evaluation stage:
• Prevention Platform
• Prevention Pathways
• CADCA Coalition Institute
• Prevention Management Reporting and Training System
--Suzannekane 22:07, 21 November 2009 (UTC)
