Summary
Summary: When addressing public health challenges, including substance use, the Los Angeles County (LAC) Department of Public Health (DPH) looks not only at implementing effective prevention strategies (e.g., policy development, advocacy, media efforts, education, services) but also at the impact of the physical and social environments on health (e.g., land use, safety, poverty, educational attainment). Understanding key factors related to health and the impact of substance use on the individual, family, society, and environment can lead to more effective and comprehensive substance use prevention services. The Substance Abuse Prevention and Control (SAPC) will work collaboratively with prevention providers on an on-going basis to assess community needs and resources to develop effective, culturally responsive prevention strategies.
The LAC evaluation plan to conduct prevention process and outcome evaluation will begin by engaging stakeholders (e.g., LAC prevention program directors/coordinators, their program evaluators, and DPH-SAPC Community and Youth Engagement prevention specialists) as members of the prevention evaluation team. DPH-SAPC’s prevention evaluation team within the Health Outcomes and Data Analytics (HODA) Unit will continue working collaboratively with prevention evaluation team members throughout the evaluation process to evaluate shared program goals, objectives, activities, and performance measures. The overall purpose of the evaluation is to monitor progress toward program goals, determine whether program strategies are progressing toward the desired outcomes, and ensure the sustainability of effective strategies/programs.
In this report, data from 2007, 2016 and 2017 California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) for socioeconomic indicators and commonly misused substances are referenced.
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