3.5.5  Provide Criteria for Selecting Prevention Approach

To provide guidance in selecting appropriate prevention programs, provide task group members with the following four criteria.

Technical and Scientific Criteria. Team members should make their decisions using a thorough understanding about why the problem is occurring (have a theory of the problem) and a theory about the prevention approach (a research-based justification about why the specific prevention approach was selected to address the identified problem).

Political Criteria. Team members should determine whether the selected prevention approach will be accepted in the community and whether local citizens will give sufficient support to the prevention approach for it to have a chance of success.

Cost Criteria. Team members should determine how costly a specific prevention approach will be in relation to the size of the expected benefits and whether the community has the necessary fiscal and staff resources to implement the specific approach.

Contextual Criteria. Team members should consider such factors as interpersonal, intrapersonal, organizational, community, cultural, and public policy factors associated with substance abuse prevention.