Employing continuous quality improvement in community‐ based substance abuse programs

This article aims to describe continuous quality improvement (CQI) for substance abuse prevention and treatment programs in a community‐based organization setting.

CQI (e.g., plan‐do‐study‐act cycles (PDSA)) applied in healthcare and industry was adapted for substance abuse prevention and treatment programs in a community setting. The authors assessed the resources needed, acceptability and CQI feasibility for ten programs by evaluating CQI training workshops with program staff and a series of three qualitative interviews over a nine‐month implementation period with program participants. The CQI activities, PDSA cycle progress, effort, enthusiasm, benefits and challenges were examined.

Results indicated that CQI was feasible and acceptable for community‐based substance abuse prevention and treatment programs; however, some notable resource challenges remain. Future studies should examine CQI impact on service quality and intended program outcomes.

The study was conducted on a small number of programs. It did not assess CQI impact on service quality and intended program outcomes.

This project shows that it is feasible to adapt CQI techniques and processes for community‐based programs substance abuse prevention and treatment programs. These techniques may help community‐based program managers to improve service quality and achieve program outcomes.

This is one of the first studies to adapt traditional CQI techniques for community‐based settings delivering substance abuse prevention and treatment programs.