Evidence-Based Approaches
Effective community health planning incorporates multiple strategies, in multiple places, implemented over time. Most strategies should target population level changes, such as policy and systems. Some will target school systems, families, and individuals. Strategies should be based on local needs, data, and opportunities, based in evidence, and have the support of the community.
Communities should always base their plan on the best possible fit of community needs/strengths and programs and practices that have been proven, through research, to be effective. The Western Massachusetts Center for Healthy Communities has many substance abuse prevention curricula available in our library. You are welcome to review the curricula, ask us questions, and even borrow them for a few weeks.
Resources
The National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices is a great place to get started for substance abuse prevention planning.
The Guide to Community Preventive Services is a free resource to help you choose programs and policies to improve health and prevent disease in your community. Systematic reviews are used to answer these questions:
- Which program and policy interventions have been proven effective?
- Are there effective interventions that are right for my community?
- What might effective interventions cost; what is the likely return on investment?
Community Guide topics include:
- Adolescent Health
- Alcohol
- Asthma
- Birth Defects
- Cancer
- Diabetes
- HIV/AIDS, STIs & Pregnancy
- Mental Health
- Motor Vehicle
- Nutrition
- Obesity
- Oral Health
- Physical Activity
- Social Environment
- Tobacco
- Vaccines
- Violence
- Worksite wellness
LINKS (Lifecourse Interventions to Nurture Kids Successfully) summarizes evaluations of out-of-school time programs that work (or not) to enhance children's development, in a user-friendly format for policy makers, program providers, and funders. This approach is built on the concept that child development is a cumulative process that begins before birth and continues into young adulthood.
Whereas evidence-based curricula are thought of as a complete, comprehensive packaged approach, Dr. Dennis Embry has identified the smallest units of evidence-based approaches, which he calls "evidence-based kernels."
Upstream Public Health is an Oregon-based organization that works to advance policies that create the social and economic conditions where all Oregonians can thrive.Their website includes many examples of "upstream" policy approaches that are being piloted in Oregon.