Planning and Evaluation
Start with the framework, not the program
The Planning and Evaluation domain rewards candidates who can describe a repeatable cycle. SAMHSA's Strategic Prevention Framework (SPF) - assessment, capacity, planning, implementation, evaluation, with sustainability and cultural competence woven throughout - is the default answer whenever a question asks "what comes next?" Assessment identifies the substance use problem and its intervening variables using quantitative data (national and state surveys, school and law enforcement records) and qualitative data (focus groups, key informant interviews). Capacity means the people, money, and organizational infrastructure to act.
Logic models and measurement
A logic model links inputs to activities to outputs to short-term outcomes to long-term outcomes. Questions love to probe whether a candidate can classify a measure. Outputs and process measures describe what you delivered: sessions held, attendance, fidelity scores. Outcome measures describe change in the target population: reduced 30-day use, fewer retail sales to minors. Short-term outcomes are typically awareness, knowledge, and attitudes; long-term outcomes are behaviors and consequences.
Design and fidelity
Know the vocabulary: formative evaluation improves a program while it runs; summative evaluation judges it at the end. Pre/post designs are common but weak without a comparison; questions asking for the "strongest evidence" usually point to randomized or well-matched comparison designs. Fidelity versus adaptation is a frequent trap: too little cultural adaptation reduces engagement, too much drift erases the evidence base.
Rule of thumb: if the number could be counted even if nothing changed in participants, it is process or output, not outcome. Evaluate what you can plausibly attribute.