Psychological care includes implementing substance use interventions that are evidence based and effective for individuals who are at risk of experiencing the devastating effects of substance use and addiction. An effective intervention utilizes prevention programs and treatment strategies for a specific population and examines measurable outcomes and goals for services.

In this task, you will select a substance use disorder and a special population to use as your target audience. You will outline an evidence-based prevention program for individuals at risk of developing the substance use disorder and evaluate its appropriateness for your selected target population. You will also outline a treatment strategy by explaining why each component is appropriate for the target audience. You will describe the goals of the treatment strategy and explain how the goals are appropriate for the target audience.

Professionals who work with individuals affected by substance use disorders need to uphold ethical standards that guide practice. In this task, you will describe ethical considerations identified by the American Psychological Association (APA) for your overall intervention strategy.

Note: All references used should be current (i.e., published in the last five years), relevant, and credible.
Requirements
Your submission must represent your original work and understanding of the course material. Most performance assessment submissions are automatically scanned through the WGU similarity checker. Students are strongly encouraged to wait for the similarity report to generate after uploading their work and then review it to ensure Academic Authenticity guidelines are met before submitting the file for evaluation. See Understanding Similarity Reports for more information.

Grammarly Note:
Professional Communication will be automatically assessed through Grammarly for Education in most performance assessments before a student submits work for evaluation. Students are strongly encouraged to review the Grammarly for Education feedback prior to submitting work for evaluation, as the overall submission will not pass without this aspect passing. See Use Grammarly for Education Effectively for more information.

Microsoft Files Note:
Write your paper in Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx) unless another Microsoft product, or pdf, is specified in the task directions. Tasks may not be submitted as cloud links, such as links to Google Docs, Google Slides, OneDrive, etc.  All supporting documentation, such as screenshots and proof of experience, should be collected in a pdf file and submitted separately from the main file. For more information, please see Computer System and Technology Requirements.

You must use the rubric to direct the creation of your submission because it provides detailed criteria that will be used to evaluate your work. Each requirement below may be evaluated by more than one rubric aspect. The rubric aspect titles may contain hyperlinks to relevant portions of the course.

Note: Use at least one current (i.e., published in the last five years), relevant, credible source to support your responses. You may use more than one source if needed. See the “Psychology Library Guide” in the Web Links section for support.

A. Identify one substance use disorder to use for the prevention program and treatment strategy you will outline in parts C and D.

Note: It can be the same substance use disorder you used in Task 1 or a different disorder.

B. Identify one special population (e.g., women, adolescents, older adults, LGBTQIA+, co-occurring disorders, HIV patients, racially and ethnically diverse individuals, etc.) to use as the target audience for the prevention program and treatment strategy you will outline in parts C and D.

1. Identify three special considerations for the identified special population.

2. Identify two risk factors for the identified special population for the identified substance use disorder.

C. Outline an evidence-based prevention program to address the selected substance use disorder by doing the following:

1. Describe an evidence-based prevention program for the target audience identified in part B.

Note: You may use the optional resources in the Web Links section to research evidence-based prevention programs, or you may conduct your own research.

a. Explain how the prevention program is appropriate for the target audience.

2. Describe the setting for delivering the prevention program and explain how the setting is appropriate for the target audience using a current, relevant, and credible source to support your response.

3. Identify the length of the prevention program and explain how the program length is appropriate for the target audience using a current, relevant, and credible source to support your response.

4. Describe two expected outcomes of the prevention program and explain how the expected outcomes are appropriate for the target audience and the community using a current, relevant, and credible source to support your response.

D. Outline one evidence-based treatment strategy to address the selected substance use disorder by doing the following:

1. Describe an evidence-based treatment strategy for the target audience identified in part B.

Note: You may use the optional resources in the Web Links section to research evidence-based treatment strategies, or you may conduct your own research.

a. Explain how the treatment strategy is appropriate for the target audience.

2. Explain how each of the components of the treatment strategy will be applied for the target audience using a current, relevant, and credible source to support your response.

3. Describe the setting for delivering the treatment strategy and explain how the setting is appropriate for the target audience using a current, relevant, and credible source to support your response.

4. Describe four goals of the treatment strategy and explain how the goals are appropriate for the target audience using a current, relevant, and credible source to support your response.

E. Describe two ethical considerations (e.g., competency, confidentiality and privacy, ethical dilemmas, treatment) for the substance abuse prevention program and treatment strategy you outlined in parts C and D.

F. Acknowledge sources, using in-text citations and references, for content that is quoted, paraphrased, or summarized.

G. Demonstrate professional communication in the content and presentation of your submission.

File Restrictions
File name may contain only letters, numbers, spaces, and these symbols: ! – _ . * ‘ ( )
File size limit: 200 MB
File types allowed: doc, docx, rtf, xls, xlsx, ppt, pptx, odt, pdf, csv, txt, qt, mov, mpg, avi, mp3, wav, mp4, wma, flv, asf, mpeg, wmv, m4v, svg, tif, tiff, jpeg, jpg, gif, png, zip, rar, tar, 7z