Research & Resources

This evidence-based SAMHSA guide was developed for practitioners, administrators, community leaders, and health professional educators. The guide highlights research on community engagement in substance use prevention, provides practical guidance for implementing and evaluating community engagement strategies and activities, and gives an overview of how community engagement can play a pivotal role in the uptake of evidence-based practices broadly across the substance use prevention system. The guide offers practical considerations drawn from on-the-ground experience that will help ensure communities’ capacity to carry out and sustain substance use prevention efforts.

This report, “Community engagement: An essential component of an effective and equitable substance use prevention system,” was produced by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).