At this point in the SPF process, you have identified your community’s priority problem(s), intervening variables, and resources and readiness. Additionally, you have identified appropriate strategies for addressing NMUPD among high school-age youth within your community. The next step is to bring all these elements together to create an overall vision of what your group is attempting to do and how you will evaluate the results of your efforts.
Developing a comprehensive plan requires you to do the following:
- Establish outcomes for each strategy
- Identify resources for implementation
- Develop a logic model (see PFS 2015 Logic Model Development Guide)
- Develop an action plan (see Action Plan Example and Template)
- Develop an evaluation plan
Establish Outcomes for Each Strategy
For each selected strategy, you will need to establish measurable outcomes:
- Identify the intervening variable being addressed
- Indicate the strategy you have chosen
- List the anticipated outcomes: short-term (the change in the target group who received your strategy), intermediate (the change in the intervening variable), and long-term (the ultimate impact of the strategy on the issue identified in your problem statement)
Example:
- Problem statement: The rate of current misuse and abuse of prescription pain relievers among high school students (8%) in our community has increased by 10% over the past five years.
- Intervening variable: Low levels of parental disapproval44
- Strategy: Parent media campaign
- Outcomes:
- Short-term: Increase in parents’ awareness of NMUPD as an issue
- Intermediate: Increase in parents’ level of disapproval of NMUPD
- Long-term: Decreased current (30-day) misuse and abuse of prescription pain relievers among high school students
Identify Resources for Implementation
Specify all resources needed to implement each selected strategy and to measure the related outcomes. Be sure to consider the following:
- Human resources—staffing, partnerships, volunteers, coalition membership, etc.
- Skills—prevention and intervention knowledge and skills, data collection and analysis, etc.
- Fiscal resources—both monetary and in-kind
- Material resources—space, equipment. etc.
- Existing resource gaps that will limit your ability to effectively implement the selected strategy or strategies
Develop a Logic Model
A logic model is a chart that describes how your effort or initiative is supposed to work and explains why your intervention is a good solution to the problem at hand. Effective logic models depict the activities that will bring about change and the results you expect to see in your community. A logic model keeps program planners moving in the same direction by providing a common language and point of reference.
Logic models may be used for various purposes (program planning, implementation, evaluation, etc.) and can feature different elements (inputs, activities, outputs, outcomes, etc.).
Use the information you gathered in Steps 1 and 2 of the SPF to develop a community-level logic model that links local problems, associated intervening variables, evidence-based strategies, and anticipated outcomes. Your logic model should include the following categories:
- BSAS-Identified Problem: State why the Bureau of Substance Abuse Services (BSAS) has made the grant dollars available—for BSAS initiatives, this is taken from the RFR (Request for Response)
- Local manifestation of the problem: Describe the extent of the substance misuse and abuse problem within the local community—this is your problem statement from Step 1
- Intervening variable(s): List the risk and/or protective factors that research has shown to be associated with substance misuse and abuse and are present within your community
- Strategies: List the programs, policies, and/or practices chosen to address the intervening variable(s); these should be evidence-based, with measurable outputs (such as number of advertisements placed, sessions conducted, or persons trained)
- Target group: Describe the intended audience(s) or population(s) of interest
- Outputs: List concrete measures of the extent to which the strategies are being implemented as planned, usually measured as “counts”
- Expected outcomes (short-term, intermediate, and long-term)
- Complete a logic model for each problem identified (i.e., each problem statement) and include additional rows for each intervening variable you’ve targeted.
- A sample logic model and template are provided in the PFS 2015 Logic Model Development Guide.
Develop an Action Plan
An action plan is the detailed sequence of steps that must be taken for a strategy to succeed. It is one component of your larger strategic plan. An action plan states:
- What needs to be accomplished
- Who is responsible
- The timeline for completion
- How you will measure success
An Action Plan Example and Template are available here.
When developing an action plan:
- Have a clear objective
- Start with what you will do now
- Clearly define the steps you will take
- Identify the end point for each step
- Arrange the steps in logical, chronological order, and include the date by which you will start each step
- Anticipate the types of problems you might encounter at each step, and brainstorm solutions.
Your action plan should be comprehensive, logical, and data-driven; it should include your community-level logic model, plans for addressing identified resource and readiness gaps, and how you have and will address issues of sustainability.
Keep in mind that good planning requires a group process. Whether decisions are made within a formal coalition or among a more informal group of partners, these decisions cannot represent the thoughts and ideas of just one person; they must reflect the ideas and input of individuals from across community sectors.
Your action plan should also include how you have and will address issues of cultural competence. To increase your group’s cultural competence, you’ll need to be open to modifying your planning and thinking processes to reflect the preferences of the target population(s).
Examples:
- Some American Indian and Alaska Native communities prefer planning processes that are circular, such as using a Mind Map to brainstorm rather than a linear list or table.
- Faith-based organizations may believe that action-oriented plans should be tempered by other forms of spiritual guidance about the best way to move forward.
- As noted by the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America and the National Coalition Institute,56 members of your coalition may come to the table with different levels of understanding regarding substance misuse and abuse and how to plan, implement, and evaluate interventions. Some may not be familiar with logic models or may not understand how a formal logic model may differ from their usual approaches.
Ideally, you will not start working on a logic model until all coalition members understand and are comfortable with the process. Several training sessions may be needed to get everyone to the same baseline of understanding, thereby promoting fruitful discourse and consensus building.
Listening to and incorporating different viewpoints will help you develop a plan that is culturally competent and shows respect for participants’ values, and is therefore more likely to succeed.56
Develop an Evaluation Plan
It is a common misperception that evaluation starts only at the end of a project. Ongoing monitoring and evaluation are essential to determine whether your desired outcomes are achieved and to assess the effectiveness and impact of your intervention and the quality of service delivery. Data collection for evaluation purposes should be built into the project design and should be part of your strategic plan.
Your evaluation will ultimately affect the sustainability of your intervention.
You will need to make sure that all relevant baseline information is collected before implementing your intervention, and make plans to track outcomes over time by collecting quantitative and qualitative data. In addition, you should have a plan for securing and maintaining the commitment of community members, agencies, and other strategic partners who will be involved in the evaluation. By fostering relationships among all the partners involved, it is more likely that they will be inclined to provide political support, cooperation, volunteers, and other resources on a long-term, ongoing basis. Your evaluation plan will also monitor how well your group is functioning and identify areas for improvement.
For more on program evaluation see Step 5: Evaluation.