Developing a Substance Abuse Prevention Program for Local Communities

Assignment:

Identify Topic and Resources

Throughout this course, you will utilize the Strategic Prevention Framework (SPF) model to develop a program addressing some aspect of substance abuse prevention.

This week, your task is to become familiar with the Strategic Prevention Framework (SPF) model and brainstorm how you may apply this model in your local community to develop a substance abuse prevention program. To begin, review The Strategic Prevention Framework. As you read through the process, begin to think about what substance abuse challenges, issues or problems exist in your community.

Project Timeline	Focus	Assignment
Week 1	Focus	Identify the general focus of your prevention program
Week 2	Assess Needs	Create needs assessment strategy
Week 3	Build Capacity	Identify relevant resources and support
Week 4	Plan: Review Similar Strategies	Highlight relevance of similar prevention programming
Week 5	Plan: Examine Literature	Develop annotated bibliography
Week 6	Plan: Create Plan	Create program overview
Week 7	Implement & Evaluate	Create action plan and evaluation strategy
Week 8	Prevention Program Proposal	Comprehensive proposal

• This week, your task is to select a focus area for your prevention program.
• In addition, you must locate 3 empirical research articles that relate to the target of your prevention program AND identify 3 existing prevention programs with a similar focus.
• Review the research articles and programs for proposed solutions, clarity, usefulness in addressing your focus.

Empirical research articles must be:

1. Peer-reviewed
2. Present original research
3. Published in scientific journals
4. Published in the last 5 years

For more information on what constitutes an empirical research article, see: http://laverne.libguides.com/empirical-articles

For assistance in locating existing prevention programs, see the National Registry of Evidence-based Programs & Practices which contains a searchable database of interventions for the prevention and treatment of mental and substance use disorders.

Assignment Expectations:

• Length: identify your topic in a single sentence;
  • Create an APA-style annotated bibliography for each of the 3 empirical articles; (500 words each; 1,500 words total)
  • list the prevention programs with their web link
• References: provide the APA style citation for each of the 3 empirical articles and provide a link to each of the prevention programs identified

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