Tékne. Information system for quality management in plans, programmes, projects and preventive actions. Needs, design, planning, implementation, evaluation and improvement
Year:
2022-2023
Founded by:
Delegación del Gobierno para el Plan Nacional sobre Drogas. Orden SND/1205/2021, de 5 de noviembre, publicada en el Boletín Oficial del Estado de 6 de noviembre de 2021, se establecen las bases reguladoras para la concesión de subvenciones en régimen de concurrencia competitiva a entidades privadas sin fines de lucro y de ámbito estatal, para el desarrollo de proyectos en materia de prevención y tratamiento de adicciones, financiadas con fondos europeos, y se aprueba su convocatoria para 2021.
General Objective:
To enhance the quality of plans, programmes, projects, and preventive actions by implementing an intuitive and user-friendly information system. This system will facilitate quality management and position programmes for accreditation in the DGPNSD Best Practice Portal, the EMCDDA Best Practice Portal, or other relevant accreditation systems.
Summary:
One of the key challenges in improving the quality of prevention programmes is the difficulty in demonstrating their effectiveness, specifically through evidence-based preventive practices. Evaluation remains the sole strategy to determine effectiveness, yet in Spain, few programmes possess robust evaluation systems capable of substantiating their preventive impact in addressing the needs they aim to resolve. Impact evaluation is an unmet need in the sector.
This gap, frequently recognised and highlighted by prevention professionals, often overshadows other crucial programme requirements, including:
- Conducting comprehensive quality needs assessments.
- Aligning programme design with identified needs and available resources.
- Establishing objectives that are pragmatic, effective, measurable, and adaptable.
- Designing reliable systems of indicators.
- Developing evidence-based activities.
- Operationalising objectives.
- Calculating population coverage.
All these factors significantly influence programme quality.
The “European Quality Standards for Drug Dependence Prevention” (EMCDDA, 2011) provide an excellent framework for standardising prevention activities to ensure quality and achieve high effectiveness rates. However, in Spain, the practical impact of these standards and other quality systems is limited. While many programmes incorporate some quality standards, these are often applied in a fragmented or inconsistent manner, reducing their capacity to demonstrate effectiveness.
Tékne is a digital quality control system designed with a strong emphasis on evaluation to enhance the quality of plans, programmes, and preventive actions. It serves as a tool to manage quality comprehensively and position programmes for accreditation in recognised best practice portals. The need to improve quality and effectiveness is widely acknowledged among professionals, yet the question remains: how to achieve this improvement?
Tékne addresses this challenge by offering a manageable, intuitive, and adaptable information management system. While “Episteme” represents the “why” of prevention, tékne embodies the “how”.
Keywords:
Addictions, drugs, evaluation, good practice, quality standards, prevention, preventive interventions.
