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IMPLEMENTING PREFFI INSTRUMENT IN CROATIA: DEVELOPING STANDARDS OF EFFECTIVENESS IN PREVENTION

Prevention science in Croatia is still in its roots: prevention programs are mostly conducted by local practitioners and are rarely theory based ; their outcomes are not evaluated, but in the same time, they get remarkable financial support from local and state agencies. Following this reasons, an action research project which could benefit the prevention policy development in Croatia and become a model for prevention effectiveness in broader local community is being conducted. The project “Implementing PREFFI instrument in Croatia: Developing standards of effectiveness in Prevention” was developed in collaboration of University of Zagreb, University of Nijmegen and the Region of Istria. Project is an outcome of long term cooperation of professor Clemens Hosman, University of Nijmegen, University of Maastricht, and professor Josipa Basic, University of Zagreb, Faculty of Education and Rehabilitation Sciences. The main goals of the project are improvement of prevention practices in the Region of Istria and creation of science based criteria for assessing preventive programs quality. The core of the project is Dutch Preffi 2.0 – health promotion effect management instrument which focuses on assessing programs quality and efficiency through the 39 quality criteria. Preffi 2.0 instrument which was developed by Molleman and associates in Netherlands was translated to Croatian and adapted. In addition, Preffi 2.0 is also being used in other European countries like Hungary, Spain, Finland and Portugal. In Croatian terms, Preffi 2.0 will be piloted on prevention programs in the Region of Istria. Thirty prevention programs which will be financed during 2011 through a public tender of a Department of Health and Social Care, Region of Istria, Croatia, will be included in the above mentioned action research. Programs will be divided into two groups, experimental and control, tied by matched pairs and assessed with the Preffi 2.0 instrument following pretest-posttest method. After the first assessment of programs with the Preffi 2.0 instrument, the experimental group i.e. program leaders are going to be exposed to Preffi intervention. Preffi intervention contains information on important characteristics of effective programs. During Preffi intervention, program practitioners will be encouraged to incorporate the guidelines of effectiveness into their prevention programs. Several questions will be answered: will Preffi usage increase program effectiveness, are prevention programs included in this study effective in general and what are the characteristics of the implementation process. The results will contribute to advocacy of prevention in Croatia, development of standards for program financing and promotion of prevention effectiveness.

prevention; effectiveness; effect management; prevention quality

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