PREVENTION

MSPF ADVISORY COUNCIL COMMITTEE UPDATES

WEDNESDAY 21, 2011

The Maryland Strategic Prevention Framework Advisory Committee met on May 25, 2011 and October 27, 2011.

  • Robert Fiedler, Coordinator for the Surveillance & Policy Analysis Center for Health Promotion, gave an overview of the new initiative to combine the YRBS and YTS surveys. This is good news for prevention data collection since the loss of the Maryland Adolescence Survey derailed the continuity of data trends among Maryland youth. The primary goal is to minimize the surveys to 100 questions and then correlate with the CDC in order for the new survey to be implemented effectively. The data report will be available in September 2013.(Objective 1.4, Action Step 1)
  • ADAA’s through its’ Prevention Services Program is currently supporting DHMH’s goal to implement a statewide initiative to assist University/Colleges in developing effective policies and practices to reduce high-risk drinking. The goal is use evidence-based public health practices to prevent and reduce alcohol-related harm on college campuses (28 colleges, 16 community colleges) in the state of Maryland. Jenna Mazzei, intern from the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, is serving as the coordinator of this initiative and she has completed a status report of her findings and activities.
  • May 4-5, SAMHSA’s Northeast Resource Team provided the prevention coordinators and the ATOD College Centers a workshop entitled Identifying, Selecting and Implementing Environmental Strategies in Linthicum, Maryland. The purpose of the workshop was to provide an opportunity for prevention coordinators to further explore and deepen their understanding of the research foundation of an environmental approach to prevention, and of key considerations in planning and implementation of specific environmental strategies that address risk factors related to pricing, social and retail access, perception of risk, promotion, social norms, and visible enforcement of laws and regulations. (Objective 1.3, Action Steps 2 and 3)
  • August 3-4, CADCA conducted a Maryland Coaching Coalition to Greatness Training to the prevention coordinators and teams. The training focused on building participant skills to develop the capacity of the coalitions to plan and implement effective prevention strategies while creating and sustaining thriving community-based coalitions.(Objective 1.3, Action Step 2)
  • The State Epidemiological Outcomes Workgroup (SEOW) met on December 16, 2011 to discuss the draft of the SEOW Data Inventory due to be released in January 2012. The report is being prepared by Linda Simoni-Wastila, PhD, and Diane McNally, MS both of the Department of Pharmaceutical Health Service Research, University of Maryland School of Pharmacy. The report will provide descriptions and tables for data repositories, data systems and data sources that describe tobacco, alcohol and illicit drug use and consequence indicators for the State of Maryland.
  • The Maryland SPF-SIG Plan update includes the following:

1.)Jurisdictions completed needs assessment reports and funding proposals submitted to ADAA

2.)Proposals were rated and the MSPF communities were selected and notified

3.)Awards made to the MSPF communities

4.)SPF process begins in funded MSPF communities(Objective 1.3. Action Step 1)

  • Next Advisory Council Meeting -TBA.