Research & Resources

Researchers conducted a prospective cost analysis to determine the typical real-world costs of implementing community underage drinking and prescription drug misuse interventions. The study used cost data reported by more than 400 community subrecipients participating in a national cross-site evaluation of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) Strategic Prevention Framework Partnerships for Success grant program during 2013–2017. Annual ongoing implementation was typically more costly than intervention startup. Costs were generally similar for population-level interventions, such as information dissemination and environmental strategies, and individual-level interventions, such as prevention education and positive alternative activities. However, population-level interventions reached considerably more people and consequently had much lower costs per person. Personnel contributed the most to intervention costs, followed by intervention supplies and overhead. Startup costs for initial training and costs for incentives, ongoing training, and in-kind contributions (nonlabor) during ongoing implementation were not typically reported.

This paper, “A national cost analysis of community interventions to prevent underage drinking and prescription drug misuse,” was funded by SAMHSA and published in the journal Prevention Science.