Greater Gresham Area Prevention Partnership

The Four Core Measures: Evaluating Youth Substance Abuse

The Four Core Measures were developed by the federal government and evaluation partners to measure youth substance abuse and risk for substance use in communities. The Four Core Measures include:

(1) Past 30-Day Use - the percentage of respondents who report using alcohol or marijuana at least once in the past 30 days.

(2) Average Age of Onset - the average age respondents report first trying alcohol or marijuana.

(3) Perception of Risk - The percentage of respondents who report that regular use has moderate or great risk.

(4) Percentage of Parental Disapproval - the percentage of respondents who report their parents feel regular use of alcohol is wrong or very wrong and the percentage who report their parents feel any use of marijuana is wrong or very wrong.

GGAPP gathers data from the Oregon Health Teens Survey about the Four Core Measures in our community. Comparing the Four Core Measures over a three year term, GGAPP found that:

For 11th grade 30 day use, alcohol use decreased nearly 8.5% from 2008-2009 then rose slightly.

8th and 11th grade 30 day marijuana use increased with the sharpest increase from 08/09 to 09/10, up nearly 5% this year at both grade levels.

Age of onset rose for all grades, all years indicating youth are starting use at later ages.

Although parental disapproval for alcohol use has no clear pattern, for marijuana use, parental disapproval decreased, meaning less youth believe their parents would view marijuana use as wrong or very wrong.

GGAPP's Evaluation Strategy

GGAPP is a drug prevention coalition program federally funded through the Executive Office of the President / Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) & Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSA).

To measure our effectiveness and our impact in the community we utilize a variety of evaluation tools. These include statewide surveys, independently created surveys, information provided by schools and local government agencies, and feedback from coalition members and leaders.

GGAPP's evaluation strategy measures both Evaluation of Coalition Efforts and Evaluation of Coalition Operation.

The Importance of Evaluation

Click Here to expand or collapse this section.

Evaluation of Coalition Efforts

Click Here to expand or collapse this section.

Community Resources Survey, 2008-2009:

Evaluation of Coalition Operation

Click Here to expand or collapse this section.

Faith Team Evaluation

The Faith Team held a successful Leadership Training: Introduction to a Congregational Alcohol and Other Drug Ministry.

How successful was this training? Very!

71% of attendees stated they will be able to apply the information they learned in their work and within their congregation.

93% believed they are now better able to "understand the role of the congregation in alcohol and other drug abuse prevention and addition recovery support" as a result of this training.

When asked what the best part of this training was, participants responded:

"Getting input into an area that has been personally challenging"

"[this event] reduced my antipathy toward organized religion"

"learning how I as a Pastor can better serve my congregation and community in drug prevention"

"the framework it offers to undertake the ministry — good humor and perspective ( realistic)"

GGAPP