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Strengths and challenges in prevention practice: State of the art in Croatia

Needs and resources assessment of 27 prevention projects (25 non-governmental organizations) was conducted within the project “Enhancing quality of drug prevention interventions in Croatia” (2013-2014). Project was conducted in the partnership of the Office for Combating Drugs Abuse of the Government of the Republic of Croatia, Faculty of Education and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Zagreb, and non- governmental organizations in Croatia. European Drug Prevention Quality Standards (EDPQS) were used as a basis for the assessment. Special attention was put on the programmes development, their implementation and evaluation. Analysis was based on the available projects documentation, visits to the non-governmental organizations and unstructured interviews with project providers. Results showed that some of the strengths of the prevention programmes are linked to the various methods used in programme delivery, use of epidemiological data with the purpose of needs assessment, positive relationships as a basis for prevention programmes, incorporated process evaluation, effective dissemination of the result, etc. The biggest challenges are focused on building a logic model of an intervention that is based on the comprehensive needs and resources assessment in regard to the targeted group(s). In addition, structured monitoring of implementation is often missing, as well as an outcome evaluation. Some of the recommendations for the improvement of prevention practice are developed, and these are focused on capacity building, especially in the field of professional competencies for development, as well as implementation and evaluation of drug prevention programmes. As a conclusion remarks of this presentation, the next steps in the aforementioned process of Croatian drug prevention improvement will also be discussed.

Prevention projects ; needs assessment ; strengths ; challenges ; EDPQS standards

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