TÉKNE. Quality management information system.

Summary. The main need in the field of the quality of prevention programs is the difficulty to accredit their effectiveness, that is, to have evidence to assert that they apply preventive prevention. Evaluation is the only strategy to determine effectiveness. In Spain, few programs have a robust evaluation system to prove that they have the preventive effects to reduce the needs that justify them. Impact evaluation is an unmet need. This need, perceived and expressed by prevention professionals, blurs, and often hides, other needs of preventive programs such as, for example, carrying out a quality needs assessment; formulating the program in line with resources and needs; setting objectives in line with needs, pragmatic, effective, evaluable and adjusted to resources; designing a reliable system of indicators; designing activities in line with the available evidence; operationalizing objectives; calculating population coverage, among others. All these needs affect program quality.

The needs in evaluation, planning, design, resources, implementation and dissemination are disparate. “European quality standards for drug dependence prevention” (EMCDDA, 2011) constitute an exceptional reference framework for standardizing preventive actions with the aim of guaranteeing their quality, and by extension, achieving excellent effectiveness rates. In Spain, in practice, the impact of European standards or other prevention-oriented quality systems is scarce. In general terms, the programs have a large part of the quality standards, although in a fragmented way, or without an internal consistency that gives the program the strength to prove its effectiveness. Tékne is a digital quality control system, with special emphasis on evaluation, to improve the quality of plans, programs, projects and preventive actions, to manage the quality of preventive actions and to place the programs in an ideal position to be accredited in the DGPNSD Best Practice Portal, the EMCDDA Best Practice Portal or any other accreditation system. The need to improve quality and effectiveness is perceived by the professionals as a whole, but the question they ask themselves is how to improve? Tékne aims to meet the need to improve the quality of programs through a manageable, intuitive and adaptable program information management system. If ‘episteme’ is the “why”, ‘tékne’ is the “how”.

Overall objective. To improve the quality of plans, programs, projects and preventive actions through the implementation of an intuitive and user-friendly information system to manage the quality of plans, programs, projects and preventive actions and to place the programs in a suitable position to be accredited in the DGPNSD Best Practice Portal, the EMCDDA “Best Practice Portal” or any other accreditation system.