Increasing the Use of Evidence-Based Interventions to Reduce Youth Behavioral Health Problems

Abstract

This chapter discusses the challenges of identifying preventive interventions as effective and of assisting community coalitions to learn about and select EBIs that are a good fit for their community. The scientific standards used to determine intervention effectiveness by various lists of “what works” are compared, and the Blueprints for Healthy Youth Development is highlighted as the database used by coalitions implementing the CTC system. The importance of community resource assessments is also discussed, including the steps taken by CTC coalitions to evaluate their current resources, identify gaps in the delivery of preventive interventions, and determine if current services need to be expanded or new EBIs should be implemented.