Home » ADVOCACY FOR PREVENTION SCIENCE » Standards of Evidence

Standards of Evidence

The Society for Prevention Research is committed to the advancement of science-based prevention programs and policies through empirical research. Increasingly, decision-makers and prevention service providers seek tested and efficacious or effective programs and policies for possible implementation. However, until now, somewhat different standards have been used by different organizations seeking to identify and list programs and policies that have been tested and shown to be efficacious or effective. As part of SPR’s strategic plan, in 2003, the SPR Board of Directors appointed a committee of prevention scientists, chaired by Brian Flay, to determine the requisite criteria that must be met for preventive interventions to be judged tested and efficacious or tested and effective. The Standards of Evidence developed by this committee have been unanimously adopted by the Board of Directors of SPR on April 12, 2004, as the standards which SPR asserts should be met if a program or policy is to be called tested and efficacious or tested and effective.