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Guide to the NREPP Intervention Summary

NREPP intervention summaries are the end product of independent, scientifically based reviews of programs and practices that have applied to be included in the National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices. These online documents are where SAMHSA publishes descriptive information and ratings for every intervention reviewed by NREPP.

Descriptive Info Outcomes Ratings Demographics Studies/Materials Replications Contact Info

More detailed explanations of these seven sections are provided below.

Descriptive Information

Topics

NREPP classifies interventions into one or more of these five topic areas:

These categories roughly correspond to the major divisions within the larger field that are recognized by SAMHSA, which are also reflected in the division of programmatic responsibilities among SAMHSA's three Centers (Center for Mental Health Services, Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, and Center for Substance Abuse Treatment).

Co-occurring disorders (also called dual-diagnosis disorders) refers to substance use and mental health disorders that often occur in conjunction with one another (for example, alcoholism and depression); this topic applies to interventions that are specifically designed to work with people who have co-occurring disorders.

Mental health promotion and Substance abuse prevention characterize interventions that aim to improve resiliency and reduce risk factors, thereby preventing the onset of problem behavior/attitudes/cognitions.

Mental health treatment and Substance abuse treatment characterize interventions that provide treatment, consultation, or other forms of assistance (usually specific and individualized) to patients or consumers.

Populations

This field reports the collective demographics of study participants across all studies reviewed by NREPP.

Race/ethnicity categories used by NREPP are based on Office of Management and Budget (OMB) guidelines. They may differ slightly from categories used by study authors.

Data shown here are not necessarily in "weighted" order. For exact population breakdowns by study, see the Study Demographics section below.

Outcomes

Outcomes are changes in behavior, physiology, attitudes, or knowledge that can be quantified using standardized scales or assessment tools. This field lists all outcomes targeted by the intervention that were included in the NREPP review.

Interventions can have additional outcomes not shown here. Outcomes not evaluated in studies, or evaluated in studies not submitted for the NREPP review, are not included here.

Abstract

This is a brief description of the intervention.

Settings

Options for settings include:

These categories represent the range of contexts and environments to which interventions may be adapted. The setting is characterized by NREPP based on descriptions provided by the intervention developer.

Areas of Interest

Some of the more common areas of interest for NREPP-reviewed interventions are:

These predefined "areas of interest" are not all-inclusive. For example, there is no "substance abuse" category because of the overly wide range of substances that would fall under that designation.

Replications

This field indicates whether an intervention has been implemented according to protocols with an evaluation study and the results have been published.

Proprietary or Public Domain

Training and implementation materials that must be purchased or licensed by the developer or a third party are considered "proprietary."

If there is no cost to purchase these materials, NREPP categorizes interventions as "public domain."

In many cases, certain materials required for the intervention are available free (such as handouts for participants that can be downloaded from a Web site and then copied), while other materials (such as manuals and software) are proprietary. These are noted as "Mix of public and proprietary."

Costs

The approximate costs associated with materials, service delivery, and training is given here, as reported by the intervention developer. Costs are current as of the date of the review.

Adaptations

This field states any adaptations of the intervention for specific populations or settings. Manuals translated into other languages are one example of an adaptation.

Adverse Effects

Any adverse effects reported in studies are noted here.

Implementation History

This field gives the number of implementation sites and the approximate number of people who have received the intervention, as of the date of the review.

IOM Category

The three IOM categories, based on a model devised by the Institute of Medicine, are Universal, Selective, and Indicated. IOM categories apply to preventive interventions only; this field is not populated for interventions related to treatment.

Universal prevention strategies address the entire population (national, local community, school, neighborhood), with messages and programs to prevent or delay the use/abuse of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs.

Selective prevention strategies focus on specific groups viewed as being at higher risk for mental health disorders or substance abuse because of highly correlated factors (e.g., children of parents with substance abuse problems).

Indicated prevention strategies focus on preventing the onset or development of problems in individuals who may be showing early signs but are not yet meeting diagnostic levels of a particular disorder.

Date Reviewed

This date (month and year) indicates when ratings were finalized for a particular intervention.

Review Funded By

The cost of conducting an NREPP review is paid by one of SAMHSA's three Centers (CMHS, CSAP, or CSAT). The Center funding the review is noted here.

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Outcomes

Results for each outcome reviewed by NREPP are presented in a separate table, with the fields shown below.

Description

This field is a brief description of the outcome and how it was measured.

Key Findings

This field highlights study findings that demonstrate important changes in the targeted outcome. Often this section includes the critical values of individual inferential statistical tests and their associated p value(s). Within-group (pre- to posttreatment measures) and between-group changes may be described here.

Studies Measuring Outcome

This is a list of all reviewed studies that measured the targeted outcome and were used in determining the Quality of Research rating for this outcome.

Research Designs

Research designs can be divided into three broad categories: experimental, quasi-experimental, and preexperimental.1 Experimental designs are generally considered by researchers to be the most rigorous; that is, they are well controlled and provide the strongest possible evidence that an intervention directly caused the outcomes observed. Quasi-experimental designs, which are commonly employed in human services research, also provide strong but more limited scientific evidence. Preexperimental designs, which include simple observational and single case studies, provide the most limited scientific evidence. Only one type of preexperimental design, one-group pretest-posttest, is considered acceptable for inclusion in NREPP. NREPP categorizes interventions into one of these three categories, which are further broken down into the following subcategories:

Experimental:

Quasi-experimental:

Preexperimental:

Quality of Research Rating

The rating shown here is an average of Quality of Research ratings across all six NREPP review criteria for this specific outcome. Detailed rating information is presented in the "Ratings" section of the Intervention Summary, immediately following this table.

For more information on how ratings are derived, see our page on the Review Process.

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Ratings

The Ratings section presents two types of quantitative ratings for each intervention: Quality of Research and Readiness for Dissemination.

Quality of Research ratings are displayed two ways--broken out into individual outcome ratings, and averaged into one overall rating. For Readiness for Dissemination, there is just one overall rating.

Also in this section are narratives on "Strengths" and "Weaknesses." These statements are submitted by reviewers to provide additional context and justification for the numerical ratings. Strengths and weaknesses are displayed beneath each ratings table. Strengths and weaknesses relate directly to the NREPP review criteria.

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Study Demographics

This table gives the population breakdown of each study included in the NREPP review, as reported by study authors.

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Studies and Materials Reviewed

Citations for all materials used in the NREPP review are given here.

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Replications

If the intervention has been replicated, and if results have been documented in a published study, the citations for these studies are provided here.

An asterisk next to a citation indicates that the study was included among the materials reviewed for Quality of Research.

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Contact Information

Two types of contacts are provided here (if available):

NREPP users are encouraged to use this contact information to seek additional information about interventions. SAMHSA will direct any inquiries it receives related to the intervention to these contacts.

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1 Campbell, D. T., & Stanley, J. C. (1966). Experimental and Quasi-experimental Designs for Research. Chicago: Rand McNally.