APPLIED DATA AND RESEARCH

Since research and data help identify the nature and magnitude of a problem, this element of the Environmental Change Model is usually the first one conducted. However, since data is also gathered to document activities and measure success, work on this element continues throughout the entire course of a prevention campaign

Data may be gathered from a variety of sources. These may include local police calls related to substance abuse, DUI related data from the Office of Traffic Safety or records of drug-related deaths from the medical examiners office. Survey data, such as results from the California Health Kids survey, can also provide valuable information about youth alcohol and other drug use levels and attitudes. Public opinion surveys and key informant interviews may help identify attitudes of local residents to substance abuse-related issues. Direct observations of the community are also important. These include environmental scans of a well-defined geographical locations where conditions that are likely to contribute to substance abuse are examined. Among these are a high density of alcohol outlets that are close to youth-sensitive areas such as schools, churches or parks. Even reviewing the local newspaper can provide valuable information to a prevention campaign.

While the kinds of data and their sources may be numerous, the uses of data in a prevention campaign generally fall into one of the following categories:

Problem Data - This data describes the problem being addressed; how many people are participating in an unhealthy/unsafe behavior? It quantifies the health and/or financial impact on a community or target population or it may identify the underlying individual or community factors contributing to problem.  Many times this data is calculated based on historical or archival data.

Solution Data – This data describes the various approaches or potential solutions for dealing with a problem; this may include research of public policies to address to the issue and the impact of the proposed solution in other similar communities.  It may also include a list of evidenced-based programs used elsewhere to address this issue.

Readiness Data – This data provides insight as to how prepared a community or program team is to undertake the prevention program.  Readiness data collectively may include input from different sources such as observations, interviews, etc.

Process Data – This data measures how well a prevention program is executing versus what was proposed.  Process data tracks program activities and may also measure whether the program is increasing readiness.

Evaluation Data – This data measures the long term outcomes or changes of the prevention project.  Many times, evaluation data is tracking any changes in selected problem data.