What is SUPER

Overview

SUPER is a free online resource designed to promote the uptake and utilization of effective, innovative, and youth-centered substance use prevention programming across California.

Why SUPER?

Substance use during childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood dramatically increases the likelihood of developing substance use disorders—as well as physical problems and mental disorders associated with them—later in life.1 It also puts youth at risk for significant harm such as overdose, infectious diseases, and accidents.2-4 Consequently, the U.S. Surgeon General has identified substance use prevention as “critical” for the nation’s health because it “can delay early use and stop the progression from use to problematic use or a substance use disorder…all of which are associated with costly individual, social, and public health consequences.”1

Prevention science has identified evidence-based practices (EBPs) and empirically supported approaches that reduce substance use and related threats to youth’s health and well-being. However, they are underutilized, and many schools and communities continue implementing prevention programs and strategies that have no evidence of effectiveness.1

Furthermore, many prevention EBPs do not adequately account for the specific needs of diverse youth populations.5 Through initiatives such as The California Reducing Disparities Project and Elevate Youth California, the State of California has fostered significant innovation in youth substance use prevention, developing services that are responsive to the specific needs of these groups. These community-defined evidence practices (CDEPs) have strong levels of support at the local level and can help improve prevention-related outcomes statewide.

SUPER gives California counties, prevention providers, tribal entities and others who deliver youth substance use prevention services straightforward, streamlined information about EBPs, CDEPs, and other key aspects of effective youth substance use prevention. This information can be used to support the design and implementation of empirically supported and culturally appropriate substance use prevention services for youth statewide.

How Was SUPER Created?

The idea for SUPER grew out of the work of the Evidence-Based Practices Workgroup (EBPW) that DHCS convened from 2018-2020. The EBPW recommended that DHCS create a web-based resource that would support the use of prevention EBPs and CDEPs. It also recommended that the resource should provide information about substance use risk and protective factors, educate visitors about best practices in prevention in addition to EBPs and CDEPs, and align with prevention models and principles established by the Institute of Medicine, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

In 2022, DHCS contracted with UCLA’s Integrated Substance Use and Addiction Programs (UCLA-ISAP) to create SUPER as part of its Big 5 by 2025 Initiative to support and build state-level infrastructure for behavioral health prevention across California. UCLA-ISAP built SUPER through a multi-step process that included:

  • A comprehensive review of EBPW recommendations, other existing youth prevention EBP repositories, peer-reviewed research on youth substance use prevention, and other existing resources that support prevention EBP implementation.
  • Interviews with national subject matter experts and California prevention service providers and administrators.
  • Regular consultation with DHCS and the SUPER Expert Think Tank, which consisted of California prevention providers, county prevention and youth service administrators, and state and national experts in youth substance use prevention.
  • Collaboration with youth prevention experts from the Center for Applied Research Solutions, Azusa Pacific University, the University of Oregon, and the Oregon Research Institute.

Based on the results of these activities, UCLA-ISAP developed systems for choosing EBPs and CDEPs to include on SUPER and classifying practices’ empirical evidence of impact. Feedback from stakeholders and partners also informed decisions about what information to include on SUPER and how to design the site so it would meet the needs of California communities.

UCLA-ISAP carefully reviewed all practices included on SUPER to ensure that they align with best practices in youth substance use prevention and that they are currently available. See How To Use SUPER for information on what SUPER includes and how to navigate the site.

How to Contact the SUPER Team

If you find there are things missing from SUPER or that a practice should be added to the site, you can write to the UCLA-ISAP team using the Contact Us page. The UCLA-ISAP team will review all correspondence within three business days (except during holidays) and discuss suggested changes to the site with DHCS. You can also reach out to UCLA-ISAP through the Contact Us page if you have any questions about SUPER. Please note that response times may be delayed during holidays. Please allow up to 14 business days for a reply during holiday periods.

References

  1. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Surgeon General (2016). Facing Addiction in America: The Surgeon General’s Report on Alcohol, Drugs, and Health. Washington, D.C.: Author.
  2. Grant, B.F., & Dawson, D.A. (1997). Age at onset of alcohol use and its association with DSM-IV alcohol abuse and dependence: Results from the National Longitudinal Alcohol Epidemiologic Survey. Journal of Substance Abuse, 9, 103-110.
  3. Grant, B.F., & Dawson, D.A. (1998). Age of onset of drug use and its association with DSM-IV drug abuse and dependence: Results from the National Longitudinal Alcohol Epidemiologic Survey. Journal of Substance Abuse, 10(2), 163-173.
  4. National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (NCASA). (2011). Adolescent substance use: America’s #1 public health problem. New York, NY: Author.
  5. Shapiro, V. B., Eldeeb, N., McCoy, H., Trujillo, M., & Jones, T. M. (2024). Where’s the BIPOC blueprint for healthy youth development? The role of scientific omissions in our struggle for science translation and racial equity in the United States. Journal of Prevention, 45(2), 303-321.