- What is SPF SIG?
SPF SIG stands for Strategic Prevention Framework State Incentive Grant. The grant will cover a five- to seven-year period and involves a very deliberate five-step process that aims to prevent the onset and reduce the progression of substance abuse, including childhood and underage drinking, reduce substance abuse related problems in the community and build prevention capacity and infrastructure at the state and community level.
- What is the funding source for the SPF SIG?
The SPF is funded by the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP), which is a part of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration (SAMHSA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
- How does the SPF SIG differ from Kentucky's first SIG, the KIP Project?
The SPF SIG builds upon the prevention infrastructure that was created during the Kentucky Incentives for Prevention (KIP) project. While some of the goals of the SPF SIG and the KIP Project dovetail, the processes used differ considerably. The SPF SIG is grounded in an "epidemiological approach," meaning that state priorities and target communities will be identified through a statewide needs and resource assessment, conducted by epidemiologists and experts in the substance abuse prevention field.
The Kentucky SPF SIG will concentrate significant resources within a relatively small number of communities in order to produce a meaningful change on the community level. The expansion of evidence-based strategies, which was the major focus of the KIP project, is but one step of the strategic prevention framework. In terms of target population, the SPF addresses youth and adults whereas KIP was largely youth-focused.
- What is the "home team" approach?
The home team approach is an effort to bring together other state government agencies that are involved in substance abuse prevention efforts to better coordinate planning, and resource allocation. The Department for Public Health has teamed up with the Department for Behavioral Health, Development and Intellectual Disabilities; Department of Education; Family Resource and Youth Service Centers; and the Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ). Each of these agencies will form a "home team."
The DJJ home team will also bring in the Governor's Highway Safety Initiative and State Police. The home teams will be composed of agency leaders who have extensive knowledge of data collection, agency programs and strategic planning and can direct and implement the five steps of the strategic prevention framework within their own agencies. The home teams will identify effective ways in which their agencies can use the strategic prevention framework to reduce substance abuse and use among the populations served by their systems. Each home team will have a leader who will coordinate agency efforts and ensure accountability.
- What is the role of the Home Team Leader?
The role of the Home Team Leader is to work within his or her agency structure to:
- Increase knowledge of substance abuse prevention models, best practices and approaches.
- Increase agency knowledge of SPF SIG.
- Improve coordination of substance abuse prevention efforts on the state level.
- Improve interagency communication regarding prevention activities.
- Write agency communications about SPF SIG.
- Deliver or coordinate SPF-related presentations to other agency members.
- Represent the agency on the SPF Strategic Planning Committee.
- Engage local agency affiliates in the five steps of SPF planning.
- Publicize and encourage prevention training for state and local affiliate staff.
- Suggest new policies and procedures for agency prevention efforts.
- Facilitate local affiliate support of the community plan.
- Gather process and outcome data from local affiliates as needed for evaluation.
- Coordinate agency data processes with the statewide data system.
- Build support for agency policies and procedures relative to the data system.
- What is the life cycle of the grant?
The grant is a five-year nonconstruction cooperative agreement, with a two-year extension expected. The amount awarded to Kentucky was $11.5 million, or about $2.3 million per year.
- What is the role of the Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy in the SPF SIG?
The Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy has been involved in all phases of SPF activity from the outset and is represented on the Advisory Council, the Executive Committee and the Strategic Planning Committee. The Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy will coordinate the work of the SPF SIG and will review and approve the state Strategic Plan. The Office Drug Control Policy endorses the Strategic Prevention Framework as the design for the development of a new state infrastructure for substance abuse prevention efforts.
- How does the SPF SIG fit in with the prevention efforts that are already taking place in
Kentucky?
The SPF SIG is envisioned as the "umbrella" under which all ongoing prevention efforts will fit. The SPF SIG intends to utilize and build upon the existing community prevention planning infrastructure that is already in place in Kentucky.
By forming partnerships on the state level, the SPF proposes to integrate a common prevention model within the planning systems of our partner agencies. This will allow all state partners to direct resources toward the same goals and utilize the most effective strategies to reduce the tremendous health and economic burden that substance abuse imposes on Kentucky communities.
- Who serves on the Strategic Planning Committee?
The Strategic Planning Committee is composed of the Home Team Leaders of our six partner agencies, a representative of the Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy, the Kentucky State Police, the Agriculture Extension Agency, the Department of Community Based Services, KY Council on Post Secondary Education, the Department for Public Health, and substance abuse prevention experts.
- What substances will be targeted through the SPF?
After careful review of the data, the Strategic Planning Committee selected diverted prescription drugs, methamphetamine, alcohol, tobacco and inhalants. These substances emerged as most problematic in terms of the severity of health and economic consequences associated with their use.
- How were the target communities chosen?
Communities were identified based on their needs (degree of the substance abuse problem) and their available substance abuse prevention resources. The Data Analysis Committee, composed of state epidemiologists and prevention researchers, conducted a statewide needs assessment to determine 1) what substances present the most problem to the health and welfare of Kentucky citizens, and 2) what counties were the most severely impacted by these substances.
The Strategic Planning Committee then analyzed the data and identified target communities based upon their respective needs and resources and their readiness to begin SPF implementation. Based upon these factors the following target counties were selected: Monroe and Clay Counties (inhalants), Owen County (underage drinking), Muhlenberg and Ohio Counties (methamphetamine), Owsley County (tobacco), Letcher and Clinton Counties (prescription drugs).
- What kind of technical assistance will be provided to communities as they implement the strategic prevention framework?
A variety of resources has been put in place to help communities through the planning process. Each target community is served by a Strategic Prevention Framework Master Trainer. The Master Trainers are Certified Prevention Professionals who work within the Regional Prevention Center system.
The Master Trainers were chosen based on their experience and competence in needs assessment and community readiness, capacity building, strategic plan development, and program and strategy implementation and evaluation. Additional assistance will be provided by the community planning support team composed of REACH of Louisville and State SPF SIG staff.
- What is the mechanism for allocating SPF funds to the target communities?
SPF funds will flow to target communities through the Community Mental Health Centers (CMHC) The CMHCs are charged with providing treatment and prevention services to all counties of the state. The SPF Master Trainers and Regional Prevention staff are housed within the CMHCs. Using the CMHCs as fiscal agents allows for flexibility in resource allocation, permitting funds to flow directly and quickly to the communities most in need.
- How much of the SPF SIG funds will be allocated to the community?
The total SPF award is $11.5 million for five years. The federal government requires that a minimum of 85 percent be spent at the community level.
- What is the function of the SPF SIG Advisory Council?
The Advisory Council is composed of state agencies, prevention professionals, substance abuse researchers and community prevention leaders. The roles of the Advisory Council are to:
- Provide input and guidance implementation of each step of the framework.
- Garner buy-in and support from state agencies and communities.
- Provide additional data according to area of expertise, such as special target populations, strategies and policy measures.
- Who conducted the needs resource assessment and what types of resources were reviewed?
The Data Analysis Committee, composed of substance abuse prevention researchers and epidemiologists, gathered the needs and resource data and generated a series of county profiles and reports. Numerous data sources were used, including the National Survey of Drug Use and Health, KIP, Kentucky State Police arrest and conviction data, and CDC data.
The resource assessment includes such information as federal and state prevention funding received, number of evidence-based strategies being implemented in a given county, and the number and types of prevention organizations in each county. These reports were submitted to the Strategic Planning Committee, which used them to identify the counties of greatest need.
- The minority population of our community is very small. How can we practice cultural competency?
Cultural competency is broader than ethnicity or language. It can include income or social class, historical community versus "newcomer" issues, and a wide variety of factors that influence substance abuse. For example, if community needs assessment data reveals a prevention need among senior citizens, that community would need to know what types of conditions and causes put senior citizens at risk, what are effective ways to deliver prevention services to them, and what kinds of messages are appropriate.
In order to do this effectively, the community may have to learn much more about what kinds of issues senior citizens deal with. It will be up to the community to identify the cultural issues that need to be addressed as it implements the SPF.
- How did the state measure community readiness?
It conducted research to look at all available community readiness models and to assess the strengths and weaknesses of each. This research identified seven models. The model chosen for Kentucky was a survey developed by the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA). Kentucky adapted the NIDA model to include a focus on our state's five state priorities and to incorporate elements of readiness as they relate to our specific state and local prevention infrastructure.
Site visit teams composed of two prevention experts and a Home Team Leader were sent to each of the initial seventeen counties that emerged in the needs and resource assessments. The teams interviewed community members about aspects of community willingness to do prevention work on the particular substance for which they were identified. The information they collected served as the basis of the Strategic Planning Committee's selection of the eight final target communities.
- What are some of the outcomes that the State expects to see regarding Strategic Prevention Framework?
- Reduction of use and consequences in targeted communities.
- Improved interagency collaboration.
- A better understanding and application of evidence-based strategies or best practices on the part of partner agencies.
- Use of the Strategic Prevention Framework as a planning process by other state agencies.
- Better targeted prevention strategies on the local level by applying an epidemiological approach to substance abuse.
- Creation of a state data system to facilitate community planning.
- What are the benefits for communities that do not receive SPF funds?
Communities that do not receive funding will benefit in a number of ways. They will have access to the state needs assessment data, access to information on best practices and lessons learned that emerge through evaluation of the target communities, and access to Strategic Prevention Framework training through the state training system. Capacity to implement the Strategic Prevention Framework is now a major funding criteria for many prevention grants. Communities that understand the SPF process will be in a better position to secure federal funding.
- How can communities measure the magnitude of burden for a particular drug use consequence?
Some calculations for burden may include:
- Short- and long-term cost to the health and social service system for substance abuse-related injuries and illness.
- Cost of drug-related mortality.
- Cost of lost worker productivity.
- Substance abuse-related crime.
- Substance abuse treatment costs.
- Drug-related cost to local law enforcement and judicial system.
- Years of life lost due to substance abuse.
- What are the requirements for the community strategic plan?
The community plan will follow guidelines similar to those of the state plan. Components of the community plan will include: assessment of the substance abuse problem within the county. Using the state epidemiological workgroup findings as a starting point, communities will have to:
- Identify particular areas of the county or populations that may be more adversely affected than others.
- Assess current prevention infrastructure as it relates to the framework and identification of areas that need strengthening.
- Establish proposed activities and rationale for programs and strategies and expected outcomes of completed strategies.
- Develop a timeline detailing proposed activities that will be put into practice.
- Develop a plan to monitor and evaluate activities.
- Create a budget and budget narrative.
