 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
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| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
Michael J Stoil, PhD, Gary A. Hill, PhD, and Diana Hayden. Health Services Group, Conwal Incorporated, 6858 Old Dominion Drive, McLean, VA 22101, 703 448 2300, mstoil@conwal.com
The Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities (SDFSC) Program was established in 1986 to provide Federal financial assistance to local school districts to develop and implement prevention of alcohol, tobacco, and drug use. Over time, amendments to the enabling legislation have broadened the health promotion scope of the program––e.g., to include prevention of violence and suicide––and demanded use of science-based activities. State governments have been positioned to balance the demand for local autonomy in selecting school-based health promotion with an increasing number of mandates from Washington to meet national standards of quality. To better understand how States cope with these competing demands, data were collected during winter 2002-03 on the structures and systems employed to influence choices at the school district level by 30 of the 50 state agencies receiving SDFSC funds . The findings provide state-specific descriptions of the structures used to achieve compliance with federal requirements and cross-state comparisons. Analysis found that most States maintain a list of "approved" prevention programs but only one required that local school districts adhere to the list. Half of the responding states rely on regulating the composition of local SDFSC advisory boards to affect the quality of health promotion activities funded by the program. Discussion of the results will address whether these techniques are adequate to meet federal expectations for accountability while retaining significant local autonomy.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Primary Prevention, School-Based Programs
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.