Consensus on prevention actions and construction of indicators for the evaluation of addiction prevention programs at the university level, through participatory methodologies
Abstract
Background: Action in the prevention of addictions at the university level has existed since the 1990s and many preventive actions and health promotion strategies have been developed. However, many of them have not been evaluated. Given that universities are, in addition to academic spaces, spaces for social development and preparing for the workforce, it is necessary to promote specific mechanisms for evaluating prevention programs in this context. This study aims to build consensus and design benchmark evaluation indicators for all preventive addiction programs for universities in Catalonia.
Methods: The methodological foundation is qualitative and has been developed thanks to the EFECTE UNI platform on prevention, drugs, and digital environments (which brings together professional experts in intervention with peers, third sector organizations, and 7 Catalan universities). Through the establishment of a preliminary design that included 2 focus groups and 10 work sessions from March 2021 to August 2021, a committee of experts and a sample of 4 participating third sector entities worked towards consensus on prevention actions and the construction of indicators for evaluating actions in the university community
Results: The most relevant results of this research are the establishment of more than 30 indicators to evaluate the process (monitoring the start and end of the programs and each session) and the impact of the results (before and after the program implementation). The evaluation will shed light on existing gaps in prevention at the university level and will enable the development of better prevention policies and strategies at the university level.
Conclusion: There is a need for further research on evidence-based prevention involving all key actors and stakeholders, to establish common indicators, adapted to the university environment, with a greater degree of accuracy.