203914 An overview of outcomes from the independent national evaluation of the Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant Program

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Namratha Swamy, PhD , Altarum Institute, Washington, DC
Theresa Mitchell-Hampton, DrPH, MEd , Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Rockville, MD
Jessica K. McDuff, MA , Altarum Institute, Washington, DC
     
The Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant (SAPT BG) Program is the largest source of Federal funding to States to plan, carry out, and evaluate activities to prevent and treat substance use disorders. It constitutes a substantial amount of all States' budgets for substance abuse programming and serves an average of 2 million individuals each year. States have flexibility in determining how funds should be allocated to address local needs; however, to receive funding, States must meet specific set-aside and maintenance of effort requirements and conduct activities designed to achieve the 17 legislative goals of the Program. This presentation describes findings from the first-ever independent national evaluation of the SAPT BG Program and illustrates client and State system-level program effects. Data for the evaluation were collected from State BG applications and other Program documents, group interviews with substance abuse agency staff in 20 States, individual interviews with 27 Federal staff members, and 10 web-based surveys of Program compliance monitors. Client-level effects were examined using pre/post program participation data submitted by State treatment providers. Analysis of these data reveals client-level effects in areas such as abstinence, employment/school participation, stable housing, social support and connectedness, and retention in treatment. State system-level outcomes also are identified in areas related to infrastructure and capacity development, leveraging of BG requirements and resources, and initiation and maintenance of State and Federal collaborations. Policy implications of evaluation findings are discussed.

Learning Objectives:
Describe the effects of the SAPT BG Program on clients of BG-funded substance abuse treatment programs Identify and discuss State system level outcomes related to SAPT BG Program funding and participation Identify potential policy implications of evaluation findings

Keywords: Evaluation, Substance Abuse Treatment

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am currently the Director of Altarum’s Policy, Planning and Evaluation Practice Area and bring more than 10 years of experience in monitoring and program evaluation; policy analysis; and the provision of evaluation TA and training to Federal, State, and local stakeholders. In addition to serving as Project Director for several federally-funded program evaluations for DHHS Office on Women’s Health, Department of Labor, and several offices within HRSA including Office of Rural Health, Office of Women’s Health, Bureau of Health Professionals, and the Healthcare Systems Bureau, I serve as Senior Evaluation Advisor to the SAMHSA SAPT Block Grant Evaluation project. In this role, I provide guidance and support in implementing mixed methods approaches for this multi-site evaluation study, including key informant interviews, surveys, document review and abstraction, and secondary data analysis.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

See more of: Evaluation approaches for ATOD
See more of: Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drugs