This is the fourth status report from the evaluation of the escalation plan for the field of drugs and addiction (2016–2020). In collaboration with Economics Norway and Ipsos, Fafo is undertaking a formative evaluation of the escalation plan. The evaluation includes a summative evaluation of outcomes as well as processes. The evaluation assignment involves two general research questions:
Has the escalation plan for the field of drugs and addiction resulted in a better service for persons who are developing, or have developed, substance abuse problems, and for their next of kin?
Are the organisation of the work and follow-up of the escalation plan and the interventions that have been initiated appropriate for achieving the escalation plan’s goals and objectives?
This fourth status report is concentrated around the first general research question. In the work on the report we have been engaged in assessment of the goal achievement within the five main subject areas of the escalation plan, as well as the overall efforts and social changes due to the plan. A part of the assessments has been to identify areas where there is a need for further efforts beyond the period of the escalation plan which ends in 2020. A final summative evaluation is scheduled to be presented in the spring of 2021.
The basis of the evaluation is a set of indicators that were designed to enable us to assess the goal achievement of the escalation plan. The baseline for most indicators is 2016. The indicators have been updated wherever data were available. This status report gives updated values on 75 of 84 indicators. For the updated set of indicators, values are provided for 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019, as well as the change in the indicator over these four years.
The identified trends are assessed in light of a qualitative data material consisting of interviews with all ten municipalities and two districts in Oslo that have been included in earlier case studies as part of the evaluation, interviews with the Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities (KS), a survey completed by the advisors in the field of drugs at the county governors’ offices, as well as dialogue meetings with representatives from users’ organisations and with the escalation plan’s working committee.
