Assessment

Overview

The assessment phase helps define the problem or the issue that a project needs to tackle. This phase involves the collection of data to:

Understand a population's needs
Review the resources that are required and available
Identify the readiness of the community to address prevention needs and service gaps.

To gather the necessary data, States and communities will create an epidemiological workgroup. The data gathered from this workgroup is vital because it will greatly influence a program's strategic plan and funding decisions.

Tools: There are several tools to help organizations undertake assessment efforts.

Prevention Platform
A Web-based application to help communities assess their needs, readiness, and resources. Also, the measures and instrument resource on the platform can be used to collect the data online and determine how programs can collect the information independently.

State Prevention Profiles
View State funding summaries as well as prevention resources in your State or jurisdiction.

National Outcome Measures
SAMHSA's current core outcome measures for substance abuse prevention, treatment, and mental health. Use this tool to find the data you need online or even to collect data yourself.

State Juvenile Justice Profiles
The National Center for Juvenile Justice (NCJJ) State Juvenile Justice Profiles Web site features rich, descriptive information and analysis regarding each State's juvenile justice system.

Helping America's Youth Program Tool Database
The Helping America's Youth Program Tool Database contains risk factors and protective factors listed by the following domains: Individual, Family, School, Peer, and Community (the Environment/Society domain is often included within this domain). For each factor, where the information is available, you will find the indicators and data sources. Access the risk factors and protective factors Word version. The National Institute on Drug Abuse's Preventing Drug Use among Children and Adolescents includes Prevention Principles that also include a list of risk factors and protective factors.

Statistics and Data: View the latest national data on substance abuse.