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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Kelly J. Vander Ley, PhD¹, Joe Diament², Maria Gagnon², and Maryellen Burke, PhD³. (1) RMC Research Corporation, 111 SW Columbia Street, Suite 1200, Portland, OR 97201-5843, 503 223 8248, kvanderley@rmccorp.com, (2) Adolescent Treatment Initiative, New Futures, 8 Continental Drive, Unit G, Exeter, NH 03833, (3) Piscataqua Region, New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, 446 Market St., Portsmouth, NH 03801

In January 2004, the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation announced a commitment of $5 million to fund a 5-year statewide adolescent treatment initiative to establish sustainable evidence-based non-residential treatment services to meet adolescent alcohol and other drug treatment needs throughout New Hampshire. The initiative is comprised of two components: 1) community-based demonstration projects and 2) a collaborative of concerned citizens to advocate for statewide public policy change. Five new program demonstration sites have been funded to implement a continuum of evidence-based services including screening, assessment, treatment, and continuing care. A unique small scale business process improvement project has also been initiated at an agency that is well underway with evidence-based services. Strategies undertaken by the collaborative include increasing statewide awareness of the problem; educating the general public about treatment effectiveness; facilitating practice improvement efforts; disseminating evaluation findings; and supporting the pursuit of funding opportunities. This presentation features a formative evaluation of the initiative's first 18 months. The foundation's experience partnering with a local nonpartisan nonprofit advocacy organization to direct the initiative, selecting demonstration sites, and monitoring awards will be highlighted. Results presented here will include interviews from a representative sample of key stakeholders from each demonstration site to assess community readiness; client-level program indicators of treatment access and retention; 3- and 6-month client outcomes obtained from the Global Appraisal of Individual Needs instrument, and an audit of the collaborative's leadership and outreach activities to sustain the statewide comprehensive adolescent treatment effort. Community and state-level successes and lessons learned will be discussed.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant (learner) in this session will be able to

• Describe different community-based strategies for implementing a continuum of evidence-based adolescent services for the identification and treatment of substance abuse problems.
• Articulate the role of a collaborative of concerned citizens and civic leaders in promoting public policy change to address adolescent substance abuse treatment.
• Discuss the effectiveness of the demonstration projects based on community, program, and client level performance indicators.

Keywords: Adolescent Health, Treatment System

Related Web page: www.new-futures.org/adolescent-treatment-initiative/

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation