Substance Abuse and Mental Health

• Tammy L. Anderson, Principal Investigator
• Steven S. Martin, Co-Principal Investigator
• Guanwen Qi, Research Associate
• Initiated: 2014; Funding Source: Bureau of Justice Assistance

The purpose of this project is to expand UD's Delaware Drug and Alcohol Tracking (DDATA) established process to include Delaware PMP data. It will add important geocoding information, via GIS census tract coding at the University of Delaware, to the Delaware PMP data so existing federal data efforts, and others at the state level, can be merged to improve states’ ability to identify and combat their health-related problems. Geocoding will allow the overlay of census, crime, and other health data onto the PMP, providing the means for proactive research and surveillance to better inform public policy. The resulting product will provide information of immediate interest and utility for policy changes in Delaware and will also serve as a national model for structural changes in PMP, its linkage with other data, and its use in surveillance and research.

CJC Board Presentation.pdf

• Laura Rapp, Principal Investigator
• Steven S. Martin, Lead Evaluator
• Sharon Merriman-Nai, Evaluator
• Dana Holz, Evaluator
• Jim Highberger, Data Analyst
• Brandie Pugh, Graduate Research Assistant
• Initiated: 2015; Funding Source: SAMHSA through Delaware’s Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health

SPF-PFS grant programs aim to reduce substance misuse and strengthen prevention capacity at the state, tribe, and jurisdiction levels. They do this by helping grantees leverage and realign statewide funding streams for prevention. PFS is based on the premise that changes at the community level will lead to measurable changes at the state level. Through collaboration, states and their PFS-funded communities of high need can overcome challenges associated with substance misuse.

SPF-PFS is a continuation of the work done under the Strategic Prevention Framework – State Incentive Grant (SPF-SIG) (2009-2015) and the goals of the SPF-PFS initiative are to provide funding to the State in order to: (1) Prevent onset and reduce the progression of substance abuse, including childhood and underage drinking and prescription drug abuse; (2) Reduce substance abuse-related problems; and (3) Build prevention capacity and infrastructure at the state and community level.

The Partnerships for Success Community Evaluation Team (PFS CET) provides process and outcome evaluation services for all SPF-PFS funded community prevention Contractors as well as the PFS Management Team at DSAMH. The evaluation services include technical assistance and guidance on the five steps of the SPF Framework: Assessment, Capacity Building, Planning, Implementation, and Evaluation.  Consequently, the Community Evaluation Team provides guidance, technical assistance, data collection and data analysis that are specific to where each Community/State Contractor is in regards to the SPF process. Additionally, the CET works collaboratively with PFS Management, Community Contractors, and the Federal Cross-Site Evaluation Team to ensure that all process and outcome requirements are met for this project.

PFS Annual Report 2017.pdf

• ​Steven S. Martin, Principal Investigator
• Daniel Howard, Penn State, Harrisburg, Consultant
• Initiated: 2008; Funding Source: Delaware Department of Services for Children, Youth, and Their Families

The Delaware Suicide Prevention Coalition’s (DSPC) Project LIFE is a comprehensive, statewide suicide prevention initiative targeting youth ages 10-24. By creating new programming and leveraging existing sources, the DSPC aims to reduce negative behaviors and enhance resiliency in youth most at-risk for suicide. Project LIFE takes a public health and community-based approach to suicide prevention by identifying the broader patterns of suicidal behavior through groups and populations. Following the Guiding Principles of the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention, DSPC is designed to be a catalyst for social change, with the power to transform attitudes, policies and services. The goals of Project LIFE are to prevent suicidal behaviors by enhancing resiliency, reduce the impact of suicide and suicidal behaviors on individuals, families and communities, and improve access to an availability of prevention services for vulnerable, high-risk individuals.

Suicide Prevention in Delaware 2015.pdf

• Laura Rapp, Principal Investigator
• Dana Holz, Evaluator
• Darryl Chambers, Evaluator
• Initiated: 2017; Funding Source: SAMHSA through Delaware’s Department of Services for Children, Youth and their Families.

The Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant (SABG) program provides funds to all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, 6 Pacific jurisdictions, and 1 tribal entity to prevent and treat substance abuse. The SABG program’s objective is to help plan, implement, and evaluate activities that prevent and treat substance abuse.

In Delaware, the Department of Services for Children, Youth and their Families fund community providers to implement substance use prevention efforts. The major goals of this project are 1) to prevent the onset and reduce the progression of substance use and abuse for youth and their families through the reduction of risk factors and increasing identified protective factors; 2) provide primary prevention activities to prevent substance use and abuse through a comprehensive use of evidence-based strategies including education, information dissemination, environmental, community-based, alternative activities; and 3) build prevention capacity and infrastructure and the community level.

The role of the SABG Evaluation team is to evaluate the prevention efforts at the State and Community level, which include both outcome and process evaluation.  Additionally, the team provides technical assistance to the Community Providers and the State on topics such as data collection, survey design, and logic model building.  The Evaluation Team also provides ongoing feedback to the Management Team on overall progress toward project milestones as well as making recommendations to adjust identified indicators and interventions at the community level.