Tip Sheet: A Practitioner’s Guide to Program Models

Tip Sheet: A Practitioner’s Guide to Program Models

OPRE Report #2022-175
Published: Oct 31, 2022
Publisher: Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
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Associated Project

PREP: Supporting Evaluation and Innovation in Promising Youth Pregnancy Prevention Programs

Time frame: 2016-2023

Prepared for:

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Family & Youth Services Bureau

Clients
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Key Findings

A program model offers a visual roadmap that illustrates the intended destination of a program and identifies how practitioners can get there. Program models describe the key elements of an intervention, including what it takes to implement it, the intended results it should have in the short and longer term, and any external factors that might influence implementation. Multiple groups can use a program model for different purposes, including practitioners, program or curriculum developers, policy makers, and researchers. Program models can serve as useful tools for these audiences throughout a program’s lifecycle, including to support planning, monitoring, and/or evaluating the program. This tip sheet provides examples of how to apply different features of the program model in the context of a specific type of youth programming called sexual risk cessation programming.

This tip sheet describes for practitioners what a program model is, how one can be used, and some examples of how to use a program model in the context of a specific youth program. It includes a checklist that guides practitioners through planning, monitoring, and evaluating a program.

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