Five addiction prevention programs targeting young people have been selected for evaluation as part of a partnership between three public institutions: the Interministerial Mission for the Fight Against Drugs and Addictive Behaviors (Mildeca), the French Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction (OFDT), and Santé publique France. The partners are jointly publishing the results of these evaluations today.

Effective interventions and counterproductive ones

Among the five programs evaluated:

• two programs, Unplugged and Avenir sans tabac, demonstrated significant benefits in terms of preventing the use of psychoactive substances.

• one prevention and harm reduction program in party settings could not be subject to an impact assessment, but its evaluation suggests a positive cost-benefit ratio.

• two programs showed counterproductive effects (a peer-led prevention program and a program targeting apprentices). The results were shared with stakeholders, decision-makers, and funders in the relevant regions. The evaluation reports and summaries for these programs were then anonymized to avoid penalizing project leaders who had committed to a responsible evaluation process.

Promoting and Developing the Evaluation of Prevention Programs: A Necessary Approach

Evaluation results, whether positive or negative, generate knowledge and recommendations essential for improving prevention programs. They must engage all stakeholders in developing more structured, coordinated, and effective intervention strategies.

The findings of this work demonstrate the need to develop evaluation resources in order to support public investments in prevention and direct them toward programs that offer the best guarantees of quality and effectiveness.