Utilizing a decision-oriented framework for assessing community needs, resources, and readiness: Overview of Kentucky's experience

In 2004, KY received SAMHSA/CSAP funds to implement the Strategic Prevention Framework for substance abuse prevention. This initiative is focused on using data to identify and target prevention priorities for population-level change. Before planning and implementation funds could be allocated to communities, CSAP requires the State to assess substance use and related consequences, define prevention priorities based on such assessment, and then apply information about priorities to funding decisions so that the allocation approach is informed by what State is trying to change. This presentation will discuss a conceptual framework designed to synthesize a range of epidemiological data and facilitate key decisions regarding ATOD problem estimation. The framework guided the efforts of two inter-related committees to identify communities in need of preventive intervention. A technical analysis committee composed of social scientists from a range of disciplines reviewed, developed, and integrated extensive county-level data on consumption, consequences, risks, protective factors, and related contextual/demographic variables. A strategic planning committee composed of state-level policy makers then considered these synthesized and more manageable data in a sequential and systematic fashion to reach judgments about community needs, resources, and readiness. In presenting these data processes and related findings, KY will illustrate a set of data-guided funding decisions, highlight how context and other values framed steps, and comment on related challenges for enhancing substance abuse prevention efforts.