Tip Sheet: A Practitioner's Guide to Program Models

A program model offers a visual roadmap that illustrates the intended destination of a program and identifies how practitioners can get there. Program models describe the key elements of an intervention, including what it takes to implement it, the intended results it should have in the short and longer term, and any external factors that might influence implementation. Multiple groups can use a program model for different purposes, including practitioners, program or curriculum developers, policy makers, and researchers. Program models can serve as useful tools for these audiences throughout a program’s lifecycle, including to support planning, monitoring, and/or evaluating the program. This tip sheet provides examples of how to apply different features of the program model in the context of a specific type of youth programming called sexual risk cessation programming.

Practitioners and other audiences can use this tip sheet and the included checklist as helpful tools to plan, monitor, and evaluate their programs.

Blesson, Elizabeth and Heather Zaveri. (2022). “Tip Sheet: A Practitioner’s Guide to Program Models.” OPRE Report Number 2022-175. Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Crowley, Jacqueline, Betsy Keating, Heather Zaveri (2020). “A Program Model for Encouraging Sexually Experienced Youth to Cease Sexual Activity.” OPRE Report Number 2020-149. Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Blesson, Elizabeth, Alicia Meckstroth, and Heather Zaveri. (2022). “Promoting Healthy Futures for Youth: A Program Model for Sexual Risk Avoidance Education.” OPRE Report Number 2022-170. Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.