The Experience of MADD’s Protecting You/Protecting Me: Using Evaluation to Enhance Program Development

Abstract:

Protecting You/Protecting Me (PY/PM) is a classroom-based alcohol-use prevention program developed by Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) for students in grades 1–5. The goal of the intervention is to prevent injury and death of children and youth due to underage consumption of alcoholic beverages and vehicle crashes when riding with impaired drivers. Development of PY/PM began in the summer of 1998. In spring 2002, PY/PM was named a Model Program by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) and the National Registry of Effective Programs, now known as the National Registry of Evidence-Based Programs and Practices (NREPP). Since the inception of the project, evaluation data have been used to determine program goals, develop and revise the curriculum, assess effective methods of delivery, and improve effectiveness. The purpose of this document is to provide an example of how evaluation can be used in each of the five stages of program development—initiation, planning, field-testing, implementation, and stabilization—to build a solid, evidence-based program that accomplishes its goals. This case study is not intended to be a manual on how to achieve effective program status. It is simply an example of how a good program can be developed in the “real world” by a grassroots organization with limited funds.

Subject:

Social Sciences

Grade Level:

Post-secondary

Collection:

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services