What is Evidence-Based?

The Safe and Drug Free Schools Program (Title IV) is the federal government's primary vehicle for reducing violence and the use of drugs, alcohol, and tobacco through education and prevention activities in schools. Initiatives are supported which promote school environments that are free from drugs and violence and the unauthorized presence of firearms and alcohol, and offer a disciplined environment conducive to learning.

The programs must be evidence-based and proven to be effective or show promise of being effective.

In the health care field, evidence-based practice (or practices), also called EBP or EBPs, generally refers to approaches to prevention or treatment that are validated by some form of documented scientific evidence. What counts as "evidence" varies. Evidence often is defined as findings established through scientific research, such as controlled clinical studies, but other methods of establishing evidence are considered valid as well. Evidence-based practice stands in contrast to approaches that are based on tradition, convention, belief, or anecdotal evidence.

Web sites such as the The National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices offer searchable registries of substance abuse interventions that have been scientifically tested and that can be readily disseminated to the field.