PREVENTION WITH PURPOSE:

A STRATEGIC PLANNING GUIDE FOR

PREVENTING DRUG MISUSE 

AMONG COLLEGE STUDENTS

JANUARY 2020
This publication was funded by the Drug Enforcement Administration under contract number GS-10F-0406P. 

The content of this publication does not necessarily represent the positions or policies of the Drug Enforcement 

Administration, nor does the mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by 

the U.S. government. This publication also contains hyperlinks and URLs for information created and maintained by 

private organizations. This information is provided for the reader’s convenience. The Drug Enforcement Administration 

is not responsible for controlling or guaranteeing the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of this 

outside information. Further, the inclusion of information or a hyperlink or URL does not reflect the importance of 

the organization, nor is it intended to endorse any views expressed or products or services offered. All URLs were last 

accessed in October 2019.

This publication is in the public domain. Authorization to reproduce it in whole or in part is granted. While permission to 

reprint this publication is not necessary, the suggested citation is as follows: Drug Enforcement Administration. (2020). 

Prevention with purpose: A strategic planning guide for preventing drug misuse among college students. Arlington, VA.

Copies of this publication are available online at www.campusdrugprevention.gov, DEA’s website for professionals 

working to prevent drug misuse among college students.
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 3 

TABLE OF CONTENTS 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 5 

INTRODUCTION 7 

So What Can Be Done? 7 

How To Use This Guide 8 

CHAPTER 1: Drug Misuse Prevention Landscape 10 

History of Drug Legislation and How It Afects Current Campus Drug Misuse Prevention 11 

Current Trends in Young Adult Drug Use 12 

So What Does This Mean? 13 

The Impact of Environment 14 

Higher Risk Groups of Students 18 

Federal Policies That Afect Prevention on College Campuses 20 

CHAPTER 2: Using the Strategic Prevention Framework to Prevent Drug Misuse Among College Students 22 

Strategic Prevention Framework 23 

Cultural Competence 25 

Sustainability 26 

Characteristics of the SPF 27 

CHAPTER 3: How to Assess Drug Misuse on Your Campus 28 

STEP 1: Assess Problems and Related Behaviors 30 

STEP 2: Assess Risk and Protective Factors 33 

STEP 3: Assess Capacity for Prevention 36 

STEP 4: Share Your Assessment Findings 37 

CHAPTER 4: How to Build Capacity to Prevent Drug Misuse on Your Campus 38 

STEP 1: Engage Diverse Community Stakeholders 40 

STEP 2: Develop and Strengthen a Prevention Team 44 

STEP 3: Raise Community Awareness of the Issue 45 

CHAPTER 5: How to Plan a Successful Drug Misuse Prevention Program on Your Campus 46 

Prioritize Risk and Protective Factors 47 

Select Appropriate Interventions to Address Priority Factors 49 

Determine How Many Interventions You Can Realistically Implement 52 

Build a Strategic Plan (or Logic Model) and Share with Your Stakeholders 53 

CHAPTER 6: How to Implement a Successful Drug Misuse Prevention Program on Your Campus 55 

Connect with Key Implementation Partners 56 

Balance Intervention Fidelity and Adaptation 57 

Fidelity: Maintain Core Components 57 

Adaptation: Modify with Care 58 

Establish Implementation Supports 59 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 4 

CHAPTER 7: How to Evaluate Your Drug Misuse Prevention Program 61 

Diferent Types of Evaluation 63 

Four Basic Evaluation Principles 65 

Evaluation Tasks 66 

CHAPTER 8: Advice for Established and Emerging College AOD Misuse Prevention Professionals: 

A Conversation with Dolores Cimini, University at Albany 73 

For Established Professionals 74 

For New Professionals 77 

A Final Note 78 

ENDNOTES 79 

APPENDIX A: Additional Resources 85 

APPENDIX B: Tools, Worksheets, and Tips 89 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 5 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 

The Drug Enforcement Administration appreciates the contributions of the following project staf and reviewers. 

PROJECT TEAM 

Kim Dash, Ph.D. 

Senior Project Director 

Education Development Center 

Sean Fearns 

Chief, Community Outreach and 

Prevention Support Section 

Drug Enforcement Administration 

September Johnson 

Intern 

Drug Enforcement Administration 

Richard Lucey, Jr. 

Senior Prevention Program Manager 

Drug Enforcement Administration 

Rashmi Tiwari 

Research Associate and Senior Writer 

Education Development Center 

REVIEWERS 

Dolores Cimini, Ph.D. 

Director, Center for Behavioral Health Promotion 

and Applied Research 

University at Albany, State University of New York 

David Closson 

Owner 

DJC Solutions, LLC 

Joseph Espinoza 

Associate Director, Fraternity and Sorority Life, Ofce of 

Student Engagement 

University of Denver 

Frances Harding 

Independent Consultant 

Joan Masters 

Director 

Missouri Partners in Prevention 

FEDERAL AGENCY 

REVIEWERS 

Emily B. Einstein, Ph.D. 

Acting Chief, Science Policy Branch 

Ofce of Science Policy and Communication 

National Institute on Drug Abuse 

Paul Kesner 

Education Program Specialist 

U.S. Department of Education 

M. Cornelius Pierce 

Public Health Analyst 

Center for Substance Abuse Prevention 

Substance Abuse and Mental Health 

Services Administration 

(continued next page) 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 6 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 

DEA also recognizes the contributions of the following individuals in the development of this publication. 

David Arnold 

Assistant Vice President of Health, Safety, 

and Well-being Initiatives 

NASPA—Student Afairs Administrators 

in Higher Education 

Eric Davidson, Ph.D. 

Director, Illinois Higher Education Center for 

Alcohol, Other Drug, and Violence Prevention 

Eastern Illinois University 

Diane Fedorchak 

Interim Director, Center for Health Promotion 

University of Massachusetts, Amherst 

Allison Frey 

Health Educator 

Towson University 

Peggy Glider, Ph.D. 

Coordinator for Evaluation and Research, Campus 

Health Service 

University of Arizona 

Stephanie Gordon, Ed.D. 

Vice President, Professional Development 

NASPA—Student Afairs Administrators 

in Higher Education 

Thomas Hall, Ph.D. 

Director 

Orange County Drug-Free Ofce 

Jenny Haubenreiser 

Executive Director, Student Health Services 

Oregon State University 

Sally Linowski, Ph.D. 

Associate Dean of Students 

University of Massachusetts, Amherst 

Jason Kilmer, Ph.D. 

Associate Professor, Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences 

School of Medicine 

University of Washington 

Michael Mason, Ph.D. 

Betsey R. Bush Endowed Professor in Children 

and Families at Risk, College of Social Work, 

University of Tennessee, Knoxville 

Karen Moses, Ph.D. 

Director, Wellness and Health Promotion 

Arizona State University 

Eric Smith 

Director, Health Promotion and Wellness Services 

Auburn University 

Margaret Smith, Ed.D. 

Professor, Public Health/Addiction and 

Pre-professional Mental Health 

Keene State College 

Katrin Wesner-Harts, Ed.D. 

Director, Student Health Center 

University of North Carolina, Wilmington 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 7 

INTRODUCTION 

College is a time of academic discovery and exploration. For many of the 16.8 million students enrolled at America’s 

two- and four-year degree programs each year, the university experience promotes academic growth, fosters new 

friendships, and expands understanding of a world outside the home environment. Approximately 75% of students 

attend four-year residential colleges and universities full time, which means the majority of these young adults are 

living away from home for the frst time.1 

In popular culture, the American college experience almost always includes drug or alcohol misuse as a rite of 

passage. However, despite the widespread use of alcohol and drugs in movies and television shows set on college 

campuses, these media reinforce a false narrative, especially when it comes to drug use. While almost 75% of 

college students report consuming alcohol at least once while in high school, drug use among college students tends 

to start while in college.2 For savvy prevention professionals, the campus environment ofers a unique opportunity 

to prevent the initiation of drug use among college students, the consequences of which can be long-lasting and 

devastating. 

Students often cite FOUR MAIN REASONS that 

college campuses provide a rich environment for 

drug experimentation: 

1. Ease of drug availability 

2. Lack of parental infuence 

3. Normalization of drug use among peers 

4. Low perceived risk of harm from drug use 

Students often cite four main reasons that college campuses provide a rich environment for drug experimentation: 

(1) ease of drug availability, (2) lack of parental infuence, (3) normalization of drug use among peers, and (4) low 

perceived risk of harm from drug use.3 However, for college students who engage in drug use, the personal and 

academic costs can be high, even more for drug use than for alcohol use, leading to gaps in enrollment, prolonged 

time to graduation, and even failure to graduate.4 Numerous studies have found an inverse relationship between 

consuming drugs intended to treat attention defcit and hyperactivity disorders (ADHD) (e.g., Adderall and Ritalin) 

as study aids and academic success.5 In other words, nonmedical use of prescription stimulants does not improve 

academic performance. For a small minority of students, college drug experimentation leads to lifelong struggles 

with addiction.6 

SO WHAT CAN BE DONE? 

Although the prevention feld has spent the last 25 years understanding the complex nature of alcohol misuse on 

college campuses and creating campus-wide interventions, drug use remains, for many college health and wellness 

professionals, an individual issue, despite emerging evidence that the college environment contributes to the 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 8 

 

CHAPTER 1 

 

.

,

.

.

’

, ’

’

INTRODUCTION 

initiation of drug use for the majority of college drug users.7 College is the ideal setting for innovative, campus-wide 

programming aimed at preventing and reducing drug use among college students, but these eforts remain few and 

far between. 

This guide is intended to bridge that gap, by providing a road map for university prevention professionals to 

collaborate with a wide range of stakeholders, from students to administrators, to address campus-wide drug 

misuse issues. We use the Strategic Prevention Framework (SPF) here as the “how to” for systematically measuring 

the scope of drug misuse issues, building relationships with key stakeholders, and planning and implementing a 

drug misuse prevention efort. Developed by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration in 

2004, the SPF is evidence based, widely used, and easily adaptable for multiple health issues. 

HOW TO USE THIS GUIDE 

CHAPTER 1 explores the history of drug misuse from the 1960s until today, 

and how changes in culture, federal and state laws and enforcement, and 

societal norms afect the prevention landscape on college campuses today. 

We will discuss the most commonly used drugs on college campuses and 

explore new and emerging drug trends. Finally, we focus on how the college 

environment can both protect and promote drug misuse and learn about federal 

policies that afect how colleges can address drug use. 

CHAPTER 2 provides an overview of the SPF, with a focus on cultural 

competence and cultural humility, two principles that underlie successful 

prevention work. We will also introduce the concept of sustainability, or 

the process of building an adaptive and efective system that achieves and 

maintains desired long-term results. 

Drug Misuse Prevention Landscape 

CHAPTER 3 dives into the SPF’s frst step, teaching how to assess the scope of drug use on your campus. We will 

explore primary and secondary efects of drug misuse and learn about risk and protective factors for individual 

students and at the campus level. We will also discuss how you can fnd data sources to assess the prevalence of 

drug misuse on your campus. 

CHAPTER 4 focuses on how to build capacity for a drug misuse prevention 

program. We will help you think strategically about your campus’s stakeholders 

and which groups of people you need to connect with to ensure your program is 

successful. We will discuss how to fnd champions to promote your drug misuse 

prevention program and allies to collaborate with you. We will also explore how 

much work you need to do to spotlight issues of drug misuse: How much do 

people know about this issue, and how can you fgure that out? 

How to Build Capacity to Prevent Drug 

Misuse on Your Campus CHAPTER 5 centers on how to plan a drug misuse prevention program. We 

will show you how to prioritize your campus’s risk and protective factors and

how to determine the long- and short-term outcomes for your program. We 

will highlight methods for selecting an evidence-based substance misuse 

CHAPTER 4 

We put a lot of our time and energy in getting the reluctant onboard. Instead, find 

your allies and your partners and start with them and build momentum from there. 

Those people will help you get the other ones onboard, and the reluctant won’t 

matter anymore, because you’re building and growing your program. Shift the energy 

toward your allies and your partners. That’s where the momentum is.

—Diane Fedorchak, Interim Director of the Center for Health Promotion at the University of Massachusetts Amherst

One of the most powerful counterweights to substance use and one of the most 

powerful prevention strategies is to provide students with the challenging and 

rewarding experiences that a college education can provide. If students become very 

engaged and passionate and rewarded by something that is challenging, they might 

not have the time to be distracted by something like substance use that can take 

them off their path. 

—Dr. Amelia M. Arria, Director of the Center on Young Adult Health and Development and the Office of Planning and 

Evaluation at the University of Maryland School of Public Health
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 9 

l l

f

INTRODUCTION 

prevention program that meets your campus’s needs and how to adapt a 

program for your student population. We will provide steps to create a plan of 

action for your prevention program. 

CHAPTER 6 specifes how to implement a drug misuse prevention program. 

We will revisit your list of stakeholders and determine what roles they will play in 

your program. We will consider how to create a consistent program that is able 

to adapt as needed. We will help you think about how you can keep program 

champions in the loop during program planning and implementation. 

CHAPTER 7 provides tools to evaluate a prevention program to determine 

whether it was implemented as planned and whether it is making a diference 

in anticipated outcomes. We will discuss the diferences between process 

and outcome evaluations and fgure out how to determine which evaluation 

instruments can be adapted to assess your program. Lastly, we will think about 

which stakeholders should know about your evaluation results, and publicize success to the campus community. 

How to Implement a Successful Drug Misuse 

Prevention Program on Your Campus 

—Joan Masters, Senior Coordinator of Partners in Prevention (PIP) 

CHAPTER 8 ofers guidance from Dolores Cimini of the University at Albany, a leader in the feld of college 

substance misuse prevention, who provides lessons learned for both relative newcomers to the feld and those 

prevention professionals who have been working on campus for fve or more years. 

Finally, in APPENDIX A, we ofer a list of resources and agencies to guide and inform your drug misuse prevention 

eforts. In APPENDIX B, we provide you with worksheets and tools you can use to work through the SPF’s steps with 

your prevention team. We reference tools throughout the text at appropriate points in the planning process when 

you might use them. The tools in the back are also available in PDF format at www.campusdrugprevention.gov. 

Let’s get started! 

CHAPTER 6 

We should help students to remember that their prevention professionals on campus 

are trained to know the spectrum of evidence-based strategies, but that students have 

a lot of freedom within those strategies. We want them to implement things that 

they can get excited about and get creative about and also get other students excited 

about, potentially having a healthier and safer and more productive and academically 

focused environment.
CHAPTER 1 

Drug Misuse Prevention Landscape 

One of the most powerful counterweights to substance use and one of the most 

powerful prevention strategies is to provide students with the challenging and 

rewarding experiences that a college education can provide. If students become very 

engaged and passionate and rewarded by something that is challenging, they might 

not have the time to be distracted by something like substance use that can take 

them of their path. 

—Dr. Amelia M. Arria, Director of the Center on Young Adult Health and Development and the Ofce of Planning and 

Evaluation at the University of Maryland School of Public Health 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 11 

 

CHAPTER 1: Drug Misuse Prevention Landscape 

History of Drug Legislation and How It Affects Current Campus 

Drug Misuse Prevention 

As Americans, we have a rich pop culture history linking college students and drug use. This association is based on 

historical fact. In the 1960s, the nation saw an unprecedented rise in illicit drug use among young people, including 

marijuana and LSD and other psychedelics. At the time, America was deeply divided, with generational diferences 

not only on drug use, but also on the Vietnam War, sexual ethics, and the Civil Rights Movement.8 

Perhaps the longest lasting change in social norms, however, was around the use of drugs for recreational use. 

Young people, driven by college students, were engaging in recreational drug use in increasing numbers. Lawmakers 

were forced to confront the efcacy of a previously punitive-based system of dealing with illicit drug use, which they 

were fnding to be increasingly unproductive. With over 50 pieces of legislation to deal with various drug violations, 

the system was also incredibly unwieldy. 

In response, in 1970 Congress enacted the Comprehensive Drug Abuse and Control Act. Commonly known as the 

Controlled Substances Act (CSA), this law created the fve-schedule system of drug classifcation that is still used 

now, where drugs are categorized according to their safety and medical utility.9 The CSA also for the frst time 

established a single system of control for narcotic and psychotropic drugs, overseen by what would eventually 

become the Drug Enforcement Administration.10 

Most importantly to the prevention work conducted on college campuses today, the CSA also mandated the 

creation of the National Commission on Marihuana i

 and Drug Abuse. The NCMDA was charged with deepening 

understanding on the causes and efects of marijuana use, as well as providing recommendations to lawmakers on 

how to address the growing normalization of marijuana use across the nation. 

Within two reports written between 1971 and 1973, the NCMDA recommended the government fund research 

into the etiology and pharmacology of drug use, including marijuana and psychedelics, and continue the surveys 

of drug use and norms that they began. Notably, the NCMDA’s frst report (1971) also strongly advocated for the 

decriminalization of marijuana for users (not dealers).11 

The decriminalization recommendation was roundly rejected by President Nixon and set up what continues to be 

a national debate on how to deal with drug use among young people. From Reagan’s War on Drugs that led to the 

incarceration of young brown and black men in the 1980s for crack cocaine-related ofenses to the current push 

for leniency in cases of opioid overdose to widespread public support for medical and retail cannabis legalization in 

states across the nation, the United States has struggled to defne dangerous drug use, who should be punished for 

it, and what should be done about it.12, 13, 14 

This history colors the current landscape we fnd ourselves in as health and wellness professionals on college 

campuses. We must understand this historical context to realize where resistance to our drug misuse prevention 

work comes from and how to efectively advocate for safer and healthier campus communities. 

i The spelling marihuana was popularized in the 1920s by prohibitionists who sought to make cannabis (which until then was the preferred term) sound 

foreign and dangerous. It was used widely until shortly after the passage of the Controlled Substances Act, when the marijuana spelling gained in popularity. 

Today, the growing medical and retail markets increasingly prefer the term cannabis, which refers to the plant itself and does not carry the racist history of 

marihuana/marijuana. Ingraham, C. (2016, December 16). ‘Marijuana’ or ‘marihuana’? It’s all weed to the DEA. The Washington Post. 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 12 

CHAPTER 1: Drug Misuse Prevention Landscape 

Current Trends in Young Adult Drug Use 

In addition to understanding history, we must also have an evidence-based perspective on how young people are 

currently using drugs and alcohol. There are diferences in 30-day prevalence of drug use between young people in 

college and those of the same age who are currently not in college. 

Figure 1. College/non-college student past 30-Day drug use (2018)15 

0 

10 

20 

30 

40 

50 

60 

70 

Non-College

College

Adderall 

(past year) 

Opioids 

(past year) 

Vaping Cocaine Hallucinogens 

Cannabis 

Vaping 

Nicotine 

Vaping 

(any) 

Flavored Cannabis Cigarettes

alcohol 

Five or 

more drinks 

Alcohol 

% of Students Reporting Use 

in a row beverages 

Source: Schulenberg, J. E., Johnston, L. D., O’Malley, P. M., Bachman, J. G., Miech, R. A. & Patrick, M. E. (2019). Monitoring the Future national survey 

results on drug use, 1975–2018: Volume II, College students and adults ages 19–60. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan, Institute for Social 

Research. Retrieved from http://monitoringthefuture.org/pubs.html#monographs 

How Race/Ethnicity Impacts Alcohol and Drug Use by College Students 

White students in general are more likely to engage in higher risk alcohol and other drug use than 

students of other ethnicities. White men, in particular, use alcohol and other drugs more frequently and 

with greater quantities consumed during college and after college compared to other ethnicities.16 

While students of color (particularly those at historically black colleges and universities) consume 

alcohol and other drugs with less frequency and in lower quantities than their white counterparts,17 

these patterns are mediated when students of color socialize in primarily white environments.18 

Students of color in these environments also experience greater harms due to their alcohol use than 

white students at the same institution. 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 13 

CHAPTER 1: Drug Misuse Prevention Landscape 

Figure 1 illustrates that college students and young 

people not enrolled in college use some drugs with 

the same frequency, such as consumption of favored 

alcoholic beverages. Others are more prevalent among 

noncollege students, such as cannabis, cigarettes, or 

using hallucinogens. 

However, college students are more likely than 

noncollege students to have consumed alcohol in the last 

30 days and more likely to have been drunk. When asked 

about their past 30 days usage of specifc drugs, college 

students reported consuming MDMA (i.e., Ecstasy), 

cocaine, and amphetamine as well as vaping (both 

cannabis and nicotine) at higher rates than noncollege 

students. 

SO WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? 

College seems to be a unique environment that 

depresses and exacerbates the use of specifc drugs. 

We will go more in depth into why this happens when we 

discuss risk and protective factors in the next section, but for now, let’s look more closely at trends in drug usage 

among college students. While all campuses are diferent, the national trend data presented here provides a window 

into the changing norms and attitudes that drive drug use among college students around the country. (As a note, 

the following data are presented using “men” and “women,” a refection of survey methodology. The important 

collection of gender nonbinary substance use data continues to grow.) 

ALCOHOL: Alcohol continues to be the most widely used drug on college campuses, with 75% of students reporting 

they had used alcohol in the past year.19 Refecting larger trends nationwide with the growing norm of women’s 

heavy use of alcohol, 40.3% of college women reported being drunk in the last month, compared to 35.5% of college 

men. Similar numbers of college-age men and women reported drinking favored alcohol beverages in the past 

month (31.9% vs. 29.1%, respectively).20 

CANNABIS: It likely comes as no surprise that after alcohol, cannabis is the most widely used drug on campus. 

Almost 25% of full-time college students reported using cannabis at least once in the last month, and 6% reported 

daily use (20 or more times in one month). While monthly use is similar for college-aged men and women, daily use 

is twice as high among men.21 

CIGARETTES: Around 15% of college students reported using cigarettes or small cigars in the past year.22 One in 

fve (20.3%) of college-age men reported using cigarettes in the past year, compared to 12.2% of college women. 

VAPING: Vaping, or using electronic drug delivery systems for both cannabis and nicotine, continues to rise in 

popularity among young people. Among all college students, vaping cannabis is popular, with 20% reporting they 

had vaped within the past year, and 11% reporting they had vaped in the past month.23 Matching nationwide trends 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 14 

CHAPTER 1: Drug Misuse Prevention Landscape 

in the popularity of JUUL and other e-cigarette delivery platforms, one in four college students reported vaping 

nicotine in the past year, with more men (33.7%) than women (22.1%) reporting use.24 With the rising numbers of 

vaping-related lung illnesses, this popular method of drug delivery is ripe for prevention and education eforts.25 

AMPHETAMINES: Nonprescription use of amphetamines used to treat ADHD remains steady for college students, 

with 11% reporting use of Adderall within the last year, and 1.3% reporting use of Ritalin.26 Adderall use is higher 

among men than women, while Ritalin use rates are similar for both genders.27 

COCAINE: One in 20 college students (5.3%) reported using cocaine in the past year.28 College men reported higher 

annual cocaine usage (7.0%) than college women (4.3%). 

HALLUCINOGENS: Similar to cocaine, one in 20 college students reported past year usage of hallucinogens 

(5.2%).29 Most commonly used were LSD (4.2%) and MDMA (4.4%). Rates for both are higher for college men than 

women.30 

OPIOIDS (INCLUDING HEROIN): Heroin use, both snorted and injected, was virtually unreported by college 

students of both genders (less than 0.5%). Nonmedical use of opioid-based drugs were similarly low, with 1.4% 

reporting past year use of OxyContin, and 1.6% reporting past year use of Vicodin.31 Rates for OxyContin use was 

almost equal among college-age men and women (1.9% v. 1.4%) and almost three times as high among men than 

women for Vicodin (2.3% v. 0.8%). 

The Impact of Environment 

Environment plays an indisputable role in protecting or promoting health behaviors. College campuses provide 

a unique combination of risk and protective factors with respect to drug misuse among students. We will revisit 

risk and protective factors in Chapter 3 when we work on needs assessment, but for now, we want to provide a 

framework for understanding how these factors infuence college students. 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 15 

CHAPTER 1: Drug Misuse Prevention Landscape 

Risk and protective factors exist in multiple contexts as illustrated in Figure 2. 

Figure 2. Socioecological model32 

INDIVIDUAL 

INTERPERSONAL 

INSTITUTIONAL 

COMMUNITY 

POLICY 

Each circle holds diferent factors that could either put a young adult at risk for or protect against later drug 

use. These factors do not stand alone; they are correlated and cumulative. They are also infuential over time. 

Researchers refer to this cumulative efect as a developmental cascade, meaning that an individual’s collection of 

risk and protective factors can infuence the likelihood of developing substance use disorders.33 

For example, consider two hypothetical high school seniors from the same upper middle class neighborhood 

(community): 

1. A young man with friends who do not drink alcohol (peer) in a family where alcohol is moderately consumed 

(family), without a propensity toward risk-taking (individual) 

2. A young woman with friends who do drink and smoke cigarettes, in a family where alcohol use is moderately 

consumed (family), with poor impulse control (individual) 

Despite the similarities in their communities and in their family’s consumption of alcohol, the two young adults 

bring diferent risk and protective factors with them when they enter college. The young woman has both peer 

and individual risk factors that may infuence her alcohol and other drug (AOD) use in college. Research suggests 

multiple risk factors for alcohol and drug misuse in college (Table 1). 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 16 

 

CHAPTER 1: Drug Misuse Prevention Landscape 

Table 1. Research-supported risk factors for alcohol and drug misuse in college 

Risk Factor 

(Individual) 

Description 

Experiencing fnancial 

stress 

Students who reported experiencing fnancial stress within the last year were 

more likely to use nonprescription stimulants than students without fnancial 

stress.34 

Experiencing stress in the 

past year 

Students who reported higher levels of life stress in the past year were more likely 

to use nonprescription stimulants than students who were not stressed.35 

Adolescent history of 

depression 

Students who reported an adolescent history of depression had a greater 

tendency to misuse alcohol in college. 

Tendency toward 

sensation-seeking 

behaviors 

Students who reported a willingness to engage in sensation-seeking behaviors 

also reported lower perceived harm from alcohol and other drugs. They were also 

more likely to experiment with alcohol and drugs and to engage in higher rates of 

use.36 

Current use of alcohol, 

tobacco, or cannabis 

Students who currently use alcohol, tobacco, or cannabis were more likely to 

initiate use of e-cigarettes (vaping) as a delivery method for nicotine.37 

Risk Factor 

(Interpersonal) 

Description 

Family history of 

depression 

Students with a family history of depression were more likely to misuse alcohol in 

college.38, 39 

Perceived marijuana use 

by peers 

Students who perceived peers as engaging in heavy marijuana use (correctly or 

incorrectly) had a greater likelihood of developing a substance use disorder.40 

Family environment 

favorable to drinking and 

smoking 

Students who reported growing up in families where alcohol and cigarette 

smoking were normalized had a higher likelihood of high-risk use of both 

substances in young adulthood.41 

Perceived peer alcohol 

use in frst year of college 

First-year college students who perceived high-risk drinking as a norm among 

their peers had a higher likelihood of engaging in heavy episodic drinking.42 

Risk Factor 

(Community Level) 

Description 

Campus normalization of 

alcohol and drug use 

While in high school, students who are planning on attending college report 

lower rates of both alcohol and drug usage than their peers who are not planning 

on attending college. Within one year of arriving on campus, however, rates of 

alcohol and almost all other drug use (with the exception of opioids) are higher for 

college students compared to their noncollege peers.43 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 17 

 

CHAPTER 1: Drug Misuse Prevention Landscape 

Lack of parental 

supervision 

For most college students, matriculation into a university represents the frst time 

they have lived away from home and the lack of adult supervision can lead to 

riskier behaviors for some students.44 

Increased availability of 

alcohol and drugs 

Colleges are mixed-age environments where 25% of students are legally able to 

purchase alcohol and, in states where legal, cannabis as well. Combined with the 

lack of parental supervision, this ease of obtaining alcohol and drugs can drive 

high-risk use.45 

Living of campus Research has shown that students who live of campus reported drinking at a 

higher frequency and being drunk with greater frequency than students who live 

on campus.46 

Living in a residence 

hall suite (rather than an 

individual room) 

With more and more colleges designing apartment-like living for their on-campus 

students, it’s important to note that students living in these environments: 

» Are more likely to drink with greater frequency 

» Consume more alcohol when socializing 

» More frequently engage in heavy episodic drinking 

» More frequently drink in their residence halls47 

While it may seem that the college environment is riddled with risk factors, most campuses also confer a wealth of 

protective factors on college students that can be easily enhanced (Table 2). 

Table 2. Research-supported protective factors against alcohol and drug misuse 

Protective Factor 

(Individual) 

Description 

Negative attitude toward 

alcohol 

College students who held negative beliefs about alcohol and its efects were 

less likely to engage in high-risk drinking.48 

Working for 10+ hours for 

salary 

Students who worked a paid job for more than 10 hours a week were less 

likely to engage in high-risk drinking.49 

Abstaining in high school Students who abstained from alcohol in high school had a greater likelihood of 

abstaining from alcohol in college.50 

Religious commitment and 

coping 

Students who reported that they used religion as a coping mechanism for 

stress and who participated in religious communities were less likely to misuse 

alcohol.51, 52 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 18 

CHAPTER 1: Drug Misuse Prevention Landscape 

Protective Factor 

(Interpersonal) 

Description 

Parental monitoring College students who reported high levels of parent engagement in their lives 

during college were less likely to engage in heavy episodic drinking or initiate 

marijuana use.53 

Perceived peer disapproval 

of alcohol and other drug use 

Students who reported abstaining from alcohol cited peer disapproval as one 

of the reasons they maintained abstinence.54 

No family history of alcohol 

misuse 

Students with no history of alcohol misuse showed a decreased likelihood of 

having positive alcohol expectancies or engaging in high-risk alcohol use.55 

Protective Factor 

(Community Level) 

Description 

Involvement in service-based 

extracurricular activities 

Students who reported involvement in service-based extracurricular activities 

such as volunteering reported lower levels of alcohol consumption.56 

Alcohol-free events and 

programming 

Students who attended alcohol-free events and programming reported 

consuming less alcohol that day/night than students who did not attend such 

programming.57 

Living in substance-free 

housing 

Students who either chose or were assigned to substance-free housing had 

lower rates of alcohol and other drug use when compared to students who 

were in traditional on-campus housing.58 

When considering prevention planning, it’s important to do an inventory of your campus and to consider the unique 

risk and protective factors that the campus environment confers upon students. What factors on your campus 

promote alcohol and drug misuse? What factors protect against it? These are questions that will afect your work 

throughout this guide. 

Higher Risk Groups of Students 

In addition to considering community-level risk factors, 

it’s also important to understand the subgroups of 

students on your campus who may be at higher risk for 

substance misuse. Over the past 20 years, researchers 

have identifed certain students who may be more likely 

to use or misuse alcohol and drugs. However, since every 

campus is diferent, it’s important to collect substance 

use data to be able to understand patterns of use by 

subpopulations on your campus. 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 19 

CHAPTER 1: Drug Misuse Prevention Landscape 

ATHLETES: Athletes are more likely than nonathletes to consume alcohol frequently and heavily.59 These 

consumption patterns are consistent for athletes across the college spectrum. College athletes in the Division III 

system consume marijuana and amphetamines more than their Division I counterparts.60 

FRATERNITY AND SORORITY STUDENTS: Research has consistently shown that students in the Fraternity & 

Sorority Life (FSL) system drink alcohol more and have more lax views on the harms of alcohol consumption.61,62

Fraternity and sorority members also report consuming nonprescription stimulants and pain medications, cannabis, 

hallucinogens, and other drugs at higher rates than their non-FSL peers.63 

LGBTQIA+ STUDENTS: Students who identify as LGBTQIA+ experience higher rates of depression, anxiety, and 

panic disorders, as well as higher rates of substance misuse.64 Substance misuse is higher among female students 

with partners of both genders than among males with partners of both genders.65 

STUDENTS WITH CERTAIN MENTAL HEALTH CONDITIONS: Numerous studies have found relationships 

between students with certain mental health conditions and high-risk alcohol and other drug use, with some 

scholars theorizing that these are attempts to self-medicate. Nevertheless, certain drugs are more frequently 

used by students with specifc mental health conditions: depression and cannabis use, anxiety and cigarette use, 

panic disorders and sedatives.66,67,68 While these are not one-to-one correlations, the relationships are of note in 

prevention planning. 

Table 3: How substance misuse afects college academic mission 

One of the best ways to sustain a prevention program’s eforts is to link those eforts to a 

larger set of issues that the college or university president cares about, such as student 

retention and success, student health, campus security, and fscal management. Part of 

your job is to make it hard to remove a drug misuse prevention program, or parts of it, by 

promoting its overall value to the school. 

Health and safety Students who binge drink (more than fve drinks at a time) are more likely to 

report injuries and engage in unplanned sex. Students at schools with high 

rates of binge drinking are more likely to be assaulted by a drunk student.69 

Student retention Students who binge drink are more likely to experience early departure from 

college, and they have less favorable job prospects after graduation.70 Students 

who use cannabis more than fve times a year are more likely to experience 

problems with concentration and miss class than those who do not use.71 

Campus safety Students who binge drink are 3.5 times more likely to experience violence 

than students who do not binge drink. Almost 20% of students also reported 

feeling unsafe due to another student’s drinking.72 

Fiscal management A college’s fnances are adversely afected by students’ misuse of alcohol and 

other drugs, including lost tuition from students who drop out, time spent by 

public safety ofcials and campus administrators on AOD issues, and legal 

settlements for student death or injury due to AOD misuse.73 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 20 

CHAPTER 1: Drug Misuse Prevention Landscape 

Federal Policies That Affect Prevention on College Campuses 

The fnal part of the college landscape that we must understand in order to do efective drug misuse prevention is a 

collection of federal policies that afect our work with young adults on campus. The three most relevant to substance 

misuse work on campus follow. 

Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act 

FERPA provides parents of children under the age of 18 rights to access their child’s educational records at any 

school that receives funding through the U.S. Department of Education. At the age of 18, however, FERPA rights 

transfer to the child who is now considered an “eligible student.” For all intents and purposes, this means the 

student now has control over what any party, including their parents, sees in their educational record.74 

FERPA has implications for the types of interventions that can be done for college students struggling with alcohol 

and other drug use. For example, a student failing a course due in part to their drug or alcohol use is entitled to 

privacy regarding their academic records under FERPA. Rather than a college administrator reaching out to a parent 

for help, the student must initiate and consent to such contact. Understanding the autonomy that FERPA provides 

to students can be instrumental in the development of prevention interventions. 

Health Information Portability and Accountability Act 

Like FERPA, HIPAA afects the amount of information that a school can share about a college student’s health 

information with a parent. Once a child is 18 years old, HIPAA designates them as an adult, and their medical 

information may not be shared without their consent. HIPAA follows state medical privacy laws, which may vary in 

the amount of information that may be shared between adult children and their parents.75 

However, some states have made changes to medical privacy protections under HIPAA in response to the opioid 

crisis. In particular, medical providers may be allowed to contact parents of adult children who do not have the 

capacity to consent to sharing their medical information due to an opioid or mental health emergency. Check your 

state’s medical privacy laws. 

Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act Amendments of 1989 

DFSCA “requires institutions to curb harmful and illegal substance use by distributing a comprehensive policy, 

enforcing alcohol and other drug-related standards of conduct, and implementing strong prevention programs.”76 

Schools must also publish a biennial review of their alcohol and other drug policies and programs. Although 

guidelines have not been updated since 1989, any school that accepts federal funding must comply with DFSCA. 

In the past fve years, studies have revealed that many colleges and universities are not compliant with DFSCA, 

with the most common noncompliance being the failure to produce a biennial report.77 For prevention professionals 

on campus, the most important part of DFSCA relates to the requirement to create and evaluate a comprehensive 

substance misuse prevention program, enact policies to prevent alcohol and other drug misuse, and ensure that 

policy violations are sanctioned consistently. 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 21 

CHAPTER 1: Drug Misuse Prevention Landscape 

Next Steps 

How are you feeling? We’ve gone over a lot of information! We now have a historical perspective on how our 

country’s leaders have thought about drug misuse prevention, research, and policy. We’ve considered how campus 

environments confer unique risk and protective factors on students’ drug use and on groups of students we should 

be thinking about. And we’ve reviewed some federal policies that will afect how we do efective drug misuse 

prevention. 

Now, let’s turn our attention to understanding the SPF and how it can be of use to us in our work. 
CHAPTER 2 

Using the Strategic Prevention Framework to 

Prevent Drug Misuse Among College Students 

Te Strategic Prevention Framework has lasted the test of time. It forces your 

program to be purposeful, strategic, and intentional. Working through the SPF 

helps you make decisions based on data and evidence-based practice. I may be 

doing something diferent than you are but that’s because my data is diferent. My 

prevention program won’t look exactly like yours and that’s okay. 

—Fran Harding, former Director of the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health 

Services Administration (SAMHSA) 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 23 

CHAPTER 2 : Using the Strategic Prevention Framework to Prevent Drug Misuse Among College Students 

Imagine a night on your campus at the beginning of the academic year. The late summer heat still hangs in air, and 

students are not yet busy with homework and tests. Some students are having a party in a residence hall room, and 

at that party, a student overdoses and dies. 

It is not an understatement to say that this situation is a nightmare for college and university administrators. As 

health and wellness professionals, losing a student to overdose is our worst fear, compounded by the almost 

immediate slide into a difcult cascade of events. From the horror of telling parents their child has died to the 

immediate spotlight of negative media attention on your campus to addressing the confusion and distress of your 

student body after the loss of one of their own, a student death from drugs or alcohol afects the whole campus 

environment. 

Yet in the face of these actions, most best practice documents aimed at higher education professionals provide tips 

for how to navigate the immediate aftermath of the tragedy. They advise administrators and faculty on how to help 

students who may be traumatized by the death, whether or not to cancel classes, and how to formulate a media 

strategy that includes talking points for local and national outlets. 

For those of us involved in substance misuse prevention and health promotion, this narrow focus on the tragedy 

itself can feel jarring. After all, we know that most student deaths from drug and alcohol overdoses aren’t one-of 

events. We know the role that environment plays in behavior, and those of us who have been on campus for a 

while have some idea of where “problem” substance misuse behaviors occur with regularity, whether it’s a certain 

residence hall, an of-campus street, a fraternity and sorority residence, or a specifc athletic team or social group. 

Most of us yearn to understand more about why and how this could have happened. 

However, in the aftermath of a tragedy like this, we are usually asked by administrators to do something to make 

sure it doesn’t happen again: buy an online drug education program, give a talk in a residence hall, or create an ad 

campaign about the dangers of a drug. 

And although we know there must be a more measured and intentional method to address the underlying alcohol or 

other drug issue on campus, it can also feel impossible to slow the momentum and reassure worried administrators 

and parents. This is where the SPF can be useful in shifting the conversation. 

Strategic Prevention Framework 

Developed by SAMHSA in 2004, the SPF is a fve-step process that provides a method to design and deliver a 

culturally appropriate, efective, and sustainable prevention program. 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 24 

CHAPTER 2 : Using the Strategic Prevention Framework to Prevent Drug Misuse Among College Students 

Strategic Prevention Framework (SPF) 

Rather than jumping to a solution for a substance misuse issue, the SPF guides prevention practitioners 

through a process that answers the following questions: 

What is the 

problem? 

What do I have 

to work with? 

What should I do, 

and how should 

I do it? 

How can I put my 

plan into action? 

Is my plan 

succeeding? 

In answering these questions, prevention practitioners gain a deeper understanding of the complexities that 

underlie substance misuse issues, from individual risk factors to environments where misuse is more likely to occur. 

More importantly, the SPF provides a method to build support and foster common understanding in a community on 

the reasons why substance misuse issues are occurring and how best to address them while considering the unique 

characteristics of the community. 

Figure 3. Strategic Prevention Framework 

The fve questions listed above relate to the 

fve steps of the SPF, which will be detailed in 

individual chapters in the guide: 

STEP 1: Assessment. Identify local prevention 

needs based on data. Related question: What is 

the problem? 

STEP 2: Capacity. Build local resources and 

readiness to address prevention needs. Related 

question: What do I have to work with? 

STEP 3: Planning. Find out what works to 

address prevention needs and how to do it well. 

Related question: What should I do, and how 

should I do it? 

STEP 4: Implementation. Deliver evidence-based interventions as needed. 

Related question: How can I put my plan into action? 

STEP 5: Evaluation. Examine the process and outcomes of interventions. 

Related question: Is my plan succeeding? 

Sustainability 

and Cultural 

Competence 

Assessment 

Capacity

Implementation Planning 

Evaluation 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 25 

CHAPTER 2 : Using the Strategic Prevention Framework to Prevent Drug Misuse Among College Students 

All of the steps are guided by two central principles—cultural competence and sustainability—which should be 

integrated into each step of the SPF. 

Cultural Competence 

Cultural competence describes the ability of an individual or organization to interact efectively with members of 

diverse population groups. At a college or university, this means understanding that specifc student communities 

on your campus may have very diferent ways of thinking about and understanding a substance misuse issue. For 

example: 

» Consider the terms and phrases used by a student community when discussing substance misuse problems 

and related behaviors. 

» Look for prevention interventions that have been developed for and evaluated with an audience similar to your 

student population. 

» Develop case examples that refect students’ life experiences to supplement an intervention that is already 

underway. 

» Conduct follow-up interviews with students to understand program evaluation fndings. 

At every step of the SPF, remember to consider the campus culture as a whole, as well as the specifc student 

communities within the campus, to ensure that diverse members on your campus actively participate in, feel 

comfortable with, and beneft from your prevention practices. 

One way to work toward cultural competence is to practice cultural humility,

78 or the active practice of dismantling 

the biases and beliefs that we, as individuals, bring to our work with students and student groups on our campuses. 

Practicing cultural humility also means taking a close look at the historical biases and belief systems that operate on 

our campuses and working to dismantle those systems as well. For example, when working with fraternity or sorority 

students, our interactions are infuenced by our own experiences, whether positive, negative, or neutral, with these 

groups. They are also afected by the cultural history and perceived value of fraternity and sorority groups on our 

campus. Cultural humility refers to a process of both personal and institutional self-refection and self-exploration to 

ensure that we are learning from others rather than assuming or ascribing beliefs or values to individuals or groups. 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 26 

CHAPTER 2 : Using the Strategic Prevention Framework to Prevent Drug Misuse Among College Students 

Check In: How I Let Go of Preconceptions About a Student 

Group in my Prevention Work 

As health and wellness professionals on college campuses, many of you are typically master’s or doctorallevel educated. Plainly stated: You have attended many years of school. After so much schooling, it’s likely 

that you have ideas or beliefs about certain groups of students on campus. 

To do efective prevention, however, you must start as close as you can with a blank slate and use hard data 

and objective evidence to drive your strategic planning. 

The following questions will help you start to think through your educational history and biases and allow you 

to work toward dismantling them: 

» How is the campus I work at diferent from my own undergraduate institution? Which type of 

institution is “better” or “worse”? How did I determine that? 

» How do I feel about students who join fraternities and sororities? What is the value of these groups 

on a college campus? How do I know that? What personal interactions have I had with students in 

fraternities and sororities? 

» How do I feel about student athletes? How are athletes at large Division I schools diferent from 

athletes at smaller Division III programs? Where did these beliefs come from? What personal 

interactions have I had with student athletes? 

» How do I feel about students who experiment with drugs? What types of students participate in that 

culture? How do I know that? How do my own experiences with drug use (or lack of drug use) afect 

how I see these students? 

Use these questions as a check-in when you fnd yourself drawing conclusions or making judgments about a 

student group or population. Work hard to take yourself and your beliefs out of your prevention planning. 

Sustainability 

Equally important is the concept of sustainability, or the process of building an adaptive and efective system that 

achieves and maintains desired long-term results. To break the cycle of one-of programs and campaigns on your 

campus, you must do the following: 

» Think about sustainability from the beginning. Build community support, show results, and secure 

continued funding for prevention eforts. 

» Identify diverse resources. Look for people, partnerships, and materials to support prevention in unexpected 

places. 

» Invest in capacity. Find ways to teach others how to assess needs, plan, and deliver interventions. 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 27 

CHAPTER 2 : Using the Strategic Prevention Framework to Prevent Drug Misuse Among College Students 

» Build ownership among stakeholders. Communicate and connect with people on your campus. The more 

you inform and involve people, the more likely they will be to help sustain prevention eforts. 

» Identify program champions. Find individuals committed to substance misuse prevention. These people will 

be your program champions. Understand that some people are more excited about prevention—and more 

infuential on your campus—than others. 

» Track and tout outcomes. Use strong evaluation methods to help you determine, and communicate to 

others, which prevention eforts are worth sustaining. 

Characteristics of the SPF 

The SPF is a dynamic and iterative process that encourages practitioners to go forward and backward in the steps 

as a part of planning. For example, if an intervention that is ready to launch doesn’t have the support it needs from a 

key campus group, don’t be afraid to go back and build capacity and buy-in. 

The SPF is also data driven, which undergirds everything from understanding the scope of a substance misuse issue 

to selecting an evidence-based intervention that is appropriate for your student population. As those of us who have 

worked on college campuses can attest, diferent years mean diferent issues with substance misuse: One year, 

students may report increasing use of e-cigarettes, while the next year, nonmedical use of prescription stimulants 

may be on the rise. Prioritizing data at every step of your prevention planning is the only way to know the extent of 

your campus’s substance misuse issues and how to best address them. 

Finally, the SPF is a team-driven approach, which may come as a relief for the vast majority of you on campus who 

do substance misuse prevention on your own. Every step of the SPF benefts from and relies on participation from a 

diverse cross-section of your campus population. These players may change and move in and out of your prevention 

programming process as your campus’s needs change. 

The rest of this guide details each step of the SPF, complete with interactive worksheets and stories from other 

prevention practitioners on campus who have done similar work. 
CHAPTER 3 

How to Assess Drug Misuse 

on Your Campus 

I cannot imagine any case where you have an entire [AOD] survey that is negative. 

Tere are things that the majority of students are doing well, so you need to point 

out the balance between the positive and negative that helps build the true story 

from the data. Burying the data or not collecting it at all doesn’t help anybody. You 

need data to move forward. 

—Dr. Peggy Glider, Coordinator for Evaluation and Research, Campus Health Service, University of Arizona 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 29 

CHAPTER 3: How to Assess Drug Misuse on Your Campus 

For those of you who work every day to protect the health and well-being of your campus’s students, highlighting 

the substance misuse by those students can often feel like yelling into a void. Part of this difculty is built into the 

college environment. A college education prioritizes new experiences and asks students to challenge long-held 

beliefs, which can make it tempting to see drug experimentation or even regular drug use as exploratory rather than 

problematic. 

One way to overcome this resistance is through the use of data, which also has the added advantage of being 

incredibly valued on a typical college campus. Students are asked every day to substantiate their ideas with data 

and facts, and the professors and administrators whose support you need to move prevention programs forward 

respect and respond to the marshaling of empirical evidence. 

How, though, do you begin the process of assessment? How do you quantify and defne problem behaviors? Coming 

back to the question of cultural humility, how can you work to make sure your own beliefs around drug use and 

experimentation do not color how you view and interpret your students’ drug use? 

When you conduct a substance misuse assessment, you are 

actually engaging in the process of completing four separate 

but related assessments. Specifcally, you need to do the 

following steps: 

1. Assess problems and related behaviors 

2. Assess risk and protective factors 

3. Assess capacity for prevention 

4. Share your assessment fndings 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 30 

CHAPTER 3: How to Assess Drug Misuse on Your Campus 

STEP 1: Assess Problems and 

Related Behaviors 

To begin, let’s start by explaining the diference between problems and behaviors. 

» PROBLEMS refer to the negative efects or consequences of substance misuse, either directly (such as 

overdosing on a drug) or indirectly (such as being less likely to graduate in four years due to drug use). 

» BEHAVIORS (or consumption) are a measure of how people use or misuse a certain substance. Patterns 

of consumption refer to how specifc groups of people use or misuse a substance. On a typical campus, we 

may fnd many diferent consumption patterns for diferent student subgroups. 

It is worth noting that substance misuse can lead to many diferent problems. For example, use of Ritalin as a study 

aid by frst-year students can lead to increased anxiety, decreased academic success, and increased likelihood of 

dependence on the drug.79 

To assess substance misuse and its related behaviors, you must answer four basic questions: 

1. WHAT substance misuse problems (e.g., overdoses, alcohol poisoning) and related behaviors (e.g., 

prescription drug misuse, underage drinking) are occurring on your campus? 

2. HOW often are these substance misuse problems and related behaviors occurring? Which ones are 

happening the most? 

3. WHERE are these substance misuse problems and related behaviors occurring (e.g., at home or in vacant 

lots, in small groups, or during big parties)? 

4. WHO is experiencing more of these substance misuse problems and related behaviors (e.g., men, women, 

fraternity and sorority students, athletes, members of certain cultural groups)? 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 31 

 

CHAPTER 3: How to Assess Drug Misuse on Your Campus 

To answer these questions, you must access the information you have on hand about your students’ substance 

use. In particular, you will need to follow these steps: 

» Take stock of existing data: Start by looking for national college or university data and college-specific 

data already collected by others. Several organizations and researchers collect nationally representative 

samples of college students’ substance use behaviors, including the American College Health 

Association’s National College Health Assessment and the Core Institute’s Alcohol and Other Drug Survey. 

Surveys on your own campus may include those conducted by the campus medical service, the fraternity 

and sorority life office, or student affairs. Many states also have statewide agencies and AOD coalitions 

that may be useful in providing either data for your population or instruments that can be modified for your 

data collection needs. 

» Look closely at your existing data: Examine the quality of the data that you’ve found, discard the 

data that are not useful, and create an inventory of the data you feel confident about including in your 

assessment. 

» Identify any data gaps: Examine your inventory of existing data and determine whether you are missing 

any information (e.g., about a particular problem, behavior, or population group). 

» Collect new data to fill those gaps: If you are missing information, determine which data collection 

method (e.g., surveys, focus groups, key informant interviews)—or combination of methods—represents 

the best way to obtain that information. [Tip Sheet: Data Collection Methods: Pros and Cons; 

Tip Sheet: Strategies for Conducting Effective Focus Groups; Tip Sheet: Tips for Conducting Key 

Informant Interviews Tip Sheet: Potential Challenges To Obtaining Useful Data] 

Once you have all of your assessment data, analyze it according to the following criteria to determine your 

community’s priority substance use problem(s): 

» MAGNITUDE: Describes the prevalence of a specifc substance misuse problem or related behavior. 

Which problem/behavior is most widespread in your community? 

» SEVERITY: Describes how large an impact a specifc substance misuse problem or related behavior has 

on the people or the community. Which problem/behavior is most serious? 

» TREND: Describes how substance misuse patterns and related behaviors are changing over time within a 

community. Which problem/behavior is getting worse/better? 

» CHANGEABILITY: Describes how likely it is that a community will be able to modify the problem or 

related behavior. Which problem/behavior are you most likely to infuence with your prevention eforts? 

Completing this part of the assessment will help you to identify the priority problem on your campus. 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 32 

CHAPTER 3: How to Assess Drug Misuse on Your Campus 

Check In: What Happens If Our Needs Assessment Reveals High 

Rates of Alcohol or Drug Use? 

Let’s face it, collecting data on student alcohol and drug use can feel scary. Many of you probably have an 

impression of your campus’s substance use culture and anecdotal evidence about which students may be 

more likely to use. 

Substantiating all of those impressions with data can feel overwhelming: What happens when everyone 

knows exactly how much alcohol and drug use is happening on your campus? How can you even begin to 

change something so ingrained in your campus culture? 

Shifting your data perspective from fear-based to opportunity-based can take some practice, but it is 

invaluable for efective prevention planning. When interpreting your data, be sure to look for the good: 

» How many students are not using alcohol or drugs? 

» What are the reasons that students give for not using alcohol or drugs? 

» What story is your data telling you? When do students report their highest use? How can you put 

student alcohol and drug use into context with academic demands throughout the years? 

» Are there any drugs that the majority of your students do not use? What are they? 

» What types of protective strategies do you see being used by students who use alcohol or drugs? Are 

they going out with buddies? Do they eat before using? Do they intervene in risky situations? How can 

you build on protective strategies? 

Though the fear of having student alcohol and drug use data “out there” is real, don’t let it keep you from 

collecting the most accurate data you can. After all, you can only identify opportunities for prevention and 

areas where your students are doing well when your data is as robust as possible! 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 33 

CHAPTER 3: How to Assess Drug Misuse on Your Campus 

STEP 2: Assess Risk and 

Protective Factors 

Once you have determined your priority problem, you then need to understand the factors that make it more or 

less likely that your students will experience this problem. You do that by assessing risk and protective factors. 

» RISK FACTORS (e.g., low impulse control, peer substance misuse) are associated with a higher likelihood 

of developing a problem. 

» PROTECTIVE FACTORS (e.g., academic achievement, parental bonding, and family cohesion) are 

associated with a lower likelihood of developing a problem. 

In Chapter 1, we highlighted the diferent combination of risk and protective factors that infuence college students’ 

drug and alcohol misuse. Understanding risk and protective factors is essential to prevention. Since you cannot 

change a substance use problem directly, you need to work through the underlying risk and protective factors that 

infuence the problem. A prevention strategy or program can only make a diference if it’s a good match for both 

the problem and its underlying factors. [Tip Sheet: Protective Factors: Adolescence through Young Adulthood; 

Resource: Risk and Protective Factors associated with Binge or Heavy Episodic Drinking among Adolescents and 

Young Adults] 

Following are some key features of risk and 

protective factors: 

» Risk and protective factors exist in 

multiple contexts (e.g., individual, 

family, peer, and community). 

» Risk and protective factors are 

correlated and cumulative. 

» Risk and protective factors are 

infuential over time. 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 34 

CHAPTER 3: How to Assess Drug Misuse on Your Campus 

To understand this in more detail, let’s consider how risk and protective factors might afect the trajectory of two 

hypothetical college students, A and B (Table 4). 

Table 4: Risk and protective factors of two college students 

Key Features Risk (Student A) Protective (Student B) 

Multiple contexts » Student A entered college with a history 

of cannabis use. 

» Parents used cannabis with her. 

» Peer groups in high school and college 

use cannabis. 

» Student B didn’t use cannabis in high 

school. 

» Parents didn’t use cannabis at home. 

» Student B enjoys school and is excited 

about college, particularly about soccer 

and choir. 

Correlated and 

cumulative 

As Student A enters college, her 

regular cannabis use is causing her 

greater academic problems than she 

experienced in high school. To forget these 

problems and deal with the higher stress 

atmosphere of college, she uses cannabis 

more frequently and regularly. 

As Student B enters college, she belongs 

to several diferent peer groups: a club 

soccer team, an all-women’s choral group, 

and a cooking club. Though some in her 

various peer groups use cannabis, she 

never feels pressured to do so. She has 

tried it twice, and both times, she felt safe 

and cared for by her peers, but the next 

day, she didn’t like the physical efects on 

her body. 

Efect of a single 

factor 

The night before Student A has four 

fnal exams, she hangs out with her 

friends while they study. In an efort to 

concentrate, the group smokes cannabis 

while studying, and Student A passes out 

late at night. She misses her morning fnal 

exams and is groggy during her afternoon 

ones. She fails the semester and has to 

take a leave of absence. 

Student B keeps in touch with her parents 

and has an honest relationship with them. 

She shares her experience using cannabis 

with them, and she is surprised and happy 

to fnd out that her parents aren’t angry 

with her for trying the drug. Her parents 

share their own experiences with cannabis 

and have an open conversation with her 

about how drug and alcohol use can be fun 

but also how to recognize when things are 

getting out of hand. 

Infuence over 

time 

Student A did not come back to college 

and graduate. The efect of her risk factors 

profoundly afected the trajectory of her 

life. 

Student B’s open relationship with her 

parents, her participation in numerous 

college activities, and her self-analytic 

behavior when experimenting with drugs 

and alcohol all work together to protect her 

and keep her healthy. 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 35 

 

CHAPTER 3: How to Assess Drug Misuse on Your Campus 

It is important to note that the underlying factors driving a substance use problem on one campus or among one 

student group may difer from the factors driving that same problem on a diferent campus or with a diferent 

student group. Efective prevention focuses on reducing the risk factors and strengthening the protective factors 

specifc to the priority problem in your campus community and among your student groups. 

Check In: How Cultural Perspectives on Mental Health Afect 

Substance Misuse Prevention on Campus – Voices from the Field 

Currently the associate director of Fraternity and Sorority Life in the Ofce of Student Engagement at the 

University of Denver (DU), Joe Espinoza has spent his career working on the front lines of student support. 

In his previous position as a case manager in the Ofce of Student Outreach and Support at DU, Espinoza’s 

one-on-one work with students facing mental health, academic, and substance misuse issues led to his 

belief in a systemwide approach to prevention. 

Espinoza highlights the disparities in access to mental health care and cultural stigma among students 

from diferent backgrounds as a potential area of intervention by prevention professionals. “We have some 

students who come to us with a history of mental health care. They have been working with a therapist since 

they were young and have a lot of family support for any issues that may arise, including substance misuse,” 

he explains. 

For other students, Espinoza notes that college is the frst time they may feel able to access mental health 

care: “We also have students who feel like they need mental health or substance misuse services but want 

discretion and privacy so their families don’t learn about it.” Some of these students are willing to pay for 

mental health and substance misuse services out-of-pocket to avoid having insurance charges show up on 

family bills, explains Espinoza. 

Espinoza emphasizes the need for low-cost or free mental health and substance misuse services for all 

students. “Like many schools, we end up referring much of our one-on-one mental health and substance 

misuse counseling to of-campus providers due to high demand on campus,” says Espinoza. “We need to 

take into account that we have populations of students who may avoid accessing services if they can’t do it 

privately and inexpensively.” 

However, even with these challenges, Espinoza sees hope in how colleges and universities promote mental 

health and substance misuse services. “We have reached a point where we have reduced stigma around 

mental health so now students are talking more freely about it,” he explains. Increasing access for all, 

Espinoza believes, is a worthy next challenge. 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 36 

CHAPTER 3: How to Assess Drug Misuse on Your Campus 

STEP 3: Assess Capacity for 

Prevention 

Now that you understand your priority substance misuse problem and the risk and protective factors that infuence 

your problem, you must assess your capacity to engage in prevention. Capacity refers to two main components: 

1. RESOURCES refer to anything a community can use to help address prevention needs, such as the 

following: 

» People (e.g., staf, volunteers) 

» Specialized knowledge and skills (e.g., research expertise) 

» Community connections (e.g., access to population groups) 

» Concrete supplies (e.g., money, equipment) 

» Community awareness of prevention needs 

» Existing eforts to meet those needs 

2. READINESS is the degree to which a community is willing and prepared to address prevention needs. 

Factors that afect readiness include the following: 

» Knowledge of the substance use problem 

» Existing eforts to address the problem 

» Availability of local resources 

» Support of local leaders 

» Community attitudes toward the problem 

To assess readiness for prevention, it is often helpful to speak one-on-one with your campus’s decision-makers and 

student leaders. If individuals with access to critical prevention resources are not on board, then it will be important 

to fnd ways early on to increase their level of readiness. 

If your campus participates in institutional assessments, that data can provide a window into the resources that 

currently exist and highlight gaps (e.g., budget, staf) that you may need to address before undertaking a prevention 

efort. Reach out to your campus provost or ofce of institutional research for information on what types of 

assessment data you may be able to access. 

Finally, you can use one of many organizational assessment tools that have been developed in the nonproft sector 

to assess diferent aspects of capacity. The Hewlett Foundation has a comprehensive database of assessment tools 

that may ft your capacity assessment needs. [Tool: Database of Organization Assessment Tools] 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 37 

CHAPTER 3: How to Assess Drug Misuse on Your Campus 

Understanding local capacity, including resources and readiness for prevention, can help you do the following: 

» Make realistic decisions about which prevention needs your campus is prepared to address 

» Identify resources you are likely to need, but don’t currently have, to address identifed prevention needs 

» Develop a clear plan for building and mobilizing capacity (SPF Step 2) to address identifed prevention 

needs 

STEP 4: Share Your Assessment 

Findings 

After completing a thorough assessment of prevention needs and capacity, you must communicate the key 

fndings to prevention stakeholders on your campus. To do this efectively, consider who will be interested in your 

assessment fndings and what format will work best for each audience. The following are some key strategies for 

sharing assessment fndings: 

» Develop a full report: Your campus leaders and some of your prevention partners (such as health and 

wellness, student afairs, and fraternity and sorority life staf, as well as student leaders) will want the 

whole story, and it’s good to have all of the details in one place. 

» Highlight key fndings: Many prevention stakeholders will want to learn about your main assessment 

fndings. Compile key fndings in slide presentations and handouts that you can use for diferent 

audiences. 

» Customize your presentations: As needed, tailor your presentations or handouts by featuring the data 

that are most meaningful to each audience. This is particularly important when presenting assessment 

fndings to key stakeholders, such as campus leaders, administrators, or student groups. If these 

individuals have specifc questions or reservations, be sure to address them. 

» Solicit input from your campus community: In addition to sharing your fndings, it is also important to 

fnd ways for your campus community to comment on those fndings. They can help confrm that you’re on 

the right track with your prevention plans—or shed some light on confusing or surprising fndings and help 

you get back on track. 

Finish Strong! 

Now that you’ve fnished your needs assessment, you should understand the following: 

» The primary and secondary efects of drug misuse on your campus 

» The risk and protective factors that contribute to drug misuse for individual students and campus-wide 

» How to fnd data sources to assess the prevalence of drug misuse on your campus. 
CHAPTER 4 

How to Build Capacity to Prevent Drug 

Misuse on Your Campus 

We put a lot of our time and energy in getting the reluctant on board. Instead, fnd 

your allies and your partners and start with them and build momentum from there. 

Tose people will help you get the other ones onboard, and the reluctant won’t 

matter anymore, because you’re building and growing your program. Shift the energy 

toward your allies and your partners. Tat’s where the momentum is. 

—Diane Fedorchak, Interim Director of the Center for Health Promotion at the University of Massachusetts Amherst 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 39 

CHAPTER 4 : How to Build Capacity to Prevent Drug Misuse on Your Campus 

If you’ve ever been at a higher education conference focused on alcohol and other drug misuse prevention, you 

likely will have seen a presentation that makes campus and community collaboration to address alcohol and other 

drug issues look easy. The presenter runs the university alcohol and other drug ofce and may describe working 

with law enforcement, local landlords, alcohol retailers, and bar and restaurant owners to address alcohol and other 

drug misuse by college students. All of the parties seem to be on the same page and committed to building a healthy 

community for their college-age residents. 

If you’re struggling to get your prevention program eforts of the ground, a presentation like this can feel frustrating 

and demoralizing. How do they do it? How are all their community partners committed to one goal rather than 

blaming one another for the problems caused by college students’ AOD consumption? 

The answer is the diference in the capacity of a community or a campus to take action to address prevention 

priorities (see Figure 4). 

Figure 4. Capacity formula (Capacity = Resources + Readiness) 

Capacity RESOURCES READINESS 

A community needs human resources, which includes people and volunteers as well as knowledge and skills, and 

structural resources, such as policies, laws, and funding. Readiness is a measure of the community’s willingness and 

motivation to address your identifed prevention priority. 

Recall in the last chapter how we focused on fnding your campus’s institutional assessment data to quantify 

these measures. After diving into these data, you may feel that you currently don’t have the capacity to move your 

prevention goals forward—but don’t worry! You can build capacity on your campus and in your local community to 

bolster support for prevention. 

Here are three tried and true methods to build capacity: 

1. Engage diverse community stakeholders 

2. Develop and strengthen a prevention team 

3. Raise community awareness of the issue 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 40 

 

CHAPTER 4 : How to Build Capacity to Prevent Drug Misuse on Your Campus 

STEP 1: Engage Diverse 

Community Stakeholders 

Engaging a broad range of stakeholders is key to unlocking your campus’s capacity for prevention. Prevention 

practitioners on campus need diverse partners—from students to administrators to local community leaders to 

law enforcement—to share information and resources, raise awareness of critical substance use problems, build 

support for prevention, and ensure that prevention activities reach multiple populations in multiple settings with 

multiple strategies. 

The following are some of the diferent campus and community sectors you may want to involve in your prevention 

initiative: 

» Campus leaders 

» Higher education administrators 

» Student leaders 

» Student afairs staf 

» Fraternity and sorority life staf 

» Athletic coaches and staf 

» Campus health and wellness staf 

» Campus law enforcement 

» Local law enforcement 

» Local medical center staf 

» Local alcohol retailers 

» Bar and restaurant owners 

» Local prevention coalition members 

» Local residents 

Are there other partners you can think of? [Worksheet: Identifying New Partners 

Worksheet: Analyzing Existing Partnerships] 

Once you’ve determined the stakeholders you currently have on board and those you’ll need to bring to the table, 

you next need to assess how much efort they can realistically put toward your prevention eforts. Your stakeholders 

will have varying levels of interest or availability to address your prevention eforts—which in no way negates their 

support for your efort. For example, some stakeholders may be willing to help out with specifc tasks, while others 

may be willing to take on leadership roles. Having a clear understanding of how your stakeholders will work with you 

is a key step in building capacity. 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 41 

CHAPTER 4 : How to Build Capacity to Prevent Drug Misuse on Your Campus 

The following are some diferent participation options (i.e., levels of involvement) for prevention stakeholders on 

your campus:80 [Tip Sheet: Levels of Collaboration] 

» NO INVOLVEMENT: Stakeholders engage in separate activities, strategies, and policies. “You do your 

thing; we’ll do ours.” 

» NETWORKING: Stakeholders share what they are doing during interagency meetings; talk about campus 

and community issues in which they all have a stake; or communicate about existing programs, activities, 

or services. “Let’s talk and share information.” 

» COOPERATION: Stakeholders publicize one another’s programs in agency newsletters, write letters in 

support of one another’s grant applications, co-sponsor trainings or professional development activities, 

and/or exchange resources such as technology expertise or meeting space. “I’ll support your program, 

and you’ll support mine.” 

» COORDINATION: Stakeholders serve together on event planning committees and community boards or 

implement programs and services together. “Let’s partner on an event.” 

» COLLABORATION: Stakeholders create formal agreements, such as memoranda of understanding 

or contracts; develop common data collection systems; partner on joint fundraising eforts; pool 

fscal or human resources; and create common workforce training systems. “Let’s work together on a 

comprehensive plan to address the issue. After all, our missions overlap.” 

The next step is to fnd your new stakeholders by doing the following: 

» Call your contacts, particularly those with overlapping interests: Did you have a moment of connection 

with another campus stafer at an event about prevention issues? Have you reached out to other campus 

prevention professionals in your town or city? How about a local prevention coalition? Use all your 

connections, no matter how small, to grow your list of potential stakeholders to support your prevention 

eforts. 

» Attend and speak up at campus meetings and events: Armed with the data you collected from the 

assessment on how alcohol and other drug issues afect all aspects of student life, start attending and 

participating in campus meetings and events focused on academic success, student mental health and 

well-being, and community health. 

» Ask your partners to contact their partners: Don’t be shy about asking people you know to bring new 

and diverse partners to the table. If you have a specifc student or campus leader you’d like to connect 

with, be explicit in your request. 

» Keep potential partners well informed about prevention activities and progress: Consider sending out 

regular (but short) updates on your prevention eforts to your growing roster of stakeholders. It’s a great 

way to keep partners that may not currently have the capacity to be active in your eforts apprised of what 

you’re doing and how they could potentially get involved later. 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 42 

CHAPTER 4 : How to Build Capacity to Prevent Drug Misuse on Your Campus 

» Meet with key players, including campus and student leaders and local decision-makers: Ask for a 

15- or 30-minute meeting and come with a focused and targeted presentation on your alcohol and other 

drug data. Answer their questions openly and transparently, ask for their impressions, and get their advice 

on who would be a good ft to join your prevention eforts. 

» Anticipate and overcome roadblocks: On any campus, there will be naysayers and voices of doubt, 

which is why it is crucial to address the concerns of those who might oppose or hinder prevention eforts. 

Once you have your list of stakeholders, it’s time to move them toward action. This is often where capacity 

building stalls, as it’s easier for most of us to network, or connect to one another, rather than ask for cooperation, 

coordination, or full collaboration. Here are some ways to move your interested stakeholders to action: 

[Tip Sheet: You Gotta Hear This! Developing an Efective Elevator Pitch] 

» Meet face-to-face to discuss overlapping goals and agendas: Get your 15- or 30-minute presentation 

ready and pound the pavement! 

» Extend an invitation to attend a prevention team or task force meeting: Keep your agendas tight and 

focused, and make sure you are only inviting stakeholders to a meeting when you have something specifc 

you want to share or would like their help with. 

» Make more specifc requests for involvement once prevention planning is underway: People love 

to be asked to help in ways that highlight their strengths. Ask your stakeholders to complete tasks that 

match their interests. 

» Extend invitations to attend future prevention events and activities: Even if someone can’t help now, 

make sure to keep inviting them as you never know when their schedule or interest in your work could 

change. 

» If nothing else happens, maintain the relationship by keeping stakeholders informed of prevention 

activities and progress: Even if you’re not at the stage to start an active collaborative efort, be sure to 

send out those short, regular updates on what you are doing to advance prevention on your campus. 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 43 

CHAPTER 4 : How to Build Capacity to Prevent Drug Misuse on Your Campus 

Check In: How Do I Make Sure My Stakeholder Meetings Are 

Engaging and Building Momentum Toward Change? 

Once you’ve got stakeholders interested in meeting as a group or task force, you have to plan an agenda for 

the meeting. Planning a meeting that is interesting and drives your agenda forward is invaluable to efective 

prevention. 

Here are some tips to get the most of your stakeholders’ time: 

» Determine a purpose for the meeting, then set a date. You might want to discuss student alcohol and 

drug use data or do a deep dive into your campus’s alcohol and drug policies or get opinions from 

stakeholders on a key question. Whatever it is, make sure you know exactly why you want to bring 

people together before sending an invite. 

» Consider whom to invite. Not all of your stakeholders need to be at all meetings. After you determine 

your meeting’s purpose, look at your stakeholders and decide who really needs to be there. Share your 

meeting’s purpose with your invitees so your stakeholders can bring others who may be able to help 

meet the meeting’s goals. 

» Stick to a schedule. Break your agenda down to specifc blocks of time (e.g., 5, 10, 15 minutes) and 

keep the meeting to one hour or less. Share your schedule before your meeting and provide copies to 

attendees at the meeting (or post it on a white board or screen). Do not go over the allotted time. 

» Stop meeting hijackers. Don’t let one person dominate with their impressions or grievances. Practice 

saying, “Thanks so much for that perspective. Let’s hear from someone else before we make a 

decision,” before the meeting so you are prepared to redirect a voluble attendee frmly and positively. 

» Follow up. Send a thank you and a list of meeting accomplishments, tasks delegated, and next steps 

within 24 hours after the meeting ends. 

Conducting great meetings takes planning and preparation—time that you may feel you could be using 

elsewhere. However, engaging meetings lead to passionate prevention task forces and are well worth 

the efort! 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 44 

CHAPTER 4 : How to Build Capacity to Prevent Drug Misuse on Your Campus 

STEP 2: Develop and Strengthen a 

Prevention Team 

Full collaboration, the highest level of involvement, often takes the form of a prevention task force. While not all 

your stakeholders need to be involved at this level, your task force should include representatives from campus and 

community groups that are most vital to the success of your prevention initiative. Here are some ideas for building 

and/or strengthening your task force: [Tip Sheet: Beginning Your Collaboration: Tips for a Safe and Satisfying 

Journey] 

» Identify and fll gaps: Once you have a team in place, ask yourself: Are your key campus and community 

groups represented? If you identify any gaps, try to fll them—but frst make sure that your existing 

partners support additional recruitment. If current partners have reservations (e.g., “More people mean 

more opinions and confict!”), take some time to point out, as specifcally as possible, why you want to 

bring each new partner on board. 

» Build prevention knowledge: A truly representative task force means that members will bring diverse 

insights and experiences to the table, as well as varied knowledge and perspectives on the priority 

problem being addressed. Use a variety of strategies, including guest speakers and group trainings, to 

increase task force members’ understanding of the problem and efective prevention strategies. 

» Monitor and improve group structure and processes, as needed: Even the most well-informed group 

won’t be productive unless it functions well. To help your team work together efectively, discuss how you 

will share leadership, make decisions, divide tasks, resolve conficts, and communicate with one another, 

as well as with the broader community. 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 45 

CHAPTER 4 : How to Build Capacity to Prevent Drug Misuse on Your Campus 

STEP 3: Raise Community 

Awareness of the Issue 

By raising public awareness of your campus’s priority substance misuse problem, you can help garner valuable 

resources and increase campus readiness for prevention. 

The following are some strategies for raising awareness on your campus: 

» Meet one-on-one with public opinion leaders, such as student newspaper opinion columnists or student 

infuencers on social media 

» Ask task force members to share information with their own groups 

» Submit articles to student and local newspapers 

» Share information on campus websites and social media outlets 

» Host campus-wide events to share information about and discuss the problem 

» Convene focus groups to get input on prevention plans 

It’s always helpful to think outside the box when looking for new ways to raise awareness on your campus. For 

example, your college may have a media studies department that can help you create a video about your campus’s 

priority problem and/or prevention eforts. You may have student social media mavens who are gifted at producing 

short videos or using photography to convey complexities. Which individuals and groups on your campus could help 

you reach out, spread the word, and get others involved? 

Finish Strong! 

Now that you’ve worked through how to build capacity for a prevention program, you should know the following: 

» Your campus’s stakeholders and which groups of people you need to connect with to ensure your prevention 

program will be successful 

» Names of champions on your campus who can promote your drug misuse prevention program and help you 

fnd allies for collaboration 

» Exactly how much work you need to do to spotlight issues of drug misuse on your campus 
CHAPTER 5 

How to Plan a Successful Drug Misuse 

Prevention Program on Your Campus 

If you are developing prevention programs, I highly recommend working to 

understand initiatives and projects that are already doing this work across the 

country. Tere’s a really strong community, and people who work in the prevention 

feld want to share resources and share best practices to help one another. It’s really 

important to leverage that to your advantage. 

—Dr. Erica Phillips, Associate Director in the Center for the Study of Student Life at the Ohio State University 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 47 

CHAPTER 5 : How to Plan a Successful Drug Misuse Prevention Program on Your Campus 

For those of you who have spent time working to prevent alcohol and other drug misuse on college campuses, you 

know that there is a rotating cast of motivational speakers, online prevention programs, and in-person workshop 

facilitators that seem to make the rounds from one campus to another. One year, social norms experts are all 

the rage in your AOD professional group, and the next, everyone is wondering if the new online motivational 

interviewing-based drug misuse prevention program will work for their frst-year student orientation programming. 

In many ways, we are fortunate to work among such committed and passionate prevention professionals, but 

having an excess of interesting and engaging prevention programs and workshops at our disposal can make the 

job of strategic prevention more difcult than it needs to be. How many of us have reached out for feedback to a 

professional group for a prevention program idea and ended up more uncertain than when we started? 

The SPF can help eliminate that confusion. It is grounded in the idea that every prevention plan is unique and should 

be designed to meet the specifc needs of the community. For those of you who work on college campuses, this 

means doing a deep dive into the distinctive characteristics of your students and their alcohol and other drug usage 

patterns, and then crafting a prevention plan that is uniquely tailored to address their needs. 

In short, you need to do four things: 

1. Prioritize risk and protective factors 

2. Select appropriate interventions to address 

priority factors 

3. Determine how many interventions you can 

realistically implement 

4. Build a strategic plan (or logic model) and share 

with your stakeholders 

Prioritize Risk and Protective Factors 

Every substance use problem on every campus is associated with multiple risk and protective factors. Think about 

the wide combination of risk factors on your campus. Maybe you have large numbers of students living of campus 

or a high proportion of students afliated with a fraternity, a sorority, or a student body who are likely to have used 

alcohol and drugs in high school. 

No campus AOD misuse prevention program can address all of these factors—at least not at once. So the frst step 

in developing a prevention plan is to fgure out which risk and protective factors to address frst. To prioritize factors, 

it’s helpful to consider a factor’s importance and changeability (Figure 5). 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 48 

CHAPTER 5 : How to Plan a Successful Drug Misuse Prevention Program on Your Campus 

Figure 5. Importance versus changeability 

High Importance and 

Low Changeability 

High Importance and 

High Changeability 

Low Importance and 

High Changeability 

Low Importance and 

Low Changeability 

RISK AND 

PROTECTIVE FACTORS 

CHANGEABILITY 

IMPORTANCE 

» IMPORTANCE: This describes how a specifc risk or protective factor afects a problem. To determine a 

factor’s importance, ask yourself the following questions: 

• How much does this factor contribute to our priority problem? 

• Is this factor relevant, given the developmental stage of our focus population? 

• Is this factor associated with other behavioral health issues? 

» CHANGEABILITY: This describes a campus’s capacity to infuence a specifc risk or protective factor. To 

determine a factor’s changeability, ask yourself these questions: 

• Do we have the resources and readiness to address this factor? 

• Does a suitable intervention exist to address this factor? 

• Can we produce outcomes within a reasonable time frame? 

When developing a prevention plan, it is best to prioritize risk and protective factors that are high for both 

importance and changeability. A classic example for most college AOD misuse prevention professionals are 

intervention programs that are aimed at frst-year students, either before they arrive on campus or when they frst 

arrive. Numerous studies have shown that the frst year of college is a crucial time for frst-year students as they 

seek to understand and behave in ways that refect the social norms of the campus (i.e., high in importance). 

Challenging norms around alcohol and other drug usage as soon as frst-year students arrive on campus may 

prevent many of them from starting high-risk AOD use simply because they feel that it is expected of them (i.e., high 

in changeability). 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 49

CHAPTER 5 : How to Plan a Successful Drug Misuse Prevention Program on Your Campus

If no factors are high for both, the next best option 

is to prioritize factors with high importance and low 

changeability. Since factors with high importance 

contribute significantly to priority substance misuse 

problems, addressing these factors is more likely to make 

a difference. And it’s easier to increase the changeability 

of a factor (e.g., by building capacity) than it is to 

increase its importance. 

However, in some cases your community may choose 

to address a factor with low importance and high 

changeability. Doing this can give your community a 

quick “win,” help raise awareness of and support for 

prevention, and increase the community’s capacity 

to address more important factors in the future. For 

example, a campus with a heavy partying and rambunctious off-campus student population that is embedded within 

a residential community might start by organizing a neighborhood cleanup on Sunday mornings for students and 

residents. Though the underlying partying issue is not being addressed, the cleanup builds capacity and fosters trust 

between students and residents, setting the stage for further interventions.

Select Appropriate Interventions to Address Priority Factors

Sometimes, prevention professionals may want to select interventions that are popular, that worked well on a 

different campus, or that they are familiar with. However, these are not great reasons for selecting an intervention. 

What’s more important is that the prevention intervention can effectively address the campus’s priority substance 

use problem and its associated risk and protective factors and that the intervention is a good fit for the campus 

community. 

Following are three important criteria for selecting appropriate prevention interventions: 

» Evidence based: Whenever possible, you should select evidence-based interventions (i.e., programs or

practices that have peer-reviewed, rigorously evaluated empirical evidence of effectiveness). The best places

to find evidence-based interventions are federal registries of model programs, such as NIAAA’s CollegeAIM,

a compilation of evidence-based alcohol and other drug prevention programs on campus rated by efficacy,

and SAMHSA’s Evidence-Based Practice Resource Center. Another excellent source of new and emerging

interventions are evaluations published in peer-reviewed journals, such as the Journal of American College

Health and the American Journal of Public Health. 

It’s important to note, however, that these sources are not exhaustive, and they may not include interventions

appropriate for all problems and/or all populations. For college students, in particular, it can be difficult to

find population-level studies of effectiveness, and it may be more useful to look for pilot studies that have

promising results among small samples of college students who match your target population. 

[Tools: Preventing Substance Misuse among 18- to 25-Year Olds: Programs and Strategies;

Tool: Preventing Youth Marijuana Use: Programs and Strategies]
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 50 

CHAPTER 5 : How to Plan a Successful Drug Misuse Prevention Program on Your Campus 

Check-In: How Can You Determine Te Strength of an EvidenceBased Substance Misuse Prevention Intervention? 

WHAT 

WORKS 

At least two experimental or quasi-experimental studies showing statistically 

signifcant results in the desired direction and the preponderance of all available 

evidence showing efectiveness. 

WHAT DOES 

NOT WORK 

At least two experimental or quasi-experimental studies showing statistically 

signifcant results showing inefectiveness and the preponderance of all available 

evidence showing inefectiveness. 

WHAT IS 

PROMISING 

At least one experimental or quasi-experimental study showing statistically 

signifcant results in the desired direction and the preponderance of the other 

studies showing efectiveness. 

WHAT IS 

UNKNOWN 

Any intervention that does not fall into one of the other categories. 

Source: Farrington, D. P., Gottfredson, D. C., Sherman, L. W., & Welsh, B. C. (2002). The Maryland scientifc methods scale. In: L. W. Sherman, D. P. 

Farrington, B. C. Welsh, & D. L. MacKenzie (Eds.), Evidence-based crime prevention. London, UK and New York, NY: Routledge. 

» Conceptual ft: An intervention has good conceptual ft if it directly addresses one or more of the priority 

factors driving a specifc substance use problem and has been shown to produce positive outcomes for 

members of the focus population. To determine the conceptual ft of an intervention, ask yourself, “Will this 

intervention have an impact on at least one of our campus’s priority risk and protective factors?” 

For example, screening and brief interventions, such as BASICS, are efective at challenging students’ 

beliefs about the prevalence of high-risk alcohol use on campus. If one of your risk factors is widespread 

misperception about heavy drinking, then BASICS may be a good ft conceptually. 

» Practical ft: An intervention has good practical ft if it is culturally relevant for the focus population; a 

campus has the capacity to support it; and it enhances or reinforces existing prevention activities. To 

determine the practical ft of an intervention, ask yourself, “Is this intervention appropriate for our campus?” 

Continuing with our BASICS example, to determine practical ft, you would need to assess whether BASICS 

works with your student population and, more importantly, if you have the capacity to support it. BASICS 

requires training for facilitators and dedicated time to do the intervention. You would also want to make sure 

that BASICS is targeting a unique need among your student population and not replicating other prevention 

eforts. 

Evidence-based interventions with both conceptual ft and practical ft will have the highest likelihood of producing 

positive prevention outcomes. 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 51 

CHAPTER 5 : How to Plan a Successful Drug Misuse Prevention Program on Your Campus 

Check-In: Can I Use Evidence-based Interventions as Jumping Of 

Points for Innovative Prevention Programming?—Examples from 

the Field 

The feld of college alcohol and drug misuse prevention research is robust and enthusiastic, but the fact 

remains that there are not a lot of population-level, evidence-based interventions to address substance 

misuse among college students. The strongest evidence supports brief interventions designed to promote 

individual behavior change. 

One such program is BASICS, or Brief Alcohol Screening and Intervention for College Students, a harm 

reduction program for college students who drink heavily. BASICS is aimed at students who drink heavily 

and also are at risk for alcohol-related consequences, both academic (e.g., failing classes) and personal 

(e.g., violence). The program uses a counselor trained in motivational interviewing who provides data on 

campus-wide drinking rates, challenges a student’s alcohol expectancies, and helps set new goals for 

alcohol use that are in line with the student’s stated life aims. 

Two researchers have taken the “basic” premise of BASICS and used it to develop innovative new 

programming: 

1. University of Tennessee Knoxville: Researcher Michael Mason’s team has been developing a mobile 

phone-based platform that uses text messaging, referred to as Peer-Network Counseling (PNC-text), 

to adapt the BASICS model for students who are heavy cannabis users.81 Mason’s four-week pilot 

programs have been promising, showing that students are highly receptive to the text messaging 

format. Students completing the program report fewer heavy-cannabis-use days and relationship 

problems due to cannabis use after three months post-intervention. A larger multi-site study is now 

being conducted at Colorado State University and University of Tennessee Knoxville. 

2. University of Albany: Researcher Dolores Cimini’s team adapted the BASICS approach for student 

athletes, using aggregate athlete drinking data as the reference point. Her team tailored the 

intervention to challenge athletes to think about how their alcohol use afects their goals as athletes.82 

After three months, athletes drank less, used more protective strategies, and experienced fewer 

negative consequences from their alcohol use. 

Bottom line? Don’t be afraid to look at evidence-based programming and see how you can adapt it for your 

student population. Reach out to the researchers who conducted the original studies and ask for help. Go 

forward and innovate! 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 52 

CHAPTER 5 : How to Plan a Successful Drug Misuse Prevention Program on Your Campus 

Determine How Many Inter ventions You Can Realistically 

Implement 

In a comprehensive approach to prevention, interventions combine to have widespread reach, target multiple 

domains, and ensure cultural relevance. However, many campuses may not have the capacity to build such an 

approach. If a comprehensive approach is not a realistic possibility for your campus, you should instead focus on 

fnding one intervention that will have the maximum impact. 

In short, consider the following with your list of possible interventions: 

1. Widespread reach: To produce population-level change, campuses should implement strategies with the 

greatest possible reach. To determine reach, ask yourself: 

• How many students will the intervention afect? 

• Which groups on campus will be afected by your eforts? 

While they can represent an important component of a comprehensive prevention plan, environmental change 

strategies—such as social marketing, campus policy development, and enforcement—have greater reach. No 

prevention plan is truly comprehensive without attention to environmental or contextual change. 

2. Multiple domains: According to the socioecological model, risk and protective factors operate at four levels, 

or domains: individual, family, school/campus, and community/town. A comprehensive prevention plan 

includes multiple interventions operating in multiple settings and across multiple domains. 

INDIVIDUAL 

INTERPERSONAL 

INSTITUTIONAL 

COMMUNITY 

POLICY 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 53 

CHAPTER 5 : How to Plan a Successful Drug Misuse Prevention Program on Your Campus 

3. Cultural relevance: Interventions must be responsive to, and appropriate for, the diferent cultural groups 

on your campus. This includes not only high-risk groups, but all students who will be part of the intervention. 

Throughout the SPF process, you must take steps to ensure the cultural relevance of your prevention eforts. 

Here are a few ways to ensure cultural relevance: 

• While conducting your assessment, map the cultural landscape to identify diferent student groups on 

campus. Make sure you know key student leaders in each group, and analyze assessment data by group. 

• While building capacity, share and discuss assessment fndings throughout campus, invite student 

leaders and members of diferent student groups to participate in prevention planning, and make sure 

the planning team includes students with strong ties to groups at high risk. 

• While planning, recruit students from your target population to help identify appropriate interventions 

and convene focus groups with diverse students to obtain valuable feedback on potential interventions. 

Build a Strategic Plan (or Logic Model) and Share with Your 

Stakeholders 

A strategic plan or logic model is a graphic planning tool, much like a road map, that can help your team 

communicate where you want to go and how you intend to get there. A logic model includes the following 

components: a problem statement, risk and protective factors related to the problem, interventions to address these 

factors, and anticipated intervention outcomes (see Figure 6). 

Figure 6. A simple logic model template 

Problems and 

Related Behaviors 

Risk and 

Protective Factors Interventions Outcomes 

Outcomes are the changes that communities want their interventions to produce. 

Prevention outcomes fall into two categories: 

1. Short-term outcomes are the most immediate efects of an intervention. They have the following traits: 

• Are closely related to how well the intervention is implemented 

• Usually include changes in knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and skills 

• Tend to be connected to changes in priority risk and protective factors 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 54 

CHAPTER 5 : How to Plan a Successful Drug Misuse Prevention Program on Your Campus 

2. Long-term outcomes are the ultimate efects of interventions after they have been in place for a while. They 

exhibit these traits: 

• Usually result from positive short-term outcomes that can, over time, lead to long-term behavioral 

changes 

• May take a long time to produce and measure—sometimes many years 

When developing a logic model, it’s important to work with an evaluator to identify a set of anticipated outcomes 

that are clear and measurable. Reach out to professors who teach research and evaluation methods for help. If they 

themselves are unable to help, they will likely know other evaluators who can help you determine your anticipated 

outcomes. [Worksheet: Developing Your Logic Model: Worksheet] 

After completing your logic model for AOD misuse prevention on your campus, share it with these two 

important groups: 

» PREVENTION PARTNERS: This group includes the following: 

• The individual staf and students, student groups, and staf departments that participated in your 

assessment 

• People you brought on board during the capacity-building processes 

• People who will play a key role in your chosen prevention interventions. 

Note: Be sure that your logic model clearly communicates what your prevention partners hope to 

accomplish and how you will all work together to make it happen. 

» OTHER PREVENTION STAKEHOLDERS: This group includes funders as well as campus and community 

members and groups who may not be actively involved in prevention eforts (yet!). 

A logic model can help you build support for prevention overall, and mobilize the specifc capacity needed to 

implement selected interventions. The more people who understand the problem and are on board with the 

prevention plan, the more likely it is that interventions will be sustained over time. 

Finish Strong! 

Now that you’ve planned your prevention program, you should have done the following: 

» Prioritized your campus’s risk and protective factors 

» Determined your long- and short-term outcomes for your prevention program using a logic model 

» Selected an evidence-based substance misuse prevention program that meets your campus’s needs and, if 

needed, adapted the program for your student population 

» Created a plan of action to implement your prevention program 
CHAPTER 6 

How to Implement a Successful Drug Misuse 

Prevention Program on Your Campus 

We should help students to remember that their prevention professionals on campus 

are trained to know the spectrum of evidence-based strategies, but that students have 

a lot of freedom within those strategies. We want them to implement things that 

they can get excited about and get creative about and also get other students excited 

about, potentially having a healthier and safer and more productive and academically 

focused environment. 

—Joan Masters, Senior Coordinator of Partners in Prevention (PIP) 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 56 

CHAPTER 6: How to Implement a Successful Drug Misuse Prevention Program on Your Campus 

With your intervention plan and logic model now in hand, it can be tempting to jump right in and implement your 

prevention program with your target student population. Be honest with yourself: How many times have you found 

a great intervention program and done just that, maybe with an online intervention or a workshop for a specifc 

student population? How did it work out? Have you ever wondered why an intervention wasn’t received as well as 

you’d hoped? Why didn’t the students you wanted to target show up or engage with your program? 

The success of a prevention intervention depends on careful planning during all of the SPF steps, including 

implementation. Taking your time during implementation is crucial to building support for your intervention and 

ensuring that your intervention reaches your target student population. 

There are three main tasks to consider during 

implementation: 

1. Connect with key implementation partners 

2. Balance intervention fdelity and adaptation: 

• Fidelity: Maintain core components 

• Adaptation: Modify with care 

3. Establish implementation supports 

Connect with Key Implementation Partners 

You’ve already identifed and connected with key implementation partners while doing the assessment, capacity 

building, and intervention planning steps. These are the individual students, staf, and student groups who will be 

responsible for and/or involved in the delivery of your selected interventions. Sometimes these partners will want to 

make changes to the implementation plan. Even if they don’t, it’s important to communicate openly and make sure 

that all partners are on board with the implementation plan as you move forward. 

Consider a hypothetical intervention aimed at sorority students on a campus. The intervention consists of two 

60-minute group-based facilitated conversations that use the principles of motivational interviewing. During the 

program, the facilitator compares consumption data and beliefs about AOD use from one sorority to all the others on 

campus. The facilitator then guides the sorority into a discussion about values and how they align with the group’s 

AOD use. 

It is important for you to make sure sorority leaders on campus have bought into all aspects of the program, from the 

material and data being presented to the timeline and scheduling of the intervention. Ensuring that implementation 

partners and targeted student populations are invested in the program will set the stage for a successful 

intervention. 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 57 

CHAPTER 6: How to Implement a Successful Drug Misuse Prevention Program on Your Campus 

Balance Intervention Fidelity and Adaptation 

As you prepare to implement your selected prevention interventions, it is important to consider fdelity and 

adaptation: 

» FIDELITY is the degree to which an intervention, program or practice is implemented as intended. 

» ADAPTATION describes how much, and in what ways, an intervention, program or practice is changed to 

meet local circumstances. 

Evidence-based programs are defned as such because they consistently achieve positive outcomes. The greater 

your fdelity to the original intervention design, the more likely you are to reproduce these positive results. 

However, customizing an intervention to better refect the attitudes, beliefs, experiences, and values of your 

focus population can increase its cultural relevance, even though such adaptations may compromise intervention 

efectiveness. Finding a balance is key to maintaining intervention efcacy. 

Let’s look closer at these two concepts. 

Fidelity: Maintain Core Components 

“Fidelity may be defned as the extent to which delivery of an intervention 

adheres to the protocol or program model originally developed.” 83 

Evidence-based interventions or programs are more likely to be efective when their core components, those 

elements responsible for producing positive outcomes, are maintained. Core components are like the key 

ingredients in a cookie recipe. You might be able to take out the chocolate chips, but if you take out the four—a 

core component—the recipe won’t work! [Tool: What Are Core Components...and Why Do They Matter?] 

So what are core components? Let’s go back to our hypothetical sorority intervention. After meeting with sorority 

leaders to get their buy-in for the intervention, the leaders request some changes to the program: 

» Changing the length of the intervention from two 60-minute sessions to two 30-minute sessions 

» Adding values-based content from their national ofce to the discussion of values. 

» Having the assistant dean of Fraternity and Sorority Life facilitate the program. 
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CHAPTER 6: How to Implement a Successful Drug Misuse Prevention Program on Your Campus 

Which ones of these should you consider? In general, here are the guidelines for implementing an intervention with 

fdelity and maintaining core components: 

» Preserve the setting as well as the number and length of sessions. 

» Preserve key intervention content: It’s safer to add rather than subtract content. 

» Add new content with care: Consider intervention guidance and prevention research. 

» Identify the best possible candidate to deliver the intervention. 

So in working with the sorority leaders: 

» We would keep the intervention at two 60-minute sessions and explain why. 

» We could welcome the addition of values information. 

» We could ask if the Fraternity and Sorority Life dean might consider being trained in motivational interviewing 

principles and how to facilitate the intervention since they may be the best ft to work with this population. 

Adaptation: Modify with Care 

The degree to which an evidence-based prevention intervention is a good ft for the focus population is a prime 

consideration when selecting an intervention. However, as we’ve learned from our hypothetical sorority intervention, 

even when interventions are selected with great care, there may be ways to improve a program’s appropriateness for 

a unique focus population. 

Cultural adaptation refers to modifcations that are tailored to the beliefs and practices of a particular group and 

enhance the cultural relevance of an intervention. To make an intervention more culturally appropriate, it is crucial 

to consider the language, values, attitudes, beliefs, and experiences of focus population members. 

When adapting an evidence-based intervention, it is important to consult with the following groups: 

» The intervention developers can provide information on how it has been adapted in the past, how well these 

adaptations have worked, and what core components should be retained to maintain efectiveness. 

» Members of your focus population can suggest ways to enhance the intervention materials to better refect 

their concerns and experiences. Remember to practice cultural humility when receiving feedback. 

Keep in mind that adaptations can be planned to improve a program (as with cultural adaptation) or unplanned. 

It is important to be aware of the potential for unplanned changes that may occur during implementation, such as 

missed sessions if the campus is shut down due to bad weather, and to address any changes that might 

compromise intervention efectiveness (e.g., schedule make-up sessions so students don’t miss out on core 

intervention content). 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 59 

CHAPTER 6: How to Implement a Successful Drug Misuse Prevention Program on Your Campus 

Establish Implementation Supports 

Let’s return again to the question of why certain interventions succeed while others falter, even when you’ve taken 

steps to ensure that you choose interventions that are well suited to your populations and that address their risk or 

protective factors. What can you do to increase your chance of intervention success? 

As part of your implementation planning, you must consider the following:84 

» Do you have a favorable prevention history with this student population? If you’ve had success 

implementing prevention interventions with this student population in the past, your students will likely 

be more ready, willing, and able to support the implementation of a new intervention. If your student 

population has had a negative experience with—or doesn’t fully understand the potential of—a prevention 

intervention, then it will be important to address these concerns early in the implementation process. 

» Do you have on-site leadership and administrative support? Prevention interventions assume many 

diferent forms and are implemented in many diferent settings. To be efective, interventions require the 

leadership of key student and staf groups and support from key stakeholders. 

» Did you choose the best practitioner to facilitate the intervention? When selecting the best candidate 

to deliver a prevention intervention, consider professional qualifcations and experiences, practical skills, 

as well as ft with your focus population. Who is prepared to implement the intervention efectively? Who 

will make intervention participants feel comfortable? 

» Have you provided practitioner training and support? Pre- and in-service trainings can help 

practitioners responsible for implementing an intervention understand how and why the intervention 

works, practice new skills, and receive constructive feedback. Since most skills are learned on the job, it is 

also helpful to connect these practitioners with a coach who can provide ongoing support. 

» Have you developed a program evaluation plan? By closely monitoring and evaluating the delivery 

of an intervention, practitioners can make sure that it is being implemented as intended and improve it 

as needed. By assessing program outcomes, they can determine whether the intervention is working as 

intended and worthy of sustaining over time. (We will address this topic further in Chapter 7—How to 

Evaluate Your Drug Misuse Prevention Program.) 

» Do you have a clear action plan for implementation? Your plan should include (1) all implementation 

tasks, (2) deadlines, and (3) person(s) responsible. By working with implementation partners to develop 

this plan, practitioners can make sure that everyone is on the same page, and no key tasks fall through the 

cracks. 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 60 

CHAPTER 6: How to Implement a Successful Drug Misuse Prevention Program on Your Campus 

When you promote both fdelity and cultural relevance, and anticipate and support the many factors that infuence 

implementation, you are ensuring that these eforts go a long way toward producing positive outcomes. But to 

sustain these outcomes over time, it is important to get others involved and invested in the prevention interventions. 

Find concrete and meaningful ways for people to get involved, keep cultural and public opinion leaders well 

informed, and get the word out to the broader community through media and other publicity eforts. 

Finish Strong! 

Before you move forward with implementation, you should know the following: 

» How your stakeholders will be included in your prevention program implementation plan 

» How you’ll balance fdelity (i.e., creating a consistent program) with adaptation (i.e., changing a program as 

needed) 

» How to keep program champions in the loop during prevention program planning and implementation 
CHAPTER 7 

How to Evaluate Your Drug Misuse 

Prevention Program 

We must remember that prevention is really a long-term process. It will take 

ultimately sometimes eight to ten years to really see meaningful change in policy 

and commitment and behavior in our communities. Breaking things down into 

manageable steps, looking at data and assessing your outcomes along the way, can 

help you monitor your progress, so that you can actually keep track of it in real time. 

—Dr. Sally Linowski, Associate Dean of Students, University of Massachusetts Amherst 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 62 

CHAPTER 7: How to Evaluate Your Drug Misuse Prevention Program 

 Benefts of Evaluation 

Evaluation can help prevention professionals and communities accomplish the following: 

» Systematically document and describe prevention activities 

» Meet the diverse information needs of prevention stakeholders, including funders 

» Continuously improve prevention interventions 

» Demonstrate the impact of prevention interventions on substance misuse and related behavioral 

health problems 

» Identify which elements of a comprehensive prevention plan are working well 

» Build credibility and support for efective interventions in the community 

» Advance the feld of prevention by increasing the knowledge base about what does—and does not— 

work 

How many of us enjoy prevention program evaluation? Working on a college campus where the focus is on furthering 

knowledge using fact-based evidence can make your work to change behaviors feel futile. How do you measure real 

behavior change? How do you account for shifts in AOD knowledge that don’t lead to behavior change? Why, despite 

all you are doing, do your students’ alcohol and drug use rates remain steady? 

When faced with such daunting questions, you might instead focus on measures of engagement: How many 

students attended your workshop, or how many students went through your screening and brief intervention 

program. 

However, a singular focus on engagement misses the real value of evaluation—rather than seeking to prove 

something, as many of the researchers on your campuses are working to do, evaluation seeks to improve processes. 

Understood in this way, evaluation is an exciting part of your prevention work as it can help you to enhance and 

tailor your programming to better ft your student populations. 

Evaluation is the ffth SPF step, and it involves 

examining both the process and outcomes of 

prevention interventions. When conducting an 

evaluation, you want to systematically collect and 

analyze information about prevention activities to 

reduce uncertainty, improve efectiveness, and 

make decisions. 

To better appreciate evaluation, let’s demystify 

some of its key components. In this section, we 

will highlight: 

» Diferent types of evaluation 

» Four basic evaluation principles 

» Evaluation tasks 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 63 

CHAPTER 7: How to Evaluate Your Drug Misuse Prevention Program 

Different Types of Evaluation 

There are two main types of evaluation: process and outcome. Process evaluation documents the implementation 

of a program or intervention. It can be used to improve an intervention’s delivery and enhance understanding of 

prevention outcomes. The following are examples of process evaluation questions: 

» To what extent were intervention sessions delivered as originally designed? 

» How many people participated in the intervention? 

» How many participants did not complete the intervention? 

» What, if any, adaptations were made to the intervention? 

This type of evaluation comes naturally to most of us who work with students. After all, measures of student 

engagement and interest are used on our campuses for everything from professor evaluations to justify funding for 

student programs or campus-wide initiatives. 

Focusing solely on process evaluation, however, limits our understanding of a program’s or intervention’s impact. 

Outcome evaluation, which measures the efects of a program or intervention following its implementation, can 

reveal whether the intervention produced the anticipated short- and long-term prevention outcomes and helped 

build support for those interventions that worked. The following are examples of outcome evaluation questions: 

» To what extent did students’ attitudes toward the priority problem(s) change? 

» To what extent did student rates of substance use behavior specifc to the priority problem(s) change? 

Because behavior change is a slow and often nonlinear process for most people, this type of evaluation can feel 

daunting. We fear delayed results will confrm any negative perceptions about the substance misuse prevention 

work we are engaged in. Though it may feel easier to report on process measures, both types of evaluation are 

needed to produce interventions and programs that will have lasting impact on student behaviors. 

There are also two diferent ways for prevention staf and evaluators to work together: traditional and participatory. 

In a traditional approach to evaluation, an evaluator is hired to conduct an evaluation and works independently— 

interacting with your intervention and staf as needed to retrieve information. For a substance misuse prevention 

program, for example, you would provide the evaluator with your program’s materials, and the evaluator would 

defne both the process measures and outcome measures and collect data to complete the evaluation. 

By contrast, in a participatory approach to evaluation, an evaluator is invited to take part in an evaluation as more 

of an advisor and a partner—interacting regularly with all involved as part of the group, rather than outside of it. The 

team, of which the evaluator is a member, works together to plan and carry out the evaluation. 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 64 

CHAPTER 7: How to Evaluate Your Drug Misuse Prevention Program 

A participatory method may feel more natural to those of you on campus as it draws on learning methods that your 

students already engage in. Participatory evaluation values the contributions of all who are involved with a program, 

from students to staf to campus leaders. In addition, a participatory approach can do the following: 

» Increase evaluation buy-in and evaluation capacity among participants 

» Increase the likelihood that the evaluation results will be valued and used 

» Increase the likelihood that the evaluation will be culturally appropriate and relevant 

Check In: What If My Outcome Evaluation Shows Our 

Intervention Doesn’t Change Student Rates of Substance Misuse? 

Outcome evaluation can feel like a day of reckoning. All of your work assessing data, building capacity, 

planning, and implementing leads to this: Does your program work as you intended? Does it afect student 

attitudes or beliefs or actual use of alcohol and drugs? 

It’s no surprise that process evaluation—measures of engagement, such as how many students showed up 

to a program or what they thought about the food—can feel easier to collect and report. 

Unlike process evaluation, outcome evaluation can’t be done well without bringing in an outside pair of 

eyes. And ironically, great outcome evaluation depends on great process evaluation. You can’t fgure out 

why you didn’t achieve an outcome if you can’t evaluate every step in the process to determine where your 

intervention broke down. 

Here are some common reasons that your intervention may not have achieved its intended outcome: 

» Intervention needs to be done more frequently. 

» Intervention needs to be in a diferent format (e.g., online versus in person). 

» Intervention length is too long or too short. 

» Intervention components take longer to internalize than what the evaluation measured. 

» Intervention is not reaching the target audience. 

» Intervention isn’t culturally relevant for the target audience. 

» Intervention isn’t a good ft for the target audience. 

You’ll note that none of these have anything to do with your efectiveness as a prevention professional. Look 

at outcome evaluation as an opportunity to make your program stronger and more successful. Enlist an 

evaluation professional as part of your team, and evaluate with confdence! 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 65 

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER 7: How to Evaluate Your Drug Misuse Prevention Program 

Four Basic Evaluation Principles 

All evaluations—whether process or outcome, traditional or participatory—should adhere to the following four 

principles: utility, feasibility, propriety, and accuracy.

85 

To understand these principles in action, imagine that you are evaluating an intervention aimed at student athletes 

to address high-risk alcohol use during sports season. How would you make sure your evaluation is in line with the 

four principles? 

UTILITY is about making sure the evaluation meets the needs of prevention stakeholders, including funders. To 

increase the utility of the evaluation, you should: 

» Identify the evaluation needs of all key stakeholders 

(e.g., student athletes, coaches, alumni donors, campus leadership) 

» Make sure evaluators are trustworthy and competent 

(e.g., consider hiring evaluators who have experience in the world of college athletics) 

» Document fndings so they are easily understood 

(e.g., keep technical jargon to a minimum and consider using the language and terms athletics and 

coaches use in your reports) 

» Share fndings with stakeholders in a timely manner 

(e.g., create a plan to get evaluation results to all stakeholders before you begin) 

FEASIBILITY is about making sure the evaluation is realistic and doable. To ensure the feasibility of the evaluation, 

you should: 

» Establish data collection procedures that are practical and minimize disruption 

(e.g., consider the athletes’ schedule and time constraints when designing data collection) 

» Anticipate and address potential obstacles 

(e.g., opposition from campus leadership, alumni, or other interest groups) 

» Consider efciency and cost-efectiveness 

(e.g., stay within your evaluation budget by using existing data) 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 66 

 

CHAPTER 7: How to Evaluate Your Drug Misuse Prevention Program 

PROPRIETY is about making sure the evaluation is conducted in accordance with legal and ethical guidelines and is 

consistent with each community’s cultural context. To support the propriety of the evaluation, you should: 

» Respect the rights and protect the well-being of all involved 

(e.g., how will you ensure student athletes’ privacy is maintained?) 

» Examine the intervention in a thorough and impartial manner 

(e.g., what are your biases or misperceptions about this program or these students, and how will you 

address them?) 

» Defne how fndings will be disclosed and who can access them 

(e.g., what types of reporting will you provide to your stakeholders? How will you allow access to data to 

ensure transparency and maintain privacy?) 

ACCURACY is about making sure the evaluation is conducted in a precise and dependable manner. To increase the 

accuracy of evaluation fndings, you should do the following: 

» Clearly describe the intervention and evaluation procedures 

(e.g., use a logic model to depict diferent intervention components and who delivers each) 

» Gather and use information that is both valid and reliable 

(e.g., use standard measures or data collection tools that others have tested) 

» Systematically and appropriately analyze all information 

(e.g., start by looking at the quality of your data, including missing information and relationships between 

variables) 

» Justify and fairly report all conclusions 

(e.g., describe the limitations of your methods as well as the strengths) 

Evaluation Tasks 

Given all of the diferent methods of evaluation and principles to follow, the question of how exactly to begin an 

evaluation may feel increasingly opaque. However, for the past 20 years, the Centers for Disease Control and 

Prevention’s Framework for Program Evaluation has guided evaluators with a rigorous and clearly defned method to 

undertake public health evaluation.86 

We have provided this framework in a checklist format. Remember that the best evaluations are collaborative 

processes that involve your stakeholders but also, crucially, engage the expertise of a professional evaluator. While 

there are some tasks that you will be able to complete on your own, don’t hesitate to reach out for guidance on the 

more technical aspects of evaluation design and methodology. 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 67 

CHAPTER 7: How to Evaluate Your Drug Misuse Prevention Program 

TASK 1. Engage Stakeholders 

An evaluation stakeholder is anyone who cares about, or has something to gain or lose from, an intervention and its 

evaluation fndings. 

Stakeholders include everyone who is: 

© Involved in delivering the prevention interventions (e.g., intervention staf, student leaders, funders, 

community prevention partners, campus task force members) 

© Served or afected by the prevention interventions (e.g., students, community advocacy and interest 

groups afected by the issue, campus leaders, public ofcials) 

© In a position to do something with the evaluation fndings (e.g., campus leaders, student leaders, 

prevention partners, campus task force members, funders, public ofcials, community members) 

 Why Engage Diverse Stakeholders? 

» Demonstrate respect for the many individuals and groups connected to prevention eforts 

» Obtain the help and support needed to conduct a thorough evaluation 

» Enhance understanding of evaluation among those involved in data collection and analysis 

» Ensure the cultural relevance and appropriateness of the evaluation design, tools, and fndings 

» Increase the credibility of prevention interventions as well as the evaluation process and fndings 

» Increase the likelihood that evaluation fndings will be disseminated and used 

» Garner support for any eforts to expand and/or sustain prevention interventions 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 68 

CHAPTER 7: How to Evaluate Your Drug Misuse Prevention Program 

TASK 2. Describe the Initiative 

Remember the logic model we created in Chapter 5: Planning that lays out exactly what your prevention initiative 

intends to do and achieve? This tool can help your prevention team communicate its plans to stakeholders and serve 

as a framework for evaluating the initiative. 

Specifcally, your logic model has already identifed the following: 

© Priority substance use problem to be address by the prevention initiative 

© Risk and protective factors, prioritized based on the degree to which they infuence the problem at the 

local level and existing capacity to change them 

© Evidence-based programs and strategies selected to address each priority factor 

© Anticipated short- and long-term outcomes 

Recall that a process evaluation can be used to monitor and improve the implementation of your program or 

intervention, while an outcome evaluation can measure if and how your intervention is producing anticipated 

behavior outcomes. When a prevention initiative is laid out fully and clearly in a logic model form, it is much easier 

to identify appropriate evaluation questions and gather the data needed to answer them. [Tip Sheet: Using Process 

Evaluation to Monitor Program Implementation} 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 69 

CHAPTER 7: How to Evaluate Your Drug Misuse Prevention Program 

TASK 3. Focus the Evaluation 

Design 

Often, at the beginning of an evaluation, people jump right to thinking about how to collect data (e.g., “Let’s do 

a survey!”) before thinking through what data they’ll need. [Tool: Providing Evaluation Technical Assistance: 

Questions to Guide Evaluation Planning] 

This task is a great place to involve an evaluation professional who can help you think through the 

following steps: 

© Clarify your purpose: For example, do you want to fnd out if your interventions reached your focus 

population, or how well they worked to bring about change? Your purpose should be dictated by your 

stakeholders’ needs, including funding requirements, and guide all decisions that follow. 

© Develop your questions: Once you’re clear on your purpose, you’ll need to develop evaluation questions 

that are specifc to what you want to learn. Some questions can help you learn about the implementation 

of an intervention while others can help you learn about its outcomes. 

© Select the right design: There are diferent ways to design, or structure, an evaluation. Some questions 

are best answered by gathering data from intervention participants and practitioners throughout 

implementation. Other questions are best answered by gathering data before and after an intervention, 

and/or from nonparticipants as well as participants. This latter approach allows for helpful comparisons 

and a better understanding of an intervention’s efects. [Tip Sheet: Selecting an Appropriate Evaluation 

Design] 

© Choose appropriate methods: There are many diferent ways to gather the data you need. Which 

methods you select will depend on what you want to learn, your budget and timeline, and what’s most 

appropriate for your focus population. 

• Qualitative methods (e.g., interviews, focus groups) produce data that are usually expressed in 

words. They let you explore an issue or population in depth by answering questions such as Why or 

why not? and What does that mean? [Tip Sheet: Strategies for Conducting Efective Focus Groups 

Tip Sheet: Tips for Conducting Key Informant Interviews] 

• Quantitative methods (e.g., surveys, checklists) produce data that are usually expressed in numbers. 

They allow you to draw general conclusions about an issue or population by answering questions 

such as How much? How many? and How often? 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 70 

CHAPTER 7: How to Evaluate Your Drug Misuse Prevention Program 

TASK 4. Gather Credible Evidence 

How you gather data will determine how well you can answer your evaluation questions—and whether your fndings 

will be taken seriously by others. 

This is another task where you may want to engage an evaluation professional to help you think through 

ways to increase the credibility of your evaluation by: 

© Using quality tools and procedures: This means using data collection tools and procedures that are both 

valid and reliable. A valid tool measures what it’s supposed to measure. A reliable tool produces consistent 

results each time you use it. Selected tools and procedures should also be culturally appropriate. 

© Taking a mixed-methods approach (i.e., a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods). This 

approach will allow you to examine your initiative from diverse perspectives, answer your evaluation 

questions more fully, and feel more confdent in your fndings. 

© Providing training and support: Make sure that everyone involved in collecting and analyzing data gets 

the training and support they need to do it well. 

© Gathering enough data: Gather enough data from diferent sources to be able to draw conclusions with 

confdence—without going beyond your budget or missing important deadlines. Look back at the data 

you may have collected from your institutional assessment to determine capacity or from your needs 

assessment. How much of that data can you use now in your own evaluation? 

© Managing the process: It’s important to take a systematic approach to storing and analyzing these data, 

as well as to developing and acting on your fndings. 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 71 

CHAPTER 7: How to Evaluate Your Drug Misuse Prevention Program 

TASK 5. Justify Conclusions 

Before you can justify your conclusions, you will need to analyze, synthesize, and interpret your evaluation data. 

© Analyze: Analysis involves systematically examining each data source to determine key fndings. 

Whenever possible, engage multiple reviewers in the data analysis process and make sure that everyone 

follows the same protocol. 

© Synthesize: The next step is to compare and connect your results across data sources. By combining 

information from diferent data sources, you can detect areas of overlap and consistency—and identify 

new questions to explore when fndings are inconsistent. 

© Interpret: Finally, draw conclusions based on a careful examination of all your data. What positive or 

negative outcomes do your data reveal? Can you attribute these outcomes to the intervention or are other 

explanations possible? What decisions or actions do you recommend based on your conclusions? 

When analyzing, synthesizing, and interpreting evaluation data, it is important to involve the right people. These 

include individuals with research expertise, intervention staf, students, and other prevention stakeholders who can 

help increase the accuracy and cultural relevance of evaluation fndings. 

TASK 6. Ensure Use and Share 

Lessons Learned 

The best way to make sure that your evaluation fndings will be used is to communicate them in ways that meet the 

needs of your diverse stakeholders. [Tip Sheet: Reporting Your Evaluation Results] 

For each audience, ask yourself the following questions: 

© What do they want to learn from the evaluation? Diferent audiences care about diferent things. For 

example, campus leaders will want to hear about the big picture. Are your interventions changing student 

behavior? Are you putting campus resources to good use? Because colleges and universities are invested 

in evidence and fact-based learning, you should also be prepared to engage in a discussion about your 

methodology by providing details of your evaluation procedures, methods, and fndings. 

© Which communication methods and channels are most appropriate? Consider how your diferent 

audiences get their information. You may be able to share information with some groups (e.g., campus 

departments, student groups) through meetings, campus newspapers, or by email. However, you may 

reach a wider group of students using student-driven posts on whatever social media is currently popular 

among your students. 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 72 

CHAPTER 7: How to Evaluate Your Drug Misuse Prevention Program 

 Ideas for Communicating Evaluation Findings 

» To share key evaluation fndings with the public, submit a press release to local newspapers. 

» To get a large group on campus thinking and talking about evaluation fndings, convene a campus 

town hall meeting. 

» To post on websites, distribute to mailing lists, and hand out at events, create fact sheets and/or 

infographics of key fndings 

» To provide funders with a complete overview of the evaluation process and fndings, write a full report. 

» To explore fndings and potential next steps with student groups, schedule a small group presentation 

for each group. 

» To contribute to the prevention feld, share your fndings at a college health-focused conference or 

write and submit a journal article. 

Finish Strong! 

When planning a program evaluation, you should know the following: 

» The diference between process evaluation and outcome evaluation 

» How to determine which evaluation instruments can be adapted to assess your program 

» How to share evaluation results with your stakeholders 

» How you will celebrate your team and publicize your program’s success to the campus community 
CHAPTER 8 

Advice for Established and Emerging College 

AOD Misuse Prevention Professionals: A 

Conversation with Dolores Cimini, 

University at Albany 

“Our goal is not necessarily to chase the drug when we are developing interventions 

but to see what the bigger issues are, the environmental issues and hold on to what 

the best practices are at the individual, campus and policy level.” 

—Dolores Cimini, Director, Center for Behavioral Health Promotion and Applied Research, University at Albany 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 74 

Chapter 8: Advice for Established and Emerging College AOD Misuse Prevention Professionals

In this fnal chapter of the guide, we provide an inside look at the lessons learned by a prevention professional 

with a history of addressing AOD misuse among college students. We provide advice for both established and new 

professionals. 

For over 30 years, Dolores Cimini has been a mentor in the feld of college AOD misuse prevention. Based at the 

University at Albany, one of the university centers of the 64-campus State University of New York system, Cimini has 

spent her career working directly with students. She has produced numerous peer-reviewed public health studies 

and is the co-editor of Promoting Behavioral Health and Reducing Risk Among College Students: A Comprehensive 

Approach (2018). Cimini currently runs the award-winning Middle Earth Peer Assistance Program at the University 

at Albany and is the director of the Center for Behavioral Health Promotion and Applied Research. 

Cimini is passionate about teaching and educating emerging professionals, and she is a well-loved educator in the 

School of Education at the University at Albany. She is also excited about the changes in the feld of prevention: “We 

have steadily moved beyond traditional counseling services toward early intervention and universal intervention 

that refect a true public health approach and engages the entire campus.” 

Cimini’s hard-earned advice is ofered below. 

For Established Professionals 

Dealing With Changes in Upper Administration 

In her long tenure at the University at Albany, Cimini has worked under 13 university presidents. AOD issues are a 

charged issue on campus, and the fear of an unsupportive upper administrator is shared by many who do prevention 

work in these spaces. 

Cimini ofers advice for weathering changes 

in transition: 

“When new presidents come in, by and 

large, they have a lot on their plate. 

They are learning about a new campus, 

meeting new people—their time is at a 

premium.” 

In response, Cimini and her team introduce themselves while remaining in the background. “We want new 

administrators to know that they have a program on their campus that is running well and moving forward,” she 

says. “We let them know that we’d love to talk to them about our program, but we know they have a lot on their plate 

right now. When we do that, we’ve found that they are not as concerned, and they let us do our work.” 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 75 

Chapter 8: Advice for Established and Emerging College AOD Misuse Prevention Professionals

Cimini has found that using this approach establishes the competency of her ofce up front and also provides 

concrete data and program information for the president when they do have the time to meet with her and her team. 

Says Cimini, “When new administrators come visit, we provide a more comprehensive, data-driven picture of what 

we are doing. We also make it clear to them what support from their ofce looks like so they aren’t guessing about 

how they can help us or inform our work.” 

Diversify Funding and Share Ownership to Embed Prevention into 

the Lifeblood of the Campus 

For professionals who have worked to establish a successful AOD misuse prevention program on their campus, 

Cimini ofers methods for integrating programming into the day-to-day functioning of campus: “We look for ways to 

engage the whole campus: This is not the job of one ofce.” 

Cimini points to two areas for established professionals to pursue to ensure their prevention work remains 

central to the campus: 

1. Diversifcation of resources: “As part of their budget, many new prevention professionals may get some 

funding to implement strategies or programs. It’s important not to just rely on that one funding source,” 

Cimini explains. “If one is working in a grant-funded program, it’s important to not depend on that. 

Grants come and go, and budgets can be higher or lower depending on the particular academic year or 

institution. It’s important to look for other sources of not only funding support but also looking at how to 

sustain funding you do have.” One program that has benefted from this approach is the Middle Earth Peer 

Assistance Program, which is supported by a wide range of campus partners, including Student Afairs, 

Academic Departments and Student Government. 

2. Connection to academics: Another method Cimini uses at the University at Albany is to foster links 

between prevention programming and academics. She points again to the 50-year lifespan of the Middle 

Earth Peer Assistance Program as an example: “We’ve linked ourselves with the School of Education 

and are able to ofer 3 credit hours each semester to students who participate in the Middle Earth 

Program. It’s wonderful because the students beneft, the university benefts, and our program benefts.” 

In the 2019-2020 academic year, Middle Earth had 157 student peer assistants and peer educators, a 

testament to the value of the program for all on campus. 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 76 

Chapter 8: Advice for Established and Emerging College AOD Misuse Prevention Professionals

Using Data to Stay Abreast of Emerging Drug Issues 

From cocaine in the 1980s to the rise of ecstasy and other club drugs in the 1990s to the misuse of prescription 

medications as study aids starting in the early 2000s, Cimini has seen a lot of trends in drug use over the course 

of her 30 years at the University at Albany. Throughout it all, she says, the popularity of cannabis has remained 

unchanged: “College students tend to believe that cannabis isn’t harmful and that perception has remained 

constant over time.” 

So how does Cimini handle changes in drug popularity at the University at Albany? “We value data and collection 

of data. We also rely on receiving valuable information from our peer leaders since they work directly with the 

students,” Cimini says. “They serve as our eyes and ears for what’s happening on campus.” 

Cimini also stresses the importance of data analysis as a key part of the process, explaining that she has seen many 

colleagues collect data but then have challenges with fnding the resources and expertise for data analysis. She 

acknowledges that she is lucky: “We have a graduate program with students and faculty who are interested in this 

area.” 

For those who are struggling to fnd help with data analysis, Cimini suggests, “Partner with faculty on your campus 

who may be interested in data collection and analysis, even if it’s a slightly diferent feld. The skills are transferable, 

and it’s a win-win for everyone since you’re all working to build a healthier campus.” 

Working toward Holistic Prevention 

Cimini is sympathetic and attuned to the many challenges facing college students today: 

We can’t deny that college students are coming to campus with much more complex substance use and 

co-occurring mental health challenges. As a result, what we are seeing is an increased number of students 

who are facing potentially dropping out of school, stopping out of school, not graduating, or not moving into 

the workforce as has historically been the case. In addition to that, college students, particularly those at 

many public universities, are facing challenges such as fnancial concerns, food insecurity, or not being able 

to aford professional clothing when they do get job interviews. At times students need to decide between 

going to classes and doing their classwork as a top priority or needing to work and hold on to some role in 

supporting their families. 

As research has shown, fnancial stressors and mental health conditions are risk factors for substance misuse. 

With that in mind, Cimini believes in fostering partnerships and developing a comprehensive holistic approach 

to prevention. She explains, “Our goal is not necessarily to chase the drug when we are developing interventions 

but to see what the bigger issues are, the environmental issues, and hold on to what the best practices are at the 

individual, campus, and policy levels.” 

Cimini currently works with departments across campus to fnd ways to reduce the impact of risk factors, from 

establishing supports for frst-generation college students to supporting the university’s growing initiatives around 

mindfulness and well-being programming aimed at reducing student stress and anxiety on campus. 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 77 

Chapter 8: Advice for Established and Emerging College AOD Misuse Prevention Professionals

 

Innovate Using Evidence-Based Programs as a Framework 

For established prevention professionals, the list of evidence-based AOD misuse prevention programs is well known. 

Conducting screening and brief intervention programs, establishing alcohol-free spaces on campus, and advocating 

for increased enforcement of AOD policies are the backbone of campus prevention programming. For many 

prevention professionals, implementing evidence-based prevention programs and policies comprises the majority of 

their eforts for their frst 5 to 10 years on campus. 

Once those key evidence-based programs have been established, however, Cimini encourages professionals to 

innovate using the principles central to the success of evidence-based prevention programming. For example, her 

ofce received a federal grant to work with fraternity and sorority students on establishing a BASICS-like screening 

and brief intervention program. Fraternity and sorority leaders involved in the program’s creation advocated for the 

program to highlight fraternity and sorority values around shared identity, brotherhood/sisterhood, and campus 

reputation, in addition to providing individual and aggregate alcohol use feedback and alcohol expectancy data for 

each fraternity or sorority compared to all fraternities and sororities. 

While the program looks like BASICS and uses motivational interviewing principles in its approach, it’s entirely 

designed to ft the needs of the population. “We have to be willing to adapt our interventions, while keeping fdelity 

in mind, to meet our target population’s needs and to be responsive to their cultures,” Cimini explains. 

For New Professionals 

Understand Your Campus’s History around AOD Issues 

Taking the time to dive into your new campus’s past eforts at addressing AOD issues is well worth the efort, says 

Cimini. “You are walking into a living history,” she explains. “To conduct efective prevention, you must understand 

how your campus has worked with these issues in the past. What types of programs have they tried? How did the 

campus respond? How much support has the person working on these issues received in the past? Why is that? 

What resources has the program had in order to operate?” 

New professionals can gain a valuable perspective on the history of AOD misuse prevention on their campuses by 

using archival data, such as student newspapers, to learn how AOD use has been reported over time, along with 

conducting interviews with long-time campus leaders. 

In addition, Cimini advocates establishing a linkage with your primary supervisor and other campus leaders: “It’s 

really important to work with your supervisor or director to get the history and guidance of where your challenges 

may be and brainstorm how to address them. How did the program that I’m going to run in the next few years get to 

where it is? And what can I do to contribute to it in a unique way?” 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 78 

Chapter 8: Advice for Established and Emerging College AOD Misuse Prevention Professionals

Go on a Listening Tour 

Along similar lines, Cimini recommends taking a semester to conduct what she calls “listening tours” with your 

likely stakeholders. She recommends not only talking to faculty leaders and student life department heads but also 

interviewing student leaders and conducting focus groups with students who are traditionally considered “high risk” 

based on research. Learning how these groups of students have traditionally viewed the work of the AOD misuse 

prevention ofce is imperative before embarking on new prevention programming. Just as important is learning how 

the ofce has traditionally worked with faculty and other campus departments. 

For example: 

» How do faculty feel about the work you’re doing? 

» Are there clear lines of communication between faculty and the AOD ofce? 

» How have other student life departments worked with the AOD misuse prevention ofce in the past? 

» What types of initiatives do student life departments and faculty want for students around AOD issues? 

Don’t Rush into Programming—Take Your Time 

As a professional who has mentored generations of prevention professionals, Cimini understands the zeal of newly 

minted professionals to get started with the important work of crafting a prevention program. However, she cautions 

against jumping right in without doing a comprehensive needs assessment: “It can be tempting to start right in 

with prevention programming, but it’s important for us to really understand our stakeholders and target population 

groups, understand their cultures and their concerns, and be open and responsive to that.” 

For new professionals who may be worried that they might be viewed as inefective if they don’t rush into enacting 

programs, Cimini recommends keeping key stakeholders engaged in your needs assessment and strategic planning 

processes. She says, “It’s really important to have a mind-set of collaboration with any stakeholder, not only how to 

collaborate with them, but to assess the strengths that they will be bringing to your work. Ideally, you want to place 

them in a position that will capitalize on their strengths. That may take some time to fgure out. Don’t feel rushed.” 

A Final Note 

Like many others who have been in the feld for years, Cimini is continually impressed by the quality and passion 

of new prevention professionals, saying, “We have come so far in how we understand these issues on campus, and 

there is a great deal of talent coming into these positions. It’s a truly exciting time for AOD prevention on campus!” 
ENDNOTES 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 80 

ENDNOTES 

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49 Huang, J. H., DeJong, W., Towvim, L. G., & Schneider, S. K. (2009). Sociodemographic and psychobehavioral 

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50 Huang, J. H., DeJong, W., Towvim, L. G., & Schneider, S. K. (2009). Sociodemographic and psychobehavioral 

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54 Huang, J. H., DeJong, W., Towvim, L. G., & Schneider, S. K. (2009). Sociodemographic and psychobehavioral 

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55 LaBrie, J. W., Migliuri, S., Kenney, S. R., & Lac, A. (2010). Family history of alcohol abuse associated with 

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ENDNOTES 

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60 Skidmore, C. R., Kaufman, E. A., & Crowell, S. E. (2016). Substance use among college students. Child and 

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61 Borsari, B., Murphy, J. G., & Barnett, N. P. (2007). Predictors of alcohol use during the frst year of college: 

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62 Seo, D. C., & Li, K. (2009). Efects of college climate on students’ binge drinking: Hierarchical generalized linear 

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63 Skidmore, C. R., Kaufman, E. A., & Crowell, S. E. (2016). Substance use among college students. Child and 

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66 Cranford, J. A., Eisenberg, D., & Serras, A. M. (2009). Substance use behaviors, mental health problems, and use of 

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71 Caldeira, K. M., Arria, A. M., O’Grady, K. E., Vincent, K. B., & Wish, E. D. (2008). The occurrence of cannabis use 

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72 Presley, C. A., Meilman, P. W., Cashin, J. R., & Leichliter, J. S. (1997). Alcohol and drugs on American college 

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75 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Ofce for Civil Rights. (n.d.). When your child, teenager, or adult 

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77 Custer, B. D., & Kent, R. T. (2018). Understanding the drug-free schools and communities act, then and now. Journal 

of College and University Law, 44(2), 137–158. 
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ENDNOTES 

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79 Arria, A. M., O’Grady, K. E., Caldeira, K. M., Vincent, K. B., & Wish, E. D. (2008). Nonmedical use of prescription 

stimulants and analgesics: Associations with social and academic behaviors among college students. Journal of Drug 

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80 Frey, B. B., Lohmeier, J. H., Lee, S. W., & Tollefson, N. (2006). Measuring collaboration among grant partners. 

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82 Cimini, M. D., Monserrat, J. M., Sokolowski, K. L., Dewitt-Parker, J. Y., Rivero, E. M., & McElroy, L. A. (2015). 

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83 Mowbray, C. T., Holter, M. C., Teague, G. B., & Bybee, D. (2003). Fidelity criteria: Development, measurement, and 

validation. American Journal of Evaluation, 24(3), p. 315. 

84 Fixsen, D. L., Blase, K. A., Naoom, S. F., & Wallace, F. (2009). Core Implementation Components. Research on Social 

Work Practice, 19(5), 531–540. 

85 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (1999). Framework for program evaluation in public health. MMWR, 

48(RR-11), 1-41. 

86 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (1999, September 17). Framework for program evaluation in public 

health. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 48 (RR-11). Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/rr/ 

rr4811.pdf 
APPENDIX A 

Additional Resources 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 86 

APPENDIX A: Additional Resources 

These resources are ofered to inform your progress through the steps of the Strategic Prevention Framework. The 

inclusion of resources in this guide does not constitute a direct or indirect endorsement by DEA of any entity’s 

products, services, or policies, and any reference to an entity’s products, services, or policies should not be 

construed as such. 

Understanding the Problem 

Campus Drug Prevention (Drug Enforcement Administration) 

https://www.campusdrugprevention.gov 

The website was created for professionals working to prevent drug abuse among college students, including 

educators, student health centers, and student afairs personnel. In addition, it serves as a useful tool for college 

students, parents, and others involved in campus communities. The website ofers valuable information, including 

data, news updates, drug scheduling and penalties, publications, research, national and statewide conferences and 

events, state and local prevention contacts, and resources available from DEA’s federal partners. 

Report to Congress on the Prevention and Reduction of Underage Drinking (2018) 

https://www.stopalcoholabuse.gov/resources/reporttocongress/RTC2018.aspx 

Compiled by the Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Prevention of Underage Drinking, this report provides 

policy summaries and state summaries identifying current legislative and other ongoing eforts. 

Facts on College Student Drinking 

https://www.stopalcoholabuse.gov/media/THMs/tipsresources/5486_UADPEI_College_Drinking_Fact_Sheet_ 

FINAL_4-2016.pdf 

This two-page fact sheet created by the Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Prevention of Underage 

Drinking provides an overview of the issue and breaks down binge and heavy drinking by gender, alcohol use 

consequences, and alcohol use prevention. 

Step 1: Needs Assessment 

National College Health Assessment (American College Health Association) 

https://www.acha.org/NCHA 

The National College Health Assessment ofers national searchable survey results from 2015 until the present, 

reports and statistics, and access to published research. 

Monitoring the Future (National Institute of Drug Abuse) 

https://www.drugabuse.gov/related-topics/college-age-young-adults 

Monitoring the Future provides the most recent data on substance use among this age group, including patterns 

of marijuana use, nonmedical use of prescription drugs, cocaine, and newer trends, such as synthetic drugs, 

e-cigarettes, and hookah use. It also provides other links of interest to educators, residence hall staf, counselors, 

clinicians, researchers who work with this age group, as well as students and parents. 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 87 

APPENDIX A: Additional Resources 

College Drinking: Changing the Culture 

https://www.collegedrinkingprevention.gov 

A comprehensive resource from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, this site is a central 

location for information related to alcohol use by college students, including the following: 

» College Alcohol Policies is a compilation of alcohol and other drug policies from thousands of colleges and 

universities across the United States. 

» College Alcohol Statistics provides updated national data on prevalence and consequences of alcohol use 

among college students. 

Step 2: Building Capacity 

Community Readiness Model 

https://tec.colostate.edu/community-readiness-2/ 

The Community Readiness Model was developed at the Tri-Ethnic Center for Prevention Research at the University 

of Colorado to provide communities with an easy-to-use method to assess resources and readiness to address a 

public health issue. 

Prevention Collaboration in Action Toolkit 

https://pscollaboration.edc.org 

Created by Prevention Solutions at the Educational Development Center, this toolkit ofers tools and stories from the 

feld on building partnerships and developing collaborations to reduce substance misuse. 

Step 3: Planning 

College AIM 

https://www.collegedrinkingprevention.gov/CollegeAIM/Default.aspx 

Developed by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, College AIM is a toolkit designed to help 

schools identify efective alcohol interventions to address harmful and underage student drinking. 

Safer Campuses and Communities 

https://prev.org/SAFER/index.html 

Based on an NIAAA-funded study conducted at the University of California and California State University systems, 

SCC examined a variety of environmental-level strategies that could be implemented on campuses and in their 

surrounding communities. The site provides a free toolkit for fostering campus and community collaboration and 

implementing evidence-based environmental interventions. 

Evidence-Based Practices Resource Center 

https://www.samhsa.gov/ebp-resource-center 

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration provides analyses, costs, and contact information 

for several individual- and environmental-level strategies to reduce alcohol use by college students. 
Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse among College Students 88 

 

APPENDIX A: Additional Resources 

Logic Model Development Guide 

https://www.wkkf.org/resource-directory/resource/2006/02/wk-kellogg-foundation-logic-model-development-guide 

Developed by W.K. Kellogg Foundation, this guide provides practical assistance to nonprofts engaged in program 

development, implementation, and evaluation processes. 

Step 4: Implementation 

National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments 

https://safesupportivelearning.ed.gov/events-products-and-ta/center-products-tools/higher-education-products 

This website provides evidence-based approaches to address alcohol and other drugs and issues of violence on 

campus. The site ofers a variety of products: webinars and in-person learning opportunities, data resources, lessons 

learned profles, and case studies from prevention professionals at colleges and universities. 

College Drinking: Prevention Perspectives – Lessons Learned at Frostburg State University 

https://store.samhsa.gov/products/College-Drinking/All-New-Products/PEP18-FROSTBURG 

Per the website description, “This video shows the actions taken by Frostburg State University to reduce campus 

underage and harmful drinking.” 

Step 5: Evaluation 

An Overview of Quantitative and Qualitative Data Collection Methods 

https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2002/nsf02057/nsf02057_4.pdf 

Created by the National Science Foundation, this guide provides information on quantitative and qualitative data 

collection methods, as well as theoretical and practical issues for consideration. 

A Practical Guide for Engaging Stakeholders in Developing Evaluation Questions 

https://www.rwjf.org/en/library/research/2009/12/a-practical-guide-for-engaging-stakeholders-in-developingevalua.html 

This guide by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation provides the reader with “a fve-step process for involving 

stakeholders in developing evaluation questions and includes a set of four worksheets to facilitate this process.” This 

guide aims to assist evaluators and their clients in the process of engaging stakeholders—that is, those with a stake 

or interest in the program, policy, or initiative being evaluated. 

Developing an Efective Evaluation Report 

https://www.cdc.gov/eval/materials/Developing-An-Efective-Evaluation-Report_TAG508.pdf 

This comprehensive workbook applies the CDC Framework for Program Evaluation in Public Health to report 

evaluation results to a variety of audiences. 
 

APPENDIX B 

Tools, Worksheets, and Tips 
APPENDIX B 

Chapter 3: How to Assess Drug Misuse on Your Campus 

Tip Sheet: Data Collection Methods—Pros and Cons 

Tip Sheet: Potential Challenges to Obtaining Useful Data 

Tip Sheet: Strategies for Conducting Effective Focus Groups 

Tip Sheet: Tips for Conducting Key Informant Interviews 

Tip Sheet: Protective Factors—Adolescence Through Young Adulthood 
 

 

Data Collection Methods: Pros and Cons 

Data Collection Methods: Pros and Cons 

Method Description Pros Cons 

Archival Data that have already been 

collected by an agency or 

organization and are in their 

records or archives 

 Low cost 

 Relatively rapid 

 Unobtrusive 

 Can be highly 

accurate 

 Often good to 

moderate validity 

 Usually allows for 

historical 

comparisons or trend 

analysis 

 Often allows for 

comparisons with 

larger populations 

 May be difficult to 

access local data 

 Often out of date 

 When rules for 

recordkeeping are 

changed, makes 

trend analysis 

difficult or invalid 

 Need to learn how 

records were 

compiled to assess 

validity 

 May not be data 

on knowledge, 

attitudes, and 

opinions 

 May not provide a 

complete picture 

of the situation 

Key 

Informant 

Interviews 

Structured or unstructured 

one-on-one directed 

conversations with key 

individuals or leaders in a 

community 

 Low cost (assuming 

relatively few) 

 Respondents define 

what is important 

 Rabid data collection 

 Possible to explore 

issues in depth 

 Opportunity to clarify 

responses through 

probes 

 Sources of leads to 

other data sources 

and other key 

informants 

 Can be time 

consuming to set 

up interviews with 

busy informants 

 Requires skilled 

and/or trained 

interviewers 

 Accuracy 

(generalizability) 

limited and 

difficult to specify 

 Produces limited 

quantitative data 

 May be difficult to 

analyze and 

summarize 

findings 

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Method Description Pros Cons 

Focus Groups Structured interviews with 

small groups of like individuals 

using standardized questions, 

follow-up questions, and 

exploration of other topics that 

arise to better understand 

participants 

 Low cost 

 Rapid data collection 

 Participants define 

what is important 

 Some opportunity to 

explore issues in 

depth 

 Opportunity to clarify 

responses through 

probes 

 Can be time 

consuming to 

assemble groups 

 Produces limited 

quantitative data 

 Requires trained 

facilitators 

 Less control over 

process than key 

informant 

interviews 

 Difficult to collect 

sensitive 

information 

 Accuracy 

(generalizability) 

limited and 

difficult to specify 

 May be difficult to 

analyze and 

summarize 

findings 

Surveys Standardized paper-and-pencil 

or phone questionnaires that 

ask predetermined questions 

 Can be highly 

accurate 

 Can be highly reliable 

and valid 

 Allows for 

comparisons with 

other/larger 

populations when 

items come from 

existing instruments 

 Easily generates 

quantitative data 

 Relatively high 

cost 

 Relatively slow 

design, 

implement, and 

analyze 

 Accuracy depends 

on who and how 

many people 

sampled 

 Accuracy limited 

to willing and 

reachable 

respondents 

 May have low 

response rates 

 Little opportunity 

to explore issues 

in depth 

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Potential Challenges to Obtaining Useful Data 

Some data sets may have collection or quality issues that will affect your ability to obtain useful 

data. In some cases, you can overcome these barriers by working with the data providers or 

your evaluator to reconfigure the data in ways that meet your needs. In other cases, you simply 

may not be able to use the data or will need to keep their limitations in mind when drawing 

conclusions based on the data. Caveats about data limitations, and its possible consequences 

for your analysis, should be included in data reports. 

Common barriers to obtaining useful data include the following: 

 Data may be aggregated. Hospitals, for example, often combine adult and youth data or 

data across several communities. This can be frustrating if you are seeking information 

about youth in your town. The agency may be able to sort the data for you. 

 Jurisdictions may overlap. For example, the jurisdiction boundary of your local police 

department may not correspond to that of the school district. A trauma center may draw 

patients from across your state. 

 Time periods may be inconsistent or too short. Data from one agency may be 

organized by calendar year, another by fiscal year, and another by school year. The data 

may not be current enough or collected for a long enough time to track trends accurately. 

 Data may be missing or incomplete. Information included in agency records and local 

data sets is often missing or incomplete. If the amount of missing data is large, the data 

may not provide an accurate picture of your community. This is especially true if some 

information is consistently missing, such as records from a particular school district or 

police precinct. Or, a failure to consistently record data (such as age or blood alcohol 

content) may make it impossible for you to analyze the data in ways that are useful for your 

efforts. 

 Data categories may not meet your needs. For example, sub-categories such as race or 

ethnicity are not always determined or implemented consistently across organizations. 

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Strategies for Conducting Effective Focus Groups 

The following guidelines related choosing participants for focus groups can help to generate 

information that is more reliable. 

Include People Who Can Provide the Information You Need 

Data collection involves asking the appropriate people for the appropriate information. Suppose 

you want to learn about parents’ attitudes and practices concerning teen alcohol use, and 

drinking and driving? You obviously want to ask parents. But you also might want to consider 

the following: 

 Should parents have children of a certain age in order to participate? (for example, no 

younger than 15?) 

 Do you want to include both mothers and fathers? 

 Does the ethnicity of the parents make a difference? 

 Should you include parents who drink and nondrinking parents? 

Try to define your participants as precisely as possible. It usually makes sense to consider 

gender, age, occupation, geographic location, ethnicity, and language. 

Include Participants Who Are Similar to One Another 

The less diverse your focus group, the better. If you want to gather information on Hispanic 

teenagers, teens who have recently emigrated from Somalia, and teens in the “heavy metal” 

subculture, organize individual focus groups for each category. 

There are two reasons for this: 

 An individual cannot represent a population. A focus group of 10 teenagers might not be 

able to provide a representative sample of all teens in your community. But it will probably 

generate more representative information than will one teenager included in a group 

spanning several generations. 

 Research shows that people are more likely to reveal their opinions and beliefs and to talk 

about sensitive issues when they are with people who they perceive to be like themselves. 

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Include Participants Who Do Not Know One Another 

Participants are more likely to be honest and forthcoming when they do not know the other 

people in the group. The following may occur when participants know one another: 

 They are less likely to reveal personal or sensitive information. 

 They are more likely to express views that conform to those of others in the group 

(especially others whom they perceive as having some power or influence outside the 

group). 

 They may respond to questions based on their past experiences with one another (which 

effectively reduces your sample size). 

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Tips for Conducting Key Informant Interviews

Although key informant interviews are more informal than other forms of data collection, they 

still require a structure to be effective. Your respondent is more likely to take you seriously 

(and provide better information) if you are prepared and the conversation has direction. 

Tips for conducting key informant interviews include the following: 

 Begin by introducing your project and purpose. Remind the respondent about your 

purpose and the ultimate use of the information. Also, explain who will have access to your 

interview notes and whether the respondents will be identified in any reports or public 

discussions of your investigation. 

 Start with an easy question. For example, ask how long your respondents have been in 

their jobs. This will set them at ease and provide a context for analysis (as someone who 

has been on the job for six months will not have the same perspective as someone who 

has been on the job for 10 years). 

 Ask your most important questions first. You might run out of time. This is especially 

important when interviewing people whose job might require them to end the interview early 

(such as emergency medical service or law enforcement personnel). 

 Ask the same (or parallel) questions of several respondents. For example, you might 

want to ask all respondents connected with a particular prevention program (or system) to 

list the three things they would like to see improved. Answers from a number of different 

people in a system can reveal programming obstacles or places in which the system needs 

to be improved. 

 Don’t move to a new topic prematurely. Don’t leave important issues hanging—you 

might run out of time before you can return to them. Also, you will get more useful 

information by discussing one subject at a time. 

 Be prepared to ask the same question in another way. Prepare several questions that 

try to elicit the same information. Turn to the alternate questions when your first question 

just doesn’t do the job.

 Don’t get stuck on a question. Sometimes you just won’t get the information you want

from a particular respondent. Know when to move on so you don’t frustrate yourself or

antagonize your respondent by trying to elicit information that he or she does not have, 

cannot articulate, or isn’t willing to share. 

 Don’t let the interview go much over an hour. The people you chose as key informants 

are likely to be busy. The quality of the conversation can deteriorate if they feel rushed. 

Many of your respondents may be people with whom you might want to collaborate with in 

the future, so don’t antagonize them by letting an interview go on too long.

 Record the interview if possible. And take notes. As with focus groups, transcribe the 

recording and type up your notes as soon as possible after the interview is completed. 

Don’t forget to get the respondent’s permission to make an audio recording.

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Protective Factors: Adolescence through 

Young Adulthood

Prevention is not just about eliminating a negative behavior; it is also about striving to 

optimize well-being and supporting factors that protect against misuse. These protective 

factors can reduce the negative impact of risk factors. The following tables, compiled by 

the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine and the United States Surgeon 

General, show select protective factors that are associated with healthy development at 

the individual, family, and school/community levels during specific stages of 

development from adolescence through young adulthood. 

PROTECTIVE FACTORS: ADOLESCENCE 

Individual Family Community (School) 

 Positive physical 

development (good health 

habits, good health risk 

management skills) 

 Positive intellectual 

development (life, school, 

vocational skills; critical 

and rational thinking; 

cultural knowledge and 

competence) 

 Positive psychological and 

emotional development 

(self-esteem and selfregulation; coping, 

responsibility, problemsolving; motivation and 

achievement; morality and 

values) 

 Positive social 

development 

(connectedness to peers, 

family, community; 

attachment to institutions) 

 Physical and psychological 

safety 

 Appropriate structure 

(limits, rules, monitoring, 

predictability) 

 Supportive relationships 

with family members 

 Opportunities to belong 

(sociocultural identity 

formation, inclusion) 

 Positive social norms 

(expectations, values) 

 Support for efficacy and 

mattering, or the feeling 

that one is making a 

difference 

 Opportunities for skill 

building 

 Integration of family, 

school, and community 

efforts 

 Physical and psychological 

safety 

 Appropriate structure 

(limits, rules, monitoring, 

predictability) 

 Supportive relationships 

 Opportunities to belong 

(sociocultural identity 

formation, inclusion) 

 Positive social norms 

(expectations, values) 

 Support for efficacy and 

mattering 

 Opportunities for skill 

building 

 Integration of family, 

school, and community 

efforts 

Developed under the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Center for the Application of Prevention

Technologies task order. Reference #HHSS283201200024I/HHSS28342002T. 

1
PAGE 2 

PROTECTIVE FACTORS: YOUNG ADULTHOOD 

Individual Family Community (School/Work) 

 Identity exploration in love, 

work, and worldview 

 Subjective sense of adult 

status in self-sufficiency, 

making independent 

decisions, and becoming 

financially independent 

 Future orientation 

 Achievement motivation 

 Belief in a higher being, or 

involvement in spiritual 

practices or religious 

activities 

 An individual’s belief that

they can modify, control, or 

abstain from substance 

use 

 Balance of autonomy and 

relatedness to family 

 Behavioral and emotional 

autonomy 

 Married or living with a 

partner in a committed 

relationship who does not 

misuse alcohol or drugs 

 Opportunities for 

exploration in work and 

school 

 Connectedness to adults 

outside of family 

References 

National Research Council and Institute of Medicine. (2009). Preventing mental, emotional, and 

behavioral disorders among young people: Progress and possibilities (O’Connell, M. E., Boat, T., & 

Warner, K. E., Eds.) (pp 78–80, Appendix E). Washington, DC: National Academies Press. 

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Surgeon General (2016). Facing 

addiction in America: The Surgeon General’s report on alcohol, drugs, and health. Washington, 

DC. Retrieved from https://addiction.surgeongeneral.gov

Developed under the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Center for the Application of 

Prevention Technologies task order. Reference #HHSS283201200024I/HHSS28342002T. 

2
APPENDIX B 

Chapter 4: How to Build Capacity to Prevent 

Drug Misuse on Your Campus 

Worksheet: Identifying New Partners 

Worksheet: Analyzing Existing Partnerships 

Tip Sheet: Levels of Collaboration 

Tip Sheet: You Gotta Hear This! Developing an Effective Elevator Pitch 

Tip Sheet: Beginning Your Collaboration: Tips for a Safe and Satisfying Journey 
 

 

 

 

 

______________________

PREVENTION COLLABORATION IN ACTION 

Identifying Needs and 

Opportunities for Collaboration

Worksheet: Identifying New Partners

Local stakeholders are key to the success of prevention efforts: they bring specialized knowledge, 

access to data, insight about priority populations, and a variety of other resources. Yet figuring out 

which organizations, agencies, or individuals to cultivate as partners can be challenging. There are 

many remarkable individuals and groups in your community, but not all of them will be a good fit for 

your prevention efforts at this time. 

This worksheet will help you record the gaps in your current prevention resources, develop a list of 

community stakeholders who might fill these gaps, and identify other potential stakeholders with whom 

you may want to partner in the future as new priorities and/or needs emerge. Once you complete this 

worksheet, you can use your list to prioritize which partners to engage.

Step 1: Answer these questions: 

1. Which prevention resources1 do you currently need to strengthen or sustain your prevention

efforts? (If you completed the worksheet Analyzing Existing Partnerships, you may want to 

review the resources you already have in place. To identify current resource gaps, review the tool 

What Do We Mean by Resources?) 

2. Which new stakeholders from your community might help you fill identified resource gaps? (For a 

list of potential partners, review the tool 21st Century Partners in Prevention.) 

Step 2: Use your responses to the questions above to complete the chart below.

 First, list your potential partners.

 Next, record the prevention resource gaps each partner might fill.

 Describe additional prevention resources each partner might provide.

 Outline the benefits each partner may experience by joining the collaboration.

 In the remaining rows, list any additional partners you may want to engage, accompanied by the

prevention resources they offer. (See the list of stakeholder groups in Part II of the worksheet 

Analyzing Existing Partnerships to see if there are any key groups you are missing.) 

1 For this tool, prevention resources are defined as fiscal, human, organizational, or other assets that help you address 

identified prevention needs in your community.

Prevention Collaboration in Action was developed under the Substance Abuse and Mental Health

Services Administration’s Center for the Application of Prevention Technologies task order.

Reference #HHSS283201200024I/HHSS28342002T
- 2 -

Step 3: Once you’ve completed the chart, decide which partners to contact first. This will help to ensure your time and effort reaching out to 

them is spent wisely. For help prioritizing, see the worksheet Assessing the Readiness of Potential Partners to Collaborate. 

Potential Prevention 

Partner 

Resource Gap Filled 

What specific resource need or gap 

could this partner fill?

Other Value Added for You 

Which additional prevention resources

could this partner bring to the table?

Value Added for Partner 

What are the benefits to the potential 

partner of collaborating with you?

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.
 Potential Prevention 

Partner 

Resource Gap Filled 

What specific resource need or gap 

could this partner fill?

Other Value Added for You 

Which additional prevention resources

could this partner bring to the table?

Value Added for Partner 

What are the benefits to the potential 

partner of collaborating with you?

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

- 3 -
 

 

 

 

 

 

PREVENTION COLLABORATION IN ACTION

Identifying Needs and Opportunities for Collaboration

Worksheet: Analyzing Existing Partnerships 

Before engaging in new collaborative efforts, it’s important to assess the status of current partnerships. Who currently sits at your prevention 

table? What skills and expertise do they bring? How is the relationship working out? 

This worksheet is designed to help you develop a brief inventory of with whom you are working and how. Analyzing existing partnerships will 

help you see and appreciate the value of current partners. It will also help you determine whether the partners you have on board are the 

right ones, given your current prevention priorities, and to see where you may need to recruit new partners to fill identified gaps and/or 

ensure representation from key stakeholder groups. (For more on this, see the worksheet Identifying New Partners.)

Instructions 

 List your current partners. For this tool, partners are defined as organizations or individuals with whom you share prevention resources.

 For each partner:

» Write down the community sector this partner represents (i.e., Are there any sectors missing, given your prevention priorities?)

» Describe the nature of your collaboration (i.e., How do you work together?)

» Identify the prevention resources the partner contributes (i.e., How does collaborating with this partner strengthen your prevention

efforts?)

» Determine the partner’s current level of involvement (i.e., What is the nature of your collaboration?)

» Describe the current status of your collaborative relationship (i.e., Is your collaborative relationship going well? Is this partner still

relevant, given your current priorities? Would you like to move the relationship to the next level?)

Prevention Collaboration in Action was developed under the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services 

Administration’s Center for the Application of Prevention Technologies task order. 

Reference #HHSS283201200024I/HHSS28342002T
 

 

______________________________________ 

Current Partner 

Sector 

Represented 

(e.g., parents, health

care, business)

Nature of the 

Collaboration 

(How do you and your 

partner work

together?)

Prevention 

Resources Shared1 

(e.g., knowledge, skills

access to priority

populations)

Level of 

Involvement2 

(e.g., networking, 

cooperating, 

coordinating, full

collaboration)

Current Status 

(Is the collaboration

going well/still

relevant?)

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

1 

For this tool, prevention resources are defined as the fiscal, human, organizational, or other assets that help you address identified prevention needs 

in your community. See What Do We Mean by Prevention Resources? for a list of common prevention resources. 

2 See the tool Levels of Collaboration for descriptions of the different levels. 

- 2 -
 

 

 Current Partner 

Sector 

Represented 

(e.g., parents, health

care, business)

Nature of the 

Collaboration 

(How do you and

your partner work

together?)

Prevention 

Resources Shared 

(e.g., knowledge, skills

access to priority

populations)

Level of Involvement 

(e.g., networking, 

cooperating, 

coordinating, full

collaboration)

Current Status 

(Is the collaboration

going well/still

relevant?)

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

- 3 -
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PREVENTION COLLABORATION IN ACTION 

Understanding the Basics 

Levels of Collaboration 

There are many different ways for stakeholders to work together. Collaboration between partners can range from informal (e.g., two 

agencies sharing information) to much more organized (e.g., multiple organizations working closely to achieve a shared vision).

The following chart describes four levels of collaboration: networking, cooperation, coordination, and full collaboration. We suggest using the

chart to determine your current level of involvement with a partner, as well as options for deepening this relationship over time. You can also

use the chart to explore different options for collaborating with new partners. Please note that no single type of collaboration is “better” than

another. The best type is the one that is the best fit, given what you and your partners hope to achieve.

Networking Cooperation Coordination Full Collaboration 

What is it?

Partners share information

and talk with one another for

their mutual benefit.

Partners support one 

another’s prevention activities 

but have no formal agreement

in place.

Partners are engaged in 

mutual projects and 

initiatives, modifying their own 

activities to benefit the whole.

With a formal agreement in 

place, partners work toward 

developing enhanced 

capacity to achieve a shared 

vision.

Key Features 

 Loosely defined roles

 Loose/flexible

relationships

 Informal communication

 Minimal decision-making

 No risk

 Somewhat defined roles

 Informal and supportive

relationships

 More frequent

communication

 Limited decision-making

 Little to no risk

 Defined roles

 Formalized links, but

each group retains

autonomy

 Regular communication

 Shared decision-making

around joint work

 Low to moderate risk

 Share some resources

 Formalized roles

 Formal links, which are

written in an agreement

 Frequent communication

 Equally shared ideas and

decision-making

 High risk but also high

trust

 Pooled resources

Prevention Collaboration in Action was developed under the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services 

Administration’s Center for the Application of Prevention Technologies task order. 

Reference #HHSS283201200024I/HHSS28342002T.
 

 

 

 

 

 

Networking Cooperation Coordination Full Collaboration 

What Does It Look Like? 

 Partners share what they

are doing to address

common community

issues at interagency

meetings.

 Partners discuss existing

programs, activities, or

services with other

organizations.

 Partners publicize one

another’s programs and

services.

 Partners write letters of

support for one another’s

grant applications.

 Partners co-sponsor

trainings or professional

development activities.

 Partners exchange

resources, such as

technology expertise or

meeting space.

 Partners attend one

another’s meetings and

events.

 Partners serve together

on event planning

committees and

community boards.

 Partners implement

programs and services

together.

 Partners care about the

same issues.

 Partners sign a

memorandum of

understanding with each

other.

 Partners develop

common data collection

systems.

 Partners participate in

joint fundraising efforts.

 Partners pool fiscal or

human resources.

 Partners create common

workforce training

systems.

Reference 

Frey, B. B., Lohmeier, J. H., Lee, S. W., & Tollefson, N. (2006). Measuring collaboration among grant partners. American Journal of 

Evaluation, 27(3), 383–392. 

-2-
PREVENTION COLLABORATION IN ACTION 

Engaging the Right Partners

You Gotta Hear This! Developing an

Effective Elevator Pitch

There comes a time in every budding relationship where you will need to make the ask--that is, 

request a commitment from a potential partner to do something. This tool is designed to help 

you develop a compelling argument, or “elevator pitch,” for why they should say yes. 

And while not every ask will be made within the confines of an elevator, the term “elevator 

pitch” reminds us that these requests should be intentional and succinct, as if the elevator 

doors could open up at any moment. 

What Makes a Good Pitch? 

A good pitch anticipates and addresses the main questions a listener may have about what you 

are asking and why. Ultimately, every ask involves a dialogue—listening is critical to understand 

the needs of potential partners and developing a relationship. But before that, you need to 

make your case. To do that, you need a pitch that describes: 

 The three W’s—the “who,” “what” and “why” of your message or

request. 

 The benefits of collaboration—to both you and your partner. 

 Any barriers you’ve identified that could make it challenging to work

together, and how you plan to get past them. 

 A call to action that clearly identifies what you are asking potential 

stakeholder to do if they say “yes.”

Remember, a pitch that is effective in engaging one potential partner will not necessarily be 

right for another. Quality pitches are audience-specific, tailored to address the audience’s

unique needs, values, and priorities. 

Developed under the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Center for the Application of Prevention PAGE 1

Technologies task order. Reference #HHSS283201200024I/HHSS28342002T.
 

Preparing Your Pitch 

Here are some questions to help you develop a pitch that includes the key elements presented 

above: 

Pitch Element Questions to Help You Get There 

Three W’s

Who are you and who do you represent? 

What do you or your organization do? 

Why is your organization doing this work? What 

need are you serving? 

Benefits & 

Barriers 

How will their participation benefit you and your 

organization? What is the value-added to the 

potential partner of collaborating with you? 

What are potential barriers to working together? 

How will you address these barriers? 

Call to Action 

What specifically are you asking their organization to 

do? 

What are the immediate next steps that you would 

like them to take? 

As you develop your pitch, also make sure to: 

 Consider any recent political, social, and/or economic events that might influence 

your partner’s receptivity to your pitch. Pitches are not made in a vacuum, so it’s

important to look at community context and climate, as these can affect how your pitch 

might be interpreted. 

 Avoid jargon. “Insider” language—that is, terms, phrases, or acronyms specific to your 

organization or sector—can may be confusing (at best) and off-putting (at worst). Take 

time to consider alternative ways to get your point across. 

Developed under the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Center for the Application of Prevention PAGE 2

Technologies task order. Reference #HHSS283201200024I/HHSS28342002T.
 

Here’s an Example

Here’s an elevator pitch made to a business community leader, by a prevention task force chair. 

How it might be different if the Chair were approaching the Chief of Police? 

Pitch 

Component 

What She Said Why She Said It This Way 

Three W’s 

My name is Terry Jones and I’m the task force

leader for the Everytown Substance Abuse 

Coalition. Our mission is to reduce growing 

rates of alcohol use among the young adults in 

our community. These rates are particularly 

alarming for young adults who are in the 

workforce, where problem alcohol use often 

leads to poor job performance, as well as 

onsite alcohol-related injuries. 

Terry clearly defines who 

she is, the purpose of the 

coalition, and the link 

between alcohol use and 

workplace injury. 

Benefits & 

Barriers 

To prevent substance use in this group, we 

need to go where the young people are—

where they play and where they work. And 

that’s where you can really help us. You are a 

major employer of young people, so you can 

really help us reach them. I understand that as 

a business owner, you have limited time to 

dedicate to programs like ours. However, I 

think that engaging in this work could prove 

good for business, by reducing staff turnover 

as well as alcohol-related injuries at your 

stores. 

Terry knows that this 

business leader’s biggest 

concern is having his 

workers injured while on 

the job, so she makes sure 

to include this in her pitch. 

Call to Action 

Would you be willing to partner with us to 

develop a series of trainings that we could 

offer to the young workers in your stores? We 

would do the heavy-lifting—we would just ask 

you to let us spend some time interviewing 

Terry is specific about how 

she’d like to work with this 

business leader. 

Developed under the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Center for the Application of Prevention PAGE 3

Technologies task order. Reference #HHSS283201200024I/HHSS28342002T.
 

 

 

Pitch 

Component 

What She Said Why She Said It This Way 

some of your employees, and then provide 

the space and time to deliver the trainings. 

Call to Action 

(Cont.) 

If we work together to tackle this problem, I 

believe our partnership can help your business 

thrive and assist you in becoming one of the 

community’s top performing businesses. Your 

involvement would also tie in well with the 

work that the Mayor’s Commission is doing to 

prevent drug use in the community. 

Terry also places the 

request in the context of 

other prevention efforts 

going on in the city, and 

underscores the 

importance of working 

together. 

Practice Makes Perfect 

Use the template below to create your own elevator pitch to a potential partner. Before 

delivering it, make sure to check the following: 

 Is your pitch sensitive to your potential partner’s needs, values, and priorities?

 Does your pitch contain jargon or words that are difficult to understand? 

 Does your pitch take into account recent political, social, or economic events? Revise 

your pitch accordingly, and then go put it into use! 

Key Component Leading Questions Your Pitch 

Three W’s 

Who are you and who do you 

represent? 

What do you or your 

organization do? 

Why do you do this work? What 

need are you serving? 

Developed under the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Center for the Application of Prevention PAGE 4

Technologies task order. Reference #HHSS283201200024I/HHSS28342002T.
Key Component Leading Questions Your Pitch 

Benefits & 

Barriers 

What is the value-added to the 

potential partner of collaborating 

with you? 

How will their participation 

benefit you and your 

organization? 

What are potential barriers to 

working together? How will you 

address these barriers? 

Call to Action 

What specifically are you asking 

this person or organization to 

do? 

What are the immediate next 

steps that you would like them to 

take? 

Developed under the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Center for the Application of Prevention PAGE 5

Technologies task order. Reference #HHSS283201200024I/HHSS28342002T.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PREVENTION COLLABORATION IN ACTION 

Exploring Ways to Work Together 

Beginning Your Collaboration:

Tips for a Safe and Satisfying Journey

Think of a workgroup as a collection of people taking a journey together. As it plans its trip, members 

need to figure out where they’re going, how they will get there, and what route to take.

 A workgroup’s destination is its vision, dictating where the group wants to go.

 A workgroup’s vehicle is its structure and procedures. Its structure is the body; its procedures the

engine. Members travelling in a broken-down vehicle (e.g., full of holes in the floor) are likely to “fall

out,” or leave the group. And if the engine begins to fail, the journey is likely to slow down or come

to a screeching halt.

 Lastly, the path or route a group takes is its goals and activities—how members will work together

to get where they need to go.

Building on this analogy, here are some tips for ensuring a smooth and safe collaborative ride!

 Create a shared vision. One of the first orders of business for collaborative workgroups is to

discuss and create a shared vision. If members have different ideas about the ultimate purpose of

the workgroup, the team will not be motivated to work toward common goals. A shared vision

unifies the workgroup and makes it easier to figure out what needs to happen to make the vision a

reality.

 Develop a well-defined structure. Whether the group’s structure is akin to a Mini Cooper or a

charter bus, it’s important that everyone has somewhere to sit (i.e., a role), and that you make room 

for new members. Elements of a well-defined structure, such as clearly defined roles and

responsibilities, meetings that begin and end on time, and regular progress updates will reduce

potential frustration, keep members involved, and increase member satisfaction.

 Establish clear goals and related action steps. If you leave for a journey without a plan (whether

GPS app or paper map), you are likely to get lost, waste energy (i.e., gas), and drive many extra,

unnecessary miles. Groups that don’t have clearly-defined action steps connected to concrete goals

can easily get “lost” in action. Busy team members whose activities are not tied to goals may be

“spinning their wheels” and not actually moving the team’s prevention agenda forward.

Prevention Collaboration in Action was developed under the Substance Abuse and Mental 

Health Services Administration’s Center for the Application of Prevention Technologies task 

order. Reference #HHSS283201200024I/HHSS28342002T. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Promote open communication during meetings. Create guidelines for participation or “ground

rules” that support open, honest, and respectful exchanges. These serve as the “seat belts” that

keep members safe, promote trust, and prevent tension and conflict among members.

 Use clear and transparent decision-making processes. Just as oil prevents an engine from

seizing, clear and transparent decision-making processes will help to ensure your team doesn’t get

mired in indecision. How the team approaches decision making is one of the first decisions it should

make together!

 Be responsive to member needs. Like maintaining your car, so, too, must you attend to the needs

of your members. Make sure that members find value in their participation—failing to do so is like

driving all day and not stopping for food. One way to “feed” members is by providing trainings and

in-services to build needed capacities. Another is to ensure that members can contribute in

meaningful ways. Lastly, check in regularly with members to gauge their satisfaction with the group

and find out if you need to do any tune-ups.

 Build the leadership capacity of members. This not only helps to keep members challenged and

engaged, but will also contribute to the group’s sustainability. Having workgroup members who are

involved in leadership roles is like having a spare tire—it ensures that your workgroup is not

dependent on the involvement of a single individual to move forward.

 Assess progress regularly. Revisiting project goals, and associated roles and responsibilities, will

help the team stay on track and avoid long detours. Keep in mind, however, that the shortest path

to getting somewhere isn’t always the smoothest, or most scenic. Remember that the journey

should also be fun and fulfilling. So acknowledge member contributions and celebrate your

progress along the way!

- 2 -
APPENDIX B 

Chapter 5: How to Plan a Successful Drug Misuse Prevention 

Program on Your Campus 

Worksheet: Developing Your Logic Model 
 

 

 

Developing Your Logic Model: Worksheet 

A logic model is a visual tool that presents the logic, or rationale, behind a program or process. Substance abuse 

prevention practitioners use logic models to connect and communicate all of the elements of their prevention plans, and 

to guide their evaluation efforts. This worksheet presents a set of questions that practitioners can use to inform the 

development of their programmatic logic models. To learn more about logic models, review the PowerPoint 

presentation Developing a Logic Model to Guide Program Evaluation. 

Step One: Describing the Need for Your Program 

What problems in the community will your program address? Be specific about the positive behaviors you want to 

see strengthened or the negative behaviors you want to see changed and target audience. 

Why did you choose these particular problems in your community over other problems? Why is it important? 

(Consider magnitude, trends, severity, and economic costs). 

Developed under the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) Center for the Application of 

Prevention Technologies contract. Reference #HHSS277200800004C. 

1 
 

What conditions or factors in your community contribute to these problems? Consider factors specific to your 

community. (Note: This is your explanatory theory). 

Are there other efforts in the community that address these problems? If so, how well? If not, why? 

How does your program fit relative to other approaches in your community? Does your program or practice add 

anything different? 

Do you expect support from your community or organization for your program? Why or why not? 

Developed under the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) Center for the Application of 

Prevention Technologies contract. Reference #HHSS277200800004C. 

2 
Summary Statement of your Community's Needs 

Step Two: Defining Goals 

What do you want to see changed in the long term? 

Write your goal statement(s) here. Remember to tie your goals directly to your need statement. 

Developed under the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) Center for the Application of 

Prevention Technologies contract. Reference #HHSS277200800004C. 

3 
Step Three: Specifying Your Objectives 

What specific changes do you anticipate will result from participation in your program? (or exposure to your 

practice or policy)? 

Are you expecting changes at the individual, organizational, community or policy level? 

If individuals, then which individuals, and what about them (i.e., knowledge, attitudes, behavior), do you expect to 

see change? 

What will be the expected magnitude of these changes? (e.g., at least 80% of participating youth will report an 

increase in their appreciation of their tribal heritage) 

Developed under the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) Center for the Application of 

Prevention Technologies contract. Reference #HHSS277200800004C. 

4 
What will be the expected magnitude of these changes? (e.g., at least 80% of participating youth will report an 

increase in their appreciation of their tribal heritage) 

When do you anticipate seeing these changes? 

Write your short-term objective(s) here. Remember to tie your objectives directly to your problem statement and 

to the contributing factors that you identified. 

Write your long-term objective(s) here. 

Developed under the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) Center for the Application of 

Prevention Technologies contract. Reference #HHSS277200800004C. 

5 
Step Four: Outlining Your Program Activities 

List the activities that comprise your program. 

How will these activities address those factors that contribute to the problem (i.e., help you accomplish your goals 

and objectives)? These are your theories of change. 

Review your initial list of activities. 

Which of these activities are critical to program success (i.e., must be in place for 

your program to succeed)? 

Which of these are short-term activities? 

Developed under the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) Center for the Application of 

Prevention Technologies contract. Reference #HHSS277200800004C. 

6 
 

 

 

Which of these are long-term activities? 

Step Five: Identifying People Who Care If Your Program Succeeds 

Who is responsible for implementing your program? 

Who else—other than staff—wants your efforts to succeed? 

Who in your community may want to see your program fail? 

Consider your program activities. Have you engaged the people you need in order for your program to succeed? If not, 

who is missing? How will you bring them on board? Consider creating a chart: 

Program Activity Who Will Make it Happen? Are They OnBoard? 

If Not, How Can You Get 

Them There? 

Developed under the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) Center for the Application of 

Prevention Technologies contract. Reference #HHSS277200800004C. 

7 
 

 

Program Activity Who Will Make it Happen? Are They OnBoard? 

If Not, How Can You Get 

Them There? 

Step Six: Choosing the Right Process Measures 

How will you know your activities happened, as planned? 

For each activity, list the kinds of information you need to determine if it was implemented as planned: 

Program Activity (from Step 5) Process Measure 

Developed under the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) Center for the Application of 

Prevention Technologies contract. Reference #HHSS277200800004C. 

8 
List the measures you will use to collect each kind of information. 

How will you ensure that activities are being implemented reliably--as it was originally? 

Step Seven: Choosing Outcome Measures 

How will you measure program-produced changes? 

List your short-term outcome measures (these should correspond with your short-term objectives). 

List your long-term outcomes measures (these should correspond with your long-term objectives). 

Developed under the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) Center for the Application of 

Prevention Technologies contract. Reference #HHSS277200800004C. 

9 
Logic Model Template 

Needs Goals Objectives Activities 

Short-term: Short-term: 

Long-term: Long-term: 

Stakeholders Process Evaluation Outcomes 

People Responsible for Your 

Intervention: 

Program Activity Process Measure Short-term: 

People Who Want to See Your 

Program Succeed: 

Long-term: 

People Who Want to See Your 

Program Fail: 

Developed under the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) Center for the Application of Prevention Technologies 

contract. Reference #HHSS277200800004C. 

10 
APPENDIX B 

Chapter 6: How to Implement a Successful Drug 

Misuse Prevention Program on Your Campus 

Tool: What Are Core Components...and Why Do They Matter? 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What Are Core Components...and Why Do 

They Matter?

Core components are the most essential and indispensable components of an intervention 

practice or program (“core intervention components”) or the most essential and indispensable 

components of an implementation practice or program (“core implementation components”).

Core Components for Interventions 

Part of an implementer’s goal is to implement only those attributes of a program or practice that

are replicable and add value. Core intervention components are, by definition, essential to 

achieving good outcomes for consumers. However, understanding and adhering to the 

principles of intervention underlying each core component may allow for flexibility in form (the 

intervention’s processes and strategies) without sacrificing the function associated with the 

component. 

Knowing the core intervention components may allow for more efficient and cost-effective 

implementation and lead to decisions about what can be adapted to suit local conditions. Core 

intervention components may best be defined after a number of attempted applications of a 

program or practice, not just the original one. 

Core Components for Implementation 

The goal of implementation is to have practitioners base their interactions with clients and 

stakeholders on research findings (evidence-based practices and programs). Core 

implementation components help accomplish this task. The core implementation components 

consist of the following: 

 Staff selection: Beyond academic qualifications or experience factors, certain practitioner 

characteristics are difficult to teach in training sessions so must be a part of the selection 

criteria. Staff selection also represents the intersection with a variety of larger system 

variables. General workforce development issues, the overall economy, organizational 

financing, the demands of the evidence-based programs in terms of time and skill, and so 

on impacts the availability of staff for human service programs. 

 Pre-service and in-service training: Trainings are efficient ways to provide knowledge of 

background information, theory, philosophy, and values. They also help to introduce the 

components and rationales of key practices and provide opportunities to practice new skills 

and receive feedback in a safe training environment. 

 Ongoing consultation and coaching: Most of the skills people need can be introduced in 

training but really are learned on the job with the help of a consultant or coach. 

Implementation of evidence-based practices and programs requires behavior change at the 

practitioner, supervisory, and administrative support levels. Training and coaching are the 

principle ways in which behavior change is brought about for selected staff in the beginning 

stages of implementation and throughout the process of evidence-based practices and

programs.

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 Staff and program evaluation: Staff evaluation is designed to assess the use and 

outcomes of the skills that are reflected in the selection criteria, are taught in training, and 

reinforced and expanded in consultation and coaching processes. Assessments of 

practitioner performance and measures of fidelity also provide useful feedback to managers 

and implementers regarding the progress of implementation efforts and the usefulness of 

training and coaching. Program evaluation assesses key aspects of the overall 

performance of the organization to help assure continuing implementation of the core 

intervention components over time. 

 Facilitative administrative support: This provides leadership and makes use of a range 

of data inputs to inform decision-making, support the overall processes, and keep staff 

organized and focused on the desired outcomes. 

 Systems interventions: These are strategies that work with external systems to ensure 

the availability of the financial, organizational, and human resources required to support the 

work of the practitioners. 

These are interactive components that can compensate for one another so that a weakness in 

one component can be overcome by strengths in other components. Organizations are dynamic 

and there is an ebb and flow to the relative contribution of each component to the overall 

outcomes. The feedback loops are important in keeping the evidence-based program “on-track.”

If the feedback loops (staff or process evaluations) indicate needed changes, then the system 

needs to be adjusted to improve effectiveness or efficiency. 

Critical functions of implementation consist of practitioner training, coaching the practitioner on 

the job, regularly assessing fidelity, and using that information to improve the performance of 

practitioners who are selected for the position. 

Multilevel Influences on Successful Implementation 

The core implementation components are important in changing the behavior of practitioners 

and other personnel who are key providers of evidence-based practices within an organization. 

The core components are contained within and supported by an organization that establishes 

facilitative administrative structures and processes to select, train, coach, and evaluate the 

performance of practitioners and other key staff members; carries out program evaluation 

functions to provide guidance for decision-making; and intervenes in external systems to assure 

ongoing resources and support for the evidence-based practices within the organization. 

The core components must be present for the implementation to occur with fidelity and good 

outcomes. The organizational components must be present to enable and support those core 

components over the long term. And, all of this must be accomplished over the years in the 

context of variable but influential changes in governments, leadership, funding priorities, 

economic boom-bust cycles, shifting social priorities, and so on. 

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Organizational Change and Development 

Implementation of evidence-based practices and programs almost always requires 

organizational change. The elements often described as important to organizational change are: 

 Commitment of leadership to the implementation process 

 Involvement of stakeholders in planning and selection of programs to implement, to 

encourage buy-in and ownership during implementation and continuing operations and to 

keep negative forces at bay 

 Creation of an implementation task force made up of consumers, stakeholders, including 

unions and community leaders to oversee the implementation process 

 Suggestions for “unfreezing” current organization practices (including the use of external

consultants or purveyors), changing those practices and integrating them to be functional, 

and then reinforcing the new levels of management and functioning within the organization 

• Resources for extra costs, effort, equipment, manuals, materials, recruiting, access to 

expertise, re-training for new organizational roles associated with implementation of an 

innovation 

 Alignment of organizational structures to integrate staff selection, training, performance 

evaluation, and on-going training 

 Alignment of organizational structures to achieve horizontal and vertical integration 

 Commitment of ongoing resources and support for providing time and scheduling for 

coaching, participatory planning, exercise of leadership, evolution of teamwork 

Reference 

Implementation Research: A Synthesis of the Literature – 2005 (PDF | 2 MB) at the 

National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Clinical Trials Network Dissemination Library 

Published: 08/06/15 

Last Updated: 09/04/2018 

Developed under the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Center for the Application of Prevention Technologies task 

order. Reference #HHSS283201200024I/HHSS28342002T. 

3
APPENDIX B 

Chapter 7: How to Evaluate Your Drug Misuse Prevention Program 

Tool: Providing Evaluation Technical Assistance: Questions to Guide Evaluation Planning 

Tool: Reporting Your Evaluation Results 

Tool: Selecting an Appropriate Evaluation Design 

Tool: Strategies for Conducting Effective Focus Groups 

Tool: Tips for Conducting Key Informant Interviews 

Tool: Using Process Evaluation to Monitor Program Implementation 
 

Evaluation Tool—Providing Evaluation Technical 

Assistance: Questions to Guide Evaluation 

Planning 

The following tables include a series of questions to help prevention practitioners plan 

for program evaluation. By responding to the proposed questions, practitioners can 

begin to think through how to select appropriate evaluation measures, address data 

collection challenges, and collect quality data. The questions are organized according to 

the following seven themes: 

• Defining the target population

• Reviewing existing data

• Selecting a sample

• Increasing response rates

• Addressing ethical considerations

• Administering a quantitative survey

• Following up and sharing results

DEFINING THE TARGET POPULATION 

Prevention efforts should focus on a population that demonstrates risk for substance misuse based 

on data. During evaluation planning, it’s important to understand this targeted population and the

changes you hope to expect as a result of programmatic efforts. 

Key Questions Follow-up Questions Considerations 

Which population 

group(s) are your 

prevention efforts 

targeting? 

• Is this population group at increased

risk for substance misuse?

• What characteristics place them at

increased risk?

• How did you determine that this

population group was at increased

risk?

• Are there subgroups within your

target population who are at even

higher risk?

• Depending on data findings, target

populations might include, for

example, adolescents, emerging

adults, college students, alcohol

retailers, prescribers, or specific

racial/ethnic groups.

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Key Questions Follow-up Questions Considerations 

How large is your 

population of 

interest? 

• Is it feasible to survey at the

individual level or is your sample so

large that it would make sense to

survey at a higher level, such as the

school level?

• The larger the sample, the more

expensive it becomes to collect the

necessary data.

• Power analysis can help determine

the sample size required to detect an

effect with confidence. It may be

appropriate to consult with a

statistician before selecting a sample.

For more information on sample size,

see Selecting a Sample.

Are you expected to 

demonstrate change 

at the state or local 

level? 

• How many subrecipients are

funded?

• What is the total number of units

from which you can potentially

sample?

• Some grantees may be working with

every county in the state, or they may

fund only one agency, county, or

town.

• Units can be, for example, individuals,

schools, organizations, or

communities.

What changes do 

you expect to see in 

that population? 

• What performance outcome(s) are

you measuring and monitoring?

• Do you have access to measures

that include indicators relevant to

your outcomes?

• For example: PFS grantees must

submit at least six measures for each

sub-recipient to the cross-site

evaluation (PEP-C): three underage

drinking and three prescription drug

measures.

REVIEWING EXISTING DATA 

Before deciding to collect original data (which can be resource intensive), it can be helpful to look 

into what data are already being collected and whether those sources can be used for evaluation 

purposes. 

Key Questions Follow-up Questions Considerations 

Are you able to 

monitor change in 

your population of 

interest using 

indicators from 

existing datasets? 

• Does the existing data include

information at the level for which you

want to show change (i.e., local,

state, or national)?

• What is the quality of the existing

data?

• Be sure to understand the

psychometric properties of the survey

and the methodology used to collect

the data in order to determine the

quality and rigor of the data set and

have confidence in the findings.

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Key Questions Follow-up Questions Considerations 

Are you able to 

monitor change in 

your population of 

interest using 

indicators from 

existing datasets? 

(cont.) 

• How accurately do these data

represent the population you are

trying to study?

• Who is collecting the information?

• Are data collected consistently in

standard intervals (e.g., annually,

biannually, every 3 years)?

• Are the same questions asked each

time the survey is administered?

• Have the response categories

remained consistent or have they

changed?

• Example of local data: school district

suspension/expulsion data

• Example of state-level data: statelevel youth surveys and state-level

adult surveys

• Example of national-level data: U.S.

census data to access population

and demographic information about

the country

Will these datasets 

provide available 

baseline data on 

outcomes of interest 

in your timeframe? 

• What outcomes do you expect to

change in your population of

interest?

• Over what time period are you

expected to show change in those

outcomes?

• Does the timing of the existing data

collection align with the timing of your

reporting needs?

• How long is the delay in accessing

data?

• Will you have access to all of the

data you need with the demographic

breakdowns required for reporting?

• Do these data sources provide

accurate indicators of outcomes?

• Is the sample size large enough to

produce a stable estimate?

• Can the data be disaggregated in

order to draw conclusions about the

population of interest?

• Examples of outcomes: prevalence

of binge drinking, number of heroin

deaths

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Key Questions Follow-up Questions Considerations 

Are these datasets 

part of ongoing 

collection efforts that 

will provide (timely) 

future outcome data 

on your population of 

interest? 

• How often are data collected?

• How sustainable is the data source?

In other words, if you are considering

using a student survey, you may

want to ask stakeholders about the

likelihood that this survey will

continue to be used to collect data in

the future and the likelihood that the

dataset will be made available in the

future.

• Examples of ongoing data collection:

annual town census, 11th grade youth

survey

• Data may be collected weekly,

monthly, biannually, or annually. The

more data points, the better when

showing trends over time.

• If a survey is only administered once

every two years, but yearly data are

needed, then that dataset may not be

appropriate.

• Fiscal constraints can sometimes

mean surveys are discontinued. It is

important to check in with key

stakeholders on the sustainability

plans of existing surveys or

measures.

Do existing data 

sources provide 

information on 

sample 

representativeness 

and response rates? 

• Is the sample represented in the

existing survey data set reflective of

your community demographics?

• Do you have a minimum response

rate that you need to meet for grant

requirements?

• Response rates for national surveys

are often available on websites or in

methodological reports. For example,

in 2015 the YRBSS1 reported a

school response rate of 69%, a

student response rate of 86%, and

an overall response rate2 of 60%. i 

• If sample representativeness or

response rate information is not

provided, consider using other data

sources.

Will datasets provide 

(timely) baseline and 

subsequent data for 

a control or 

comparison 

population? 

• Some existing data sources may

allow you to gather data for

comparison purposes—in which you

compare individuals or groups who

have been exposed to intervention

activities to others who have not

• Consider comparing data (e.g.,

YRBSS, NSDUH, 3 BRFSS4) from

your state or community with data

from another state, community, or the

nation.

• Comparisons should be made only

with states or communities that share

1 YRBSS: Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/data/yrbs/index.htm) 2 Overall response rate = (number of participating schools/number of eligible sampled schools) x (number of usable 

questionnaires/number of eligible students sampled) 

3 NSDUH: National Survey on Drug Use and Health (https://www.samhsa.gov/data/population-data-nsduh) 4 BRFSS: Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (https://www.cdc.gov/brfss/index.html) 

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Key Questions Follow-up Questions Considerations 

Will datasets provide 

(timely) baseline and 

subsequent data for 

a control or 

comparison 

population? (cont.) 

(controlling for possible alternative 

explanations). 

key relevant characteristics (e.g., 

similar on demographics, core risk 

factors, and political and legislative 

climates). 

SELECTING A SAMPLE5

Once it is decided that original data will be collected, various decisions need to be made regarding 

choosing a sampling frame. 

Key Questions Follow-up Questions Considerations 

Will you collect data 

from all members of 

your target 

population (a 

census) or a sample 

of the target 

population? 

• How large is the entire population of

interest?

• Is it feasible and necessary to collect

data from everyone considering that

number?

• For example, it may be feasible to

collect census data from a whole

grade within a school and include all

the students, but it may not be

feasible to collect data from all high

school students within a district

because of the size of the student

body; therefore, surveying a random

sample of high school classrooms

may be more feasible if you want to

capture data from multiple grades

that is representative of the district

Will a statistician 

help you create a 

sampling strategy? 

• Have you selected a population or

subset that you’d like to target for

data collection?

• Do you know a statistician who can

help you think through your sampling

needs?

• Examples of sampling strategies:

stratified random sampling, cluster

sampling, systematic sampling

5 For further discussion on selecting a sample, see Sample Representativeness and Nonresponse Bias: Frequently Asked 

Questions. 

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Key Questions Follow-up Questions Considerations 

What is your 

sampling unit? 

• Are you interested in outcomes at the

individual level? At the school level?

At the community level?

• For example, sampling units could be

individual people, classrooms, church

congregations, or young adults

across a community.

What steps will you 

take to recruit 

participants? 

• Where are you likely to find potential

participants?

• Where do your potential participants

like to congregate?

• What media platform might catch

their eye and entice them to

participate?

• Include your target population in

discussions (if possible) concerning

recruitment efforts, because they’ll

know the social norms and have

insights to inform your methods.

• If you are working with a specific

population, it may be helpful to have

someone from that community act as

a liaison/facilitator.

How large does your 

sample need to be? 

• Have you conducted a power

analysis to determine the likelihood

that your data collection activities will

include enough participants to

understand whether there is a

significant effect?

• Studies of outcomes with larger effect

sizes, larger sample sizes, and

higher significance levels (p<.01 vs.

p<.05) are more likely to detect a

statistically significant effect if the

intervention works as intended.

• There are many online calculators

available to help conduct power

analysis. Examples include:

http://statpages.info/#Power,

http://www.gpower.hhu.de/, and

http://www.ncss.com/software/pass/;

however, these may not take into

account all factors involved in your

research.

• It is recommended that you work

closely with a statistician when

conducting power analyses.

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INCREASING RESPONSE RATES6

Often the greater the response rate, the more trust that the sample is representative. There are 

ways to plan ahead as well as methods that can be employed to increase survey response. 

Key Questions Follow-up Questions Considerations 

Do you plan to send 

out frequent 

reminders and/or 

additional surveys to 

respondents in order 

to increase 

participation? 

• What type of reminders would be

most effective for respondents? Postcards? Emails? Text messages?

• What time intervals would be most

effective for reaching your target

population without overtaxing them?

• Mail-back Surveys: Some general

guidance regarding follow-up for

mail-back surveys includes the

following: After one week of

nonresponse, send a reminder

postcard; if still no response, send

out the initial mail-out with a

replacement survey 3 and 7 weeks

after the initial mail-out. 

ii Additional

postcards and/or follow-up postcards

might be necessary. The actual

schedule for follow-up depends on

your resources and the level of

response to each wave of the survey.

• Online surveys: Consider sending up

to three reminder emails for online

surveys, personalizing each

message, and including the average

time to complete the survey.iii

Do you plan to 

provide incentives? 

• Will you compensate individual

participants and/or organizations

helping you access those individuals

(e.g., schools)?

• Some research participants may

receive monetary compensation

before or after completing a survey.

Others may be given non-monetary

incentives, such as a “free homework

pass” for students or a free meal.

• Consider connecting with an

appropriate IRB to consider the

ethical implications of the incentives

to make sure participants do not feel

coerced into participation.

6 For further discussion on increasing response rates, see Sample Representativeness and Nonresponse Bias: Frequently 

Asked Questions. 

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Key Questions Follow-up Questions Considerations 

What information is 

useful for assessing 

the 

representativeness 

of the final sample? 

• What information will you be able to

collect on non-respondents?

• Does the final sample represent the

target population proportionally?

• For example, if you want to find out

what percentage of males responded

to the survey, you can compare the

proportion of male non-responders to

the proportion of males in the final

sample.

• Many times a sample should

represent the larger population of

interest demographically. For

example, if 90% of the entire school

district is female, but your school

district survey responses include a

sample of 20% females and 80%

males, then there might be bias in

your sampling strategy.

What steps will you 

take to promote the 

survey? 

• What is your purpose for promoting

the survey?

• Will you involve the community to

convey the value of the survey?

• Who are key opinion leaders in the

targeted community?

• What media channels does the target

population access most frequently?

• Consider conducting focus groups or

key informant interviews to determine

what media channel(s) would be best

to reach the targeted sample

population (e.g., radio, T.V., social

media).

• Examples: Consider setting up a

booth at a community event where

you have information about the

upcoming survey and intent for the

research. It also may be helpful to

write the local newspaper or campus

newspaper to see if the survey could

be explained in a news story.

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ADDRESSING ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS 

Ethical considerations must be taken into account when conducting evaluation, especially when 

collecting data from vulnerable populations such as youth. 

Key Questions Follow-up Questions Considerations 

What human 

protections 

requirements must 

be met before data 

collection can 

begin? 

• Will you be required to submit your

data collection procedures and

instruments to an institutional review

board (IRB), a college/university

research office, university board of

trustees, college president, dean of

students, department chair, or

classroom instructors? Or, if working

with Native American populations,

the Tribal Council?

• If so, how long does the approval

process take and what deadlines

might be relevant for submission?

Can the instrument be an

amendment to an existing IRBapproved application?

• Design a protocol to ensure the

confidentiality of data.

• Design a protocol to make sure that

all respondents understand the

purpose of the survey and that they

have a right to not participate.

Are there any 

questions included 

in your data 

collection 

instruments to which 

community members 

might oppose? Are 

there questions 

about illegal 

behaviors? 

• Are there any questions on the

survey that might be a “red flag” for

key stakeholders or participants?

• What steps will you take to engage

key stakeholders and secure

stakeholder buy-in for the survey?

• What procedures can you put in

place to ensure that participants feel

comfortable providing sensitive

information?

• Examples: Some key stakeholders

may not approve of asking youth

about topics like sexual orientation,

sexual behavior, suicide, or other

sensitive topics.

Will you be 

collecting data from 

one of the following 

population groups: 

youth under age 18, 

prisoners, or military 

personnel (or any 

others that require 

special clearance)? 

• Who has the authority to grant

permission to collect data in the

target area (e.g., tribal council, school

district, and/or school principal)?

• Is there a special application process

researchers are required to

complete? If so, what is the

timeframe for this process (e.g.,

weeks or months)?

• Buy-in at the community level and

from the population you are targeting

(e.g., youth) can assist in successful

data collection.

• To conduct a school survey,

permission may need to be granted

through the school district

superintendent, school board and/or

principals. This may require making a

presentation to the school board

describing the purpose and intent of

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Key Questions Follow-up Questions Considerations 

Will you be 

collecting data from 

one of the following 

population groups: 

youth under age 18, 

prisoners, or military 

personnel (or any 

others that require 

special clearance)? 

(cont.) 

• If you don’t obtain permission to

collect certain types of data/survey

certain populations, what alternative

plans exist to meet any grant-specific

reporting requirements?

the data collection, as well as sharing 

drafts of survey items. It may also 

require notifying parents in advance 

of the survey to provide them with the 

opportunity to permit or refuse their 

child’s participation. 

Does your 

state/school/district 

require active7 or 

passive8 parental 

consent for 

surveying youth 

under age 18? 

• If you are collecting survey data from

minors, how will you obtain parental

consent? Keep in mind that passive

consent might be allowed at the state

or district level, but individual schools

may require active consent.

• Requirements regarding passive or

active consent vary by state, by

school district, and sometimes by

school. Passive permission is usually

preferred because it requires the

fewest resources and does not often

lead to many refusals.

• Response rates may be substantially

lower when active consent is

required. This also requires many

more resources to track which

students have receiveved parental

permission to participate.

• It is important to create a plan for

contacting parents and following up

with them to address questions and

make sure that they return the active

consent form.

7 Active consent: Requires distributing a form to parents explaining the study and having parents sign it in order to allow 

their child(ren) to participate. 

8 Passive consent: Requires distributing a form to parents explaining the study and having parents sign it if they refuse 

having their child(ren) participate. 

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ADMINISTERING A QUANTITATIVE SURVEY 

Administering a quantitative survey can be resource intensive, but there are ways to be efficient and 

ethical while still collecting high quality data. 

Key Questions Follow-up Questions Considerations 

Have you (or others 

you know of) 

collected data on 

outcomes of interest 

from the same 

population? 

• How often are these data collected?

• Who collects it?

• Do you have a good relationship with

that individual, agency, department,

or stakeholders?

• For example, a survey that is

administered through the state’s

department of education may already

include data on the outcomes of

interest; therefore, it may be

unnecessary to conduct another

survey.

• Data-sharing agreements may need

to be formalized depending on the

protocols to which the data owner

needs to adhere.

Can you build on 

other surveys that 

target population(s) 

may complete during

your timeframe? 

• What surveys are currently being

implemented with your target

population?

• What are the content of the surveys?

• How long or burdensome are the

surveys for participants?

• How will time of data collection be

managed so that staff and

participants are not overburdened?

• Consider adding items to an existing

survey that the school district or other

entity is conducting. This may not be

an easy task and may require some

negotiation and discussion with the

survey originator.

Is the population 

defined by, and 

therefore reached in, 

specific settings? 

• Are there specific places where the

survey can be administered that are

frequented by the target population?

• Consider meeting the population at

the locations they normally patron to

administer a survey. For example,

meet students at their school or

college; meet community members at

their faith-based organizations, outof-school community groups, or

clubs.

• If you are working with specific

populations, it may be helpful to have

someone from that community act as

a liaison/facilitator.

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Key Questions Follow-up Questions Considerations 

Do you plan to use a 

standardized 

questionnaire 

already being used 

out in the field? 

• Does its use require permission? If

so, do you have permission? Is there

an associated fee?

• Are the questions worded in the

survey sensitive enough to capture

change (i.e., lifetime vs. past-year vs.

past 30-day substance use)?

• For example, the Communities That

Care Youth Survey and the YRBSS

are free and readily available, while

the Monitoring the Future Survey

may not be used widely without

permission from the developers.

• If designing a new survey, try to

create/craft items that parallel (or

duplicate) the national surveys to

allow some comparability of results,

especially if the national survey is

used as a baseline measure. It’s

helpful to double check wording to

make sure the same question is

asked with the same response

options, and that the national survey

methodologies haven’t changed over

time.

What method will 

you use to 

administer your 

survey? 

• How will the mode of administration

affect your ability to implement the

survey and obtain an adequate

response rate?

• Methods may include: in-person

interview, pencil-and-paper, audioassisted computer, online, telephone

interview, mail, or combination. In

general, web-based surveys typically

have lower response rates than inperson interviewsiv and face-to-face

interviews typically have higher

responses than mail-in surveys.

• Consider how choices about

administration impact who is (and is

not) included in your survey. For

example, in-person administration in

schools means high-risk students

might be missing—like those with

histories of truancy or those who

have dropped out. Similarly, online

surveys can impact who is (and is

not) included, omitting those who lack

access to technology.

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Key Questions Follow-up Questions Considerations 

Is the survey written 

so that participants 

will understand the 

questions’ content? 

• What is the reading level or literacy

skill of your target population?

• Are the survey questions worded in a

way that is easy for participants to

understand?

• Can accomodations be made to

support members of the target

population who may need extra

assistance in completing the survey?

• Reading level can be assessed using

computer programs. Microsoft Word

can generate a readability statistic

that will report the Flesch-Kincaid

Grade Level, which corresponds to

U.S. school grade level.

• For the general population, it is

recommended that surveys not

include items that require more than

8 years of formal schooling and, for

vulnerable populations, no more than

5 years of formal schooling.v For

example, the Massachusetts Youth

Risk Behavior Survey, designed for

high school students, was written at

the 7th grade reading level.vi 

Is the survey 

culturally competent 

for the intended 

participants? 

• Are you targeting immigrant

population(s) or non-English

speaking populations?

• Will you need to administer the

survey in languages other than

English?

• What translation services are

available?

• Translation of surveys requires

multiple steps. A simple model

includes 3 steps: (1) write survey in

English; (2) translate survey into

second language (translation); (3)

translate survey from the second

language back into English (backtranslation). Once back translation is

finished, the text is compared to the

original survey. The translators meet

to negotiate changes to ensure that

the final translation matches the

original English translation as closely

as possible. vii 

• It may be helpful to consult a linguist.

• Consider seeking input on

questionnaire wording from a

community advisory board or

representatives of the target

population to get feedback regarding

cultural appropriateness.

How much will it 

cost to collect data 

on outcomes of 

interest in your 

target population? 

• How much money and resources do

you have available for data collection

purposes?

• The cost of data collection varies

according to collection method. For

example, face-to-face survey

interviews are usually the most costly

because they require training survey

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Key Questions Follow-up Questions Considerations 

How much will it 

cost to collect data 

on outcomes of 

interest in your 

target population? 

(cont.) 

• How many participants do you need

to survey and what response rate is

expected?

• What quality of data is sufficient?

administrators and perhaps paying 

them for their time. Web-based 

survey methods may cost less (due 

to free to low-cost online programs) 

but the quality of the data and 

response rates may be lower. For 

more on the pros and cons of 

different data collection methods, 

visit: 

https://preventionsolutions.edc.org/

services/resources/data-collectionmethods-pros-and-cons

Who will conduct 

data collection 

activities? 

• Has this individual (or individuals)

been trained in data collection?

• Is additional training needed?

• Interviewers need to be trained on

data collection processes, as well as

on the human protection protocol.

They may also need refresher

trainings throughout the data

collection process if there are

changes to the survey or procedures.

Who will take 

primary 

responsibility for 

developing and 

ensuring that the 

data collection 

protocols are 

followed? 

• Are the data collection protocols

documented and standardized?

• Are the protocols clear,

understandable, and easy to follow?

• Have data collectors been

adequately trained in data collection

protocols?

• Have the instruments and protocols

been approved by an Institutional

Review Board (IRB), if necessary?

• If possible, hire a data collection

coordinator to make sure that data

collection procedures are followed

and standardized.

• Periodically during data collection,

review randomly selected surveys to

determine completeness. Conduct

routine check-in meetings with

interviewers or data collectors to

ensure they are following protocol,

and brainstorm solutions to potential

barriers to following protocol.

What measures will 

you take to assure 

respondents that 

their responses will 

be kept private? 

• Are you asking questions about

illegal behaviors?

• Are you asking other sensitive

questions, such as about suicidal

thoughts and behaviors, or

experiences of abuse (emotional,

physical, and/or sexual)?

• What protocols do you have in place

to protect the confidentiality of

participants and their responses?

• Consider connecting with an

appropriate IRB (may be required) to

review the methods and measures in

order to ensure the protection of the

participants.

• Instead of names, pair each

participant with a unique identifier

(code) marked on their survey form.

• Keep the list of paired names and

identifiers stored in a locked cabinet

or password-protected file and

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Key Questions Follow-up Questions Considerations 

What measures will 

you take to assure 

respondents that 

their responses will 

be kept private? 

(cont.) 

separate from the surveys—and limit 

who has access to this list. 

• Train interviewers on research ethics

and human protection protocols and

ensure they are followed.

• Require password protection and

security software for the computers

used for tracking participation and

data input. Only allow password

access to necessary people who are

trained in confidentiality and ethics. If

possible, store data only on external

hardware and lock up the hardware

in a secured cabinet and room when

not in use.

FOLLOWING UP AND SHARING RESULTS 

In order to make evaluation respectful, useful, and purposeful, decisions need to be made regarding 

the dissemination of evaluation results. 

Key Questions Follow-up Questions Considerations 

Will results be 

shared with key 

stakeholders? 

• In what format will key stakeholders

be most receptive to reading and

understanding evaluation results?

• How can you best convey

program/strategy successes as well

as barriers/challenges?

• When would it be best to share

results?

• Evaluation results can be used to

improve and strengthen programs or

strategies. Consider discussing a

process with key stakeholders for

realigning resources or strategies to

put the evaluation results to

beneficial use.

• Sharing evaluation results with

stakeholders helps to build

relationships and trust. This is

particularly important when working

with minority populations, such as

Native American/Alaska Native

populations or lesbian, gay, bisexual,

or transgender populations.

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Key Questions Follow-up Questions Considerations 

What type of followup are you prepared 

to implement with 

participants? 

• Will you provide survey results to

participants?

• How will you thank participants?

• Consider sending a thank you via

letter or email or postcard.

• Consider sharing some of the key

results from the study so that

participants feel that there will be

positive outcomes as a result of their

involvement.

How will evaluation 

results be used? 

• What process will you follow to

realign resources to improve,

replace, or augment strategies or

programs based on the evaluation

results?

• Reflect on process evaluation

measures that document

implementation and see if

adaptations were associated with

more or less positive outcomes.

i Kann, L., McManus, T., Harris, W. A., Shanklin, S. L., Flint, K. H., Hawkins, J., ... & Zaza, S. (2016). Youth 

Risk Behavior Surveillance — United States, 2015. MMWR Surveillance Summaries, 65(6), 1–174. 

ii Hoddinott, S. N., & Bass, M. J. (1986). The Dillman Total Design Survey Method: A sure-fire way to get high 

survey return rates. Canadian Family Physician, 32, 2366–2368. Retrieved from: 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2328022/pdf/canfamphys00201-0076.pdf 

iii Monroe, M. C., & Adams, D. C. (2012). Increasing response rates to web-based surveys. Journal of 

Extension, 50(6), 6–7. 

iv Nulty, D. D. (2008). The adequacy of response rates to online and paper surveys: What can be done? 

Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 33(3), 301–314. 

v Paz, S. H., Liu, H., Fongwa, M. N., Morales, L. S., & Hays, R. D. (2009). Readability estimates for commonly 

used health-related quality of life surveys. Quality of Life Research, 18(7), 889–900. Retrieved from: 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2724639/ 

vi Massachusetts Department of Education. (2006). Introduction & survey methods. In: 2005 Massachusetts 

Youth Risk Behavior Survey (pp.1–5). Retrieved from: 

http://www.doe.mass.edu/cnp/hprograms/yrbs/05/ch1.pdf 

vii Bernard, H. R. (2011). Research methods in anthropology: Qualitative and quantitative approaches. 

Lanham, MD: AltaMira Press. 

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Reporting Your Evaluation Results

Evaluation results are used to improve programs, sustain positive outcomes, and improve the 

community’s overall plan for addressing substance misuse and 

promoting wellness. But they can be used for other reasons as well, such as to help obtain 

funding and to build community awareness and support for prevention. 

So evaluation results need to get into the hands of the people who can use them. Keep in mind 

that organizations don’t use evaluation results; people do. The Department of Health, for

example, isn’t going to use the results of an evaluation, but “Cathy Smith” in the Department of 

Health may. So, unless you get the results of the program evaluation into her hands and 

explain how she can use the results, they will sit on a shelf somewhere in the Department of 

Health. 

Follow these general guidelines for reporting your results: 

• Brief stakeholders throughout the process. Try to avoid surprising your stakeholders with the

results of your evaluation. Brief them along the way, rather than waiting until the end of the

project. Present a draft form of your report before it goes public.

• Create a dissemination plan. Identify the various audiences that need to see the results

(including the population the intervention focuses on), what information would be most

useful to them, and how to get it into their hands.

• Select formats for reporting results. Be sure to use the most appropriate format for each

audience (for example: public presentation, social media, flyers, reports).

• Help stakeholders understand the data. Take time to review the findings with your

stakeholders, discussing the ramifications of what you found. Don’t shy away from negative

or unexpected results. Instead, use these as an opportunity to inform future efforts.

Remember that each stakeholder has his or her own interests and may need different kinds of 

information about the results of an evaluation. So, one size will not fit all when sharing 

evaluation results with stakeholders. 

The following set of questions can guide how evaluation results are presented, in order to 

ensure that results are relevant to various stakeholders and community members: 

1. WHAT data have you collected?

2. WHY do you want to share the data?

3. WITH WHOM will you share the data?

4. WHAT data would be most useful?

5. HOW are you going to present the data?

6. WHO will present the data?

7. WHERE will the data be presented?

8. WHEN will the data be presented?

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Answering these questions will help you determine the presentation of your evaluation results 

to various stakeholders. 

Some factors may influence whether and how your evaluation results get used. So keep these 

in mind: 

• The way in which findings are reported, including layout, readability, and user-friendliness,

all make a difference. The timing is also critical. If a report is needed for a legislative

session, but isn’t ready in time, then the chances of the data being used drop dramatically.

• The quality of the evaluation and relevance of the findings matters. If the evaluation design

is logically linked to the purpose and outcomes of the project, the findings are far more likely

to be put to use.

• The availability of support and technical assistance, after findings are reported, can sustain

use. Questions of interpretation will arise over time, and people will be more likely to use the

results if those kinds of questions can get answered.

• The political context or climate can have an impact. Some evaluation results will get used

because of political support, and others will get squashed because of political pressure.

• Other factors, like the size of your organization or program, may matter as well. Sometimes

larger programs get more press. Sometimes targeted programs do.

• Consider competing information. For example, are there results from similar programs that

confirm or deny your results? Are there other topics competing for attention?

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Selecting an Appropriate Evaluation Design 

The first step in any project is to develop a plan for getting the work done. The plan for an 

evaluation project is called the “design.”

All too often, prevention practitioners launch into their evaluation without coming up with a plan. 

They start thinking about how to collect data before determining what to collect. This is usually 

accompanied by the phrase, “Let’s do a survey!” But before choosing methods, practitioners 

need to back up. 

Designing an evaluation is a process that starts out general, but which ultimately becomes very 

specific. The first step is to clarify the purpose of the evaluation. That leads to developing 

questions that then require information and data obtained from methods. But the methods come 

last, not first. 

One of the primary purposes of the evaluation is to determine if the program or intervention had 

the desired effect. A classic research study found that individual behaviors and workers’ 

performance can improve simply because they know they are part of the study. The “Hawthorne 

Effect,” as this phenomenon is known, is a thorn in the side of evaluators.

To correct for the Hawthorne Effect, some type of comparison generally needs to be made to 

make sure the change was the result of the intervention, and not due to the attention received. 

There is a continuum of evaluation rigor among these different methods of comparison. 

Experimental Design 

Typically, the most rigorous evaluation approach is an experimental design where participants 

are randomly assigned to a program or a control group. Those participants in the program 

group receive an intervention, while those in the control get either the existing program or in 

some cases, no program. Some type of pre/post assessment is provided to both groups and the 

results are then compared to determine if there were differences between groups. This method 

provides the greatest support for ruling out plausible explanations. 

Quasi-experimental Design 

Similar in structure to the experimental design, the quasi-experimental design does not rely on 

random assignment in making assignments to a program or comparison group. A quasiexperimental design is frequently used when there is not a sufficient number of participants 

available to randomly assign to a program and control group. As a result, in a quasiexperimental design, a significant challenge is identifying comparison groups and then 

collecting data from them. To score well on most federal lists of evidence-based programs, it is 

important, at a minimum, to use a quasi-experimental design. 

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Factors to Consider In Choosing an Evaluation Design 

The Purpose of the Evaluation 

The purpose of the evaluation varies greatly from program to program. As discussed previously, 

evaluation can be defined as the systematic collection of information about program activities, 

characteristics, and outcomes to reduce uncertainty, improve effectiveness, and make 

decisions. Most frequently, the emphasis is on whether or not the program had the intended 

effect. But, information could be collected that focuses only on the number of individuals served. 

Or evaluation data may be collected to use for marketing purposes. Each of these different 

strategies would require differing evaluation designs and differing evaluation skills. 

What Will Be Evaluated 

Is it the entire project or only certain components? For example, if you are part of a coalition, 

you may think about evaluating individual coalition initiatives like the provision of after-school 

activities. But don’t forget that you may also want to evaluate changes in the coalition over 

time—things like growth of coalition membership, formal agreements with key community 

organizations—and the impact of the coalition on the overall community. 

Who Wants to Know What 

Keep all of your stakeholders in mind. Program providers may want to know what’s working and 

what isn’t. Funders may want to know if the program is cost-effective and supported in the 

community. They may also have specific measures that are required. Communication between 

funders, project staff, and evaluators is essential to ensure the necessary data are identified, 

collected, analyzed, and reported in a manner that is understood from the beginning. 

When Results Are Needed 

An evaluation is often bound by schedules and deadlines that are beyond your control. Think 

about school calendars and funding cycles as examples. If your reporting needs are short-term, 

don’t ask questions that require long-term follow-up. Process information is generally needed 

quickly. Short-term outcome results often need to be reported back in a timely manner (usually 

within 6 to 12 months of program implementation), while more long-term results are typically not 

available until sometime after program completion (often 3 to 5 years). 

What Will Be Done with the Evaluation Results 

Think broadly about the utility of your results. You can use your data not only to meet funding 

requirements, but also to garner community and school support, inform future planning or 

programming, support community stakeholders, etc. But, the degree of influence a program has 

on the evaluation findings is largely dependent on the research design used. 

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Strategies for Conducting Effective Focus Groups 

The following guidelines related choosing participants for focus groups can help to generate 

information that is more reliable. 

Include People Who Can Provide the Information You Need 

Data collection involves asking the appropriate people for the appropriate information. Suppose 

you want to learn about parents’ attitudes and practices concerning teen alcohol use, and 

drinking and driving? You obviously want to ask parents. But you also might want to consider 

the following: 

 Should parents have children of a certain age in order to participate? (for example, no 

younger than 15?) 

 Do you want to include both mothers and fathers? 

 Does the ethnicity of the parents make a difference? 

 Should you include parents who drink and nondrinking parents? 

Try to define your participants as precisely as possible. It usually makes sense to consider 

gender, age, occupation, geographic location, ethnicity, and language. 

Include Participants Who Are Similar to One Another 

The less diverse your focus group, the better. If you want to gather information on Hispanic 

teenagers, teens who have recently emigrated from Somalia, and teens in the “heavy metal” 

subculture, organize individual focus groups for each category. 

There are two reasons for this: 

 An individual cannot represent a population. A focus group of 10 teenagers might not be 

able to provide a representative sample of all teens in your community. But it will probably 

generate more representative information than will one teenager included in a group 

spanning several generations. 

 Research shows that people are more likely to reveal their opinions and beliefs and to talk 

about sensitive issues when they are with people who they perceive to be like themselves. 

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Include Participants Who Do Not Know One Another 

Participants are more likely to be honest and forthcoming when they do not know the other 

people in the group. The following may occur when participants know one another: 

 They are less likely to reveal personal or sensitive information. 

 They are more likely to express views that conform to those of others in the group 

(especially others whom they perceive as having some power or influence outside the 

group). 

 They may respond to questions based on their past experiences with one another (which 

effectively reduces your sample size). 

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Tips for Conducting Key Informant Interviews

Although key informant interviews are more informal than other forms of data collection, they 

still require a structure to be effective. Your respondent is more likely to take you seriously 

(and provide better information) if you are prepared and the conversation has direction. 

Tips for conducting key informant interviews include the following: 

 Begin by introducing your project and purpose. Remind the respondent about your 

purpose and the ultimate use of the information. Also, explain who will have access to your 

interview notes and whether the respondents will be identified in any reports or public 

discussions of your investigation. 

 Start with an easy question. For example, ask how long your respondents have been in 

their jobs. This will set them at ease and provide a context for analysis (as someone who 

has been on the job for six months will not have the same perspective as someone who 

has been on the job for 10 years). 

 Ask your most important questions first. You might run out of time. This is especially 

important when interviewing people whose job might require them to end the interview early 

(such as emergency medical service or law enforcement personnel). 

 Ask the same (or parallel) questions of several respondents. For example, you might 

want to ask all respondents connected with a particular prevention program (or system) to 

list the three things they would like to see improved. Answers from a number of different 

people in a system can reveal programming obstacles or places in which the system needs 

to be improved. 

 Don’t move to a new topic prematurely. Don’t leave important issues hanging—you 

might run out of time before you can return to them. Also, you will get more useful 

information by discussing one subject at a time. 

 Be prepared to ask the same question in another way. Prepare several questions that 

try to elicit the same information. Turn to the alternate questions when your first question 

just doesn’t do the job.

 Don’t get stuck on a question. Sometimes you just won’t get the information you want

from a particular respondent. Know when to move on so you don’t frustrate yourself or

antagonize your respondent by trying to elicit information that he or she does not have, 

cannot articulate, or isn’t willing to share. 

 Don’t let the interview go much over an hour. The people you chose as key informants 

are likely to be busy. The quality of the conversation can deteriorate if they feel rushed. 

Many of your respondents may be people with whom you might want to collaborate with in 

the future, so don’t antagonize them by letting an interview go on too long.

 Record the interview if possible. And take notes. As with focus groups, transcribe the 

recording and type up your notes as soon as possible after the interview is completed. 

Don’t forget to get the respondent’s permission to make an audio recording.

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Using Process Evaluation to Monitor Program

Implementation

Process evaluation involves analyzing how program activities are delivered. Prevention 

practitioners seek to find the answers to these central questions: 

 Who delivers the program and how often? 

 To what extent was the program implemented as planned? 

 How is the program received by the target group and program staff? 

 What are barriers to program delivery? 

 Was the data used to make program improvements/refinements? If so, what changes were 

made? 

These questions enable practitioners to also assess the quality of implementation, which is 

critical to maximizing the program’s intended benefits and demonstrating strategy effectiveness. 

Process evaluation also provides the information needed to make adjustments to strategy 

implementation to strengthen effectiveness. 

Specifically, process evaluation can be used to: 

 Paint a clear and compelling picture of the population targeted with each strategy 

 Reach important target audiences of stakeholders 

 Provide data for program improvement efforts 

 Distribute the information through as many channels as possible to reach target audience 

Why Not Just Look at Results? 

Outcome evaluation looks at results. It measures the direct effects of program activities on 

targeted recipients, such as the degree to which a program increased knowledge about the use 

of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs. But results don’t tell the whole story. Evaluation that only 

focuses on outcomes is sometimes called a “black box” evaluation because it does not take 

process evaluation into consideration. 

Disappointing outcome evaluation results can frequently be illuminated by examining how the 

program was implemented, the number of clients served, dropout rates, and how clients 

experienced the program. Those same kinds of questions can also explain positive evaluation 

results. (You can’t take credit for positive results if you can’t show what caused them.) 

Outcome evaluation alone, without a process evaluation component, won’t provide information 

about why a program did or didn’t work.

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Defining Quality 

Quality implementation means that the implementers of each strategy 

have: 

 Assured the strategy matches the cultural, developmental, and gender characteristics of 

the population 

 Received training or technical assistance to support appropriate implementation of the 

intervention 

 Worked with the program developer, policy expert, or the evaluator to understand core 

components—the elements most responsible for demonstrated outcomes 

 Assessed the need for any adaptations to the strategy, especially core components, in 

order to meet the particular needs of the target population 

 Sought input from the program developer about planned adaptations to assure they are 

consistent with the core components 

 Planned necessary adaptations to target population, program content or materials, delivery 

setting or timeframe to assure integrity of implementation 

 Sought to deliver program’s core components with fidelity when possible

 Tracked implementation through process evaluation as well as all planned and 

unanticipated adaptations to inform outcome evaluation findings 

 Used process evaluation data to inform and strengthen implementation when outcome 

evaluation did not reveal desired program results 

Process evaluation measures should be designed to assess how well the implementers 

adhered to those items. 

What to Do with Disappointing Process Data 

If process data suggest the program was not effective, practitioners should work with 

project stakeholders to: 

 Determine if the program was implemented with quality 

 Determine if strategy was appropriate for the population’s needs (review needs assessment

data and program theory) 

 Review evaluation strategies and measures to ensure they are appropriate and valid 

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Drug Enforcement Administration 

Office of Congressional and Public Affairs 

Community Outreach and Prevention Support Section 

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