Over the past decade, the federal government has sponsored the creation of several lists of research-based substance abuse and violence prevention programs that have proven to be effective. What is the difference between these lists? Why is a program included on one list and not another? As part of an ongoing series on effective prevention programs, The Challenge will take a closer look at the lists and help explain how programs are nominated and selected for inclusion. In this issue, we begin with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) National Registry of Effective Programs and Practices (NREPP).

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ SAMHSA is the nation’s lead agency focusing on the prevention and treatment of substance abuse and mental health disorders. SAMHSA created NREPP to help local communities understand and implement prevention and treatment programs that have proven to be effective.

Begun as a function of SAMHSA’s Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, NREPP initially reviewed and identified programs focusing solely on substance abuse prevention. Today, the expanded registry covers programs consistent with all of the core areas of SAMHSA’s mission: substance abuse prevention and treatment, as well as the prevention and treatment of mental health disorders and co-occurring substance abuse and mental health disorders.

Identifying Effective Programs

NREPP’s first function is to identify effective programs. How are such programs found? According to NREPP Project Manager Traci Schwinn, programs come to the attention of NREPP from a number of different sources. Some programs are identified in scholarly scientific journals. Others are brought to the attention of NREPP by expert reviewers who have their finger on the pulse of what’s happening in the field.

But more recently, many of the programs submitted for review are submitted by the program developers themselves. NREPP encourages developers to submit information about their successful prevention efforts because programs developed by practitioners in the field are apt to reflect the everyday realities of life in a school or community setting in a manner that is not always possible in academic settings.

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