In the framework of an evidence-based health policy and service-system building process, the evaluation of what services achieve in terms of coverage, quality and outcome is of pramount importance. This is all the more relevant in the case of the treatment of substance use problems, as in this field target populations change over time, while innovations are made in treatment responses, and there has been an increasing awareness of quality standards. Furthermore, evaluation studies should help policymakers to include measures of effectiveness and cost-effectiveness in the allocation of resources to treatment systems and programmes. These guidelines are designed to facilitate the preparation and implementation of evaluation studies and to help professionals to assess critically the value of evaluation research for their everyday practice. All major issues to be taken into consideration are briefly described, for quantitative and outcome evaluation mainly, but also for qualitative evaluation. As well as the more technical aspects, the guidelines also touch on issues such as when external specialist evaluation and when internal evaluation are indicated. The use and misuse of evaluation results are another aspect that deserves attention. In addition, advice is given on dissemination of the results. To help take the reader beyond the scope of this manual, information is included about European and international evaluation networks along with a selected bibliography for more in-depth study. (Author/publisher)
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