Data are vital for defining your community's problems or needs (e.g., opioid misuse, underage drinking). Data also help us determine if there are specific populations who are disproportionately impacted by the problems or needs. Risk and protective factors help determine why a community may be experiencing a particular problem or need. Data help guide our decision making and action planning. The purpose of this guidance document is to provide a general overview on gathering and using risk and protective factor data to guide prevention efforts. This document will review strategies to gather and prioritize risk and protective factor data, as well as how to use these data in prevention planning.

Also check out the annotated bibliography used to create the section on shared risk and protection included in this document.