Thus, each guideline benefits from insights and information from the perspectives of other Federal agencies. Shortly thereafter, a PEPS Expert Panel is selected and convened for each guideline topic. This group is responsible for providing insights into the development of the guideline, identifying available research and practice evidence for analysis, analyzing the evidence, reviewing the developed guideline, and assisting with the field review and dissemination processes. Evidence Overall, the PEPS process can be described as a series of analyses and syntheses. The first analysis, which is conducted by the Planning Group, is the selection of topics that are appropriate for development as PEPS guidelines.
Numerous topics are of interest in substance abuse prevention.
However, to be amenable for development as a guideline, a topic must meet certain selection criteria. Once a topic is selected and a PEPS Expert Panel has been assembled, the panel conducts a review of the evidence on the topic by identifying and collecting published and unpublished research studies. It also seeks out and collects prevention practice case studies. The panel then evaluates these studies and practice cases to determine whether they meet criteria for indepth analysis. Once the research and practice evidence has been gathered, each study and practice case is analyzed with regard to outcomes, research design, and process evaluation as appropriate.