Substance Abuse Prevention that Works

Androscoggin County, Maine, in the northeastern corner of the United States, is far from the hustle and bustle of a big city. Yet some of the residents who live there face similar problems experienced in cities and towns all over the country, problems like alcohol and drug abuse.

Preventing substance abuse, particularly among teenagers, is a priority in Androscoggin County. So the community leaders developed an action plan that includes strengthening law enforcement and hiring an Alcohol Investigator with the sole responsibility of decreasing underage drinking.

“Alcohol is readily available to underage drinkers in the downtown area,” says one local parent. The law enforcement component focuses on reducing access to alcohol among minors and breaking up underage drinking parties.

Like Androscoggin County, many communities across the U.S. have developed their own substance abuse prevention programs to address their concerns and priorities.

“Communities are often best able to identify local needs,” says EDC’s Kim Dash. “Even though they can choose evidence-based substance abuse prevention programs—developed using rigorous studies under highly controlled conditions—some local agencies have found these programs are not a good match for the people they serve and difficult to implement.”

While programs developed locally may better fit the needs and circumstances of a particular community, their effectiveness is often unknown or not based on sound research. So Dash works with the federal government’s Service to Science Initiative to help local program staff evaluate their efforts.

“It’s expensive to conduct a rigorous evaluation. It also requires specific expertise,” explains Dash. “Service to Science was developed by the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention to provide evaluation assistance to local agencies that may not have the resources to do it themselves.”

Dash worked with the Healthy Androscoggin Alcohol Enforcement Team to refine the rationale for their program based on substance abuse deterrence theory and data collected in the county about youth alcohol and drug use. Clarifying their rationale helped determine what to measure in order to document the efforts of the Alcohol Investigator.

Dash and Robert Apsler of Social Science Research and Evaluation recommended that they use a time series design—collecting law enforcement data about underage drinking before the Alcohol Investigator was hired and comparing it to current data. This could show whether the investigator’s position has really made any difference in terms of underage drinking and its consequences.

“The Service to Science Initiative provided Androscoggin County with technical assistance to create a logic model and an evaluation framework that depends on a strong data collection methodology,” said Justin Barton-Caplin, the executive director of Healthy Androscoggin, “All of this helped establish a case for success for the Androscoggin County Alcohol Enforcement Team.”

Service to Science bridges homegrown substance abuse prevention programs with empirical evidence and theory. It is based on the notion that practical experience—service—has as much to offer the field of prevention as science. Together they can help shape the development of effective programs.