ABSTRACT
Over 15 years ago, the APA Task Force on Promotion, Prevention, and Intervention Alternatives in Psychology announced 14 “showcase” primary prevention programs that were selected from 900 nominees (Bales, 1987). (Several of these programs are mentioned in this book.) One of the critical criteria these programs had to meet successfully was to show program evaluation effectiveness. “We wanted to identify programs that worked and had documented evidence of their effectiveness,” said Richard Price, the task force chair (Bales, 1987, p. 18). This intention cuts directly to the heart of the program planning and evaluation process.
