Western > Resources > Planning and Best Practices > Step 6

Step 6: Select and Implement Best Practices

What are guiding principles and best practices?

Best practices are those strategies, activities, or approaches which have been shown through research and evaluation to be effective at preventing and/or delaying substance abuse.

Guiding principles are recommendations on how to create effective prevention programs. When a community already has a prevention program or strategy in place, the guiding principles can be used to gauge the program's potential effectiveness. They can also be used to design an innovative program/strategy when none of the best practices are appropriate to the community's needs.

Before you select a best practice or apply the guiding principles, your community must conduct an assessment (risk assessment) to identify the risk and protective factors that need to be addressed in your community. This is Step 2 and Step 3 of the planning process. Once you have identified which risk and protective factor(s) to address through your assessment, you can use the links below to select the best practice(s) and/or guiding principles to address your community's needs.

Definition of "best practices"

On this web-site, "best practices" are those strategies and programs which are deemed research-based by scientists and researchers at:

• National Institute for Drug Abuse (NIDA);
• Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP);
• National Center for the Advancement of Prevention (NCAP);
• Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP); and
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

These are strategies and programs which have been shown through substantial research and evaluation to be effective at preventing and/or delaying substance abuse.

Also included below is a link to the Department of Education's web site which contains information on programs that they have deemed "Exemplary" and "Promising" according to their criteria. You will see that many of their programs also were deemed research-based by the agencies listed above.

Definition of "promising practices"

On this web site promising practices are programs and strategies that have some quantitative data showing positive outcomes in delaying substance abuse over a period of time, but do not have enough research or replication to support generalizable outcomes.

NOTE: No single best practice will be successful at preventing substance abuse in your community. To be as comprehensive as possible, best practices addressing prevention strategies (CSAP strategies) in all areas of your community (family, school, individual, peer, society/community) should be implemented. Completing Step 2 and Step 3 in the planning process will assist you in identifying the needs in your community. Remember: There is no single "magic" program in prevention!

Guiding Principles

• CSAP's Principles of Substance Abuse Prevention
• NIDA's Prevention Principles
• Department of Education's Principles of Effectiveness

Best, Promising and Unproven Practices

After you have completed a community (risk) assessment (Step 2 and Step 3) and have identified the area you need to address, you can access best and promising practices through the following avenues:

• Conduct Search for Best and Promising Practices
• Alphabetical Listing of Best and Promising Practices
• SAMHSA Model Programs
• Department of Education's Exemplary and Promising Programs
• OJJDP Model Programs Guide
• Unproven Programs/Strategies

Do you have questions or concerns about fidelity and adaptation? Review the National Center for the Advancement of Prevention's (NCAP's) "Guidelines for Balancing Program Fidelity/Adaptation" or view a summary of the document.

NOTE: The programs and strategies listed on this web-site are examples of scientifically-defensible prevention efforts. While we do review the prevention literature and periodically update the information on this site, there are likely to be other proven practices that are not listed. Furthermore, inclusion of a strategy/program on this web-site does not imply endorsement by CSAP's Western CAPT nor the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention.

Next Step: Conduct an Evaluation