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Getting to Outcomes

Getting to Outcomes is the theme for the 2012 Town Hall Meeting initiative, which the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) selected to emphasize that the goal of these events is to help communities move from greater awareness of underage drinking as a public health problem to actions that will measurably prevent it. SAMHSA does not require organizations to use this theme, but it does urge them to make evidence-based prevention the primary focus of their event.

Getting To Outcomes¹ also is the short title of Preventing Underage Drinking: Using the SAMHSA Strategic Prevention Framework and Getting To Outcomes^® To Achieve Results. This updated report, first released in 2007 by the RAND Corporation under contract with SAMHSA, provides state-of-the-art, science-based information about the types of environmental prevention that have been shown to prevent and reduce underage drinking. Some of this information is excerpted in the factsheets listed below to support an action-oriented focus for your event.

Getting to Outcomes Through Environmental Prevention

Environmental prevention focuses on changing the environment in ways that help prevent and reduce underage drinking by making it less available and appealing to young people. Some goals of environmental prevention are to change social norms or attitudes relating to the use of alcohol, to control the availability of alcohol, and to strengthen enforcement of laws and regulations governing its use.

Getting To Outcomes describes nine evidence-based ways to implement environmental prevention. You can find brief descriptions of each, as well as resources to support your community in taking an action, in the downloadable documents listed below:

1. Responsible beverage service (RBS); (PDF—208 KB)
2. Alcohol compliance checks; (PDF—209 KB)
3. Happy hour restrictions; (PDF—220 KB)
4. Controls on alcohol outlet location and density; (PDF—282 KB)
5. Sobriety and traffic safety checkpoints; (PDF—229 KB)
6. Graduated driver licensing laws; (PDF—201 KB)
7. Social host liability laws; (PDF—218 KB)
8. Restricted sales of alcohol at public events; and (PDF—170 KB)
9. Increased taxes on sales of alcohol. (PDF—213 KB)

¹ The trademarks “Getting To Outcomes” and “GTO” are owned by and used with permission from the University of South Carolina and RAND Corporation.