ALGORITHMS FOR RESOURCE-ALLOCATION OF SUBSTANCE-ABUSE PREVENTION FUNDS BASED ON THE ESTIMATED NEED - A CASE-STUDY ON STATE OF FLORIDA - PART 1

The purposes of Parts 1-3 of this article is to develop a framework fo r county-based prevention resource allocation algorithms based on the aggregated need for substance abuse prevention services estimated at t he county level. The development of these algorithms is founded upon t wo databases: statewide student drug survey and a set of social indica tors routinely collected and published by various agencies of the stat e of Florida. The resource allocation models are devised by developing several indices of prevention needs that are conceptualized in terms of: 1) county-based composite drug use index (COMDRUG), 2) the definit ions of prevention target populations as envisioned by the Institute o f Medicine (IOM), 3) composite risk-factor index score, and 4) a set o f social indicators that are empirically related to COMDRUG observed a t the county level. The first three models are based on the prevention needs estimated from the statewide student survey on substance abuse. The social indicator model, however, is presented as an alternative r esource allocation model which may be used in lieu of or in the absenc e of statewide survey. The resource allocation algorithms found on the se four conceptualizations are thought to be more equitable and approp riate to the prevention needs of various communities than may be contr ived otherwise. Due to a significant amount of information leading to the development of these models, Part 1 of this series is devoted to t he following three topics: 1) sampling method used, 2) poststratificat ion weighting methods used to estimate county-based COMDRUG, and 3) th e development of resource allocation models based on COMDRUG and the I OM definitions of prevention target populations.