About the Group

Prevention Evaluation and Research
Developing successful evaluation procedures in Florida’s State Incentive Grant (SIG) program, led to the selection of this UM evaluation team by the State of Florida to evaluate other state substance use prevention programs for youth with over 175 sites currently being evaluated.  Further, TPEG has worked closely with the State of Florida in the selection and testing of the KIT Solutions Performance Based Prevention System for creating a statewide prevention database.   An essential on-going component of the evaluation activities of TPEG with the State of Florida is the provision of technical assistance in the introduction of science-based prevention programming throughout Florida, a movement which is currently being advocated and supported by both the Department of Children and Families and the Governor's Office of Drug Control.  Through regional seminars and individual site visits, TPEG has walked local providers step-by-step through (1) creating manuals for promising programs so that they can be thoroughly evaluated and validated, (2) creating evaluation plans which include provisions for evaluation of program effectiveness, (3) using scientific processes for making necessary program modifications, and (4) using Internet resources for prevention planning and program implementation.  In addition TPEG also staffs the Florida’s State Epidemiology Workgroup, which prepares and disseminates measures of substance consumption and of the social and medical consequences of substance use/abuse throughout the state.

Treatment Evaluation and Research
Technologies originally developed for Florida’s State Incentive Grant (SIG) project are utilized, in some instances, for developing evaluation plans for assessment of substance abuse treatment programs.  In these instances, TPEG works with treatment providers to perform many of the elements of program evaluation, promoting assessment of program effectiveness at a minimal cost.  TPEG has also conducted a more intense and rigorous evaluation of a substance abuse treatment program in the state of Georgia, which focused on families with children, among whom all family members received psychosocial services over a yearlong residency.  This program appears to have been the first year long treatment program with an extensive manual for daily treatment activities and one of the few to consist of "science-based" components.  It utilized many innovative components to address the special needs of families who had one or more addicted members.  Both the program and the evaluation design were based on a previous five-year research and evaluation project conducted by TPEG members in Key West, Florida.

Partnerships
With this presence among prevention and treatment providers, TPEG has partnered with local Florida and regional agencies that are applying for federal funding for local programming, offering them training in grant writing and providing them with evaluation plans for inclusion in their grant applications.  Technologies developed by TPEG for prevention program evaluation have also been presented to prevention leaders at national and state conferences and seminars.

The Evaluation Framework
TPEG routinely uses the Center for Disease Control (CDC) framework for evaluation of all of its projects.  Briefly stated, this framework requires (1) input from a broad range of stakeholders in the design of the evaluation plan (2) clear description of the evaluated program that allows replication (3) refinement and focus of the evaluation plan throughout the development of the evaluated program (4) gathering of credible evidence (5) justification of conclusions, and (6) the use and sharing of lessons learned, including publication in peer-reviewed journals.  Standards guiding this framework are (1) utility (2) feasibility, (3) propriety, and (4) accuracy.