{"id":146524,"date":"2019-05-22T11:41:07","date_gmt":"2019-05-22T15:41:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/?p=146524"},"modified":"2020-09-17T10:21:05","modified_gmt":"2020-09-17T14:21:05","slug":"evaluation-is-so-important","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/news\/articles\/2019\/evaluation-is-so-important\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Evaluation Is So Important\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar sphnews-prepress-layout-metabar\">\n\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-date\">May 22, 2019<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-credits\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-share js-bu-prepress-share-tools\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-twitter\"><span>Twitter<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-facebook\"><span>Facebook<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-action\"><\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/sph\/files\/2019\/05\/Ashley-King-400x241.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-146533\" width=\"400\" height=\"241\" \/>As a public health analyst at the <a href=\"https:\/\/dbh.dc.gov\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Department of Behavioral Health<\/a> (DBH) in Washington, DC, Ashley King (SPH\u201916) is committed to ensuring that the critical services the department provides are actually effective for the city\u2019s children, youth, and adults who need it the most.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEvaluation is so important,\u201d says King, who studied social and behavioral sciences in the Master of Public Health program at SPH, and now works in the Substance Use Disorder Prevention branch under the Community Services Administration at DBH. \u201cOur qualitative work is just as valuable as our quantitative work. We can offer programs and provide health communication materials, but we have to know if we\u2019re making an impact and doing the things that we intended to do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In her role, King collects and analyzes local and national data on substance misuse, including tobacco, alcohol, and drugs, among youth and young adults aged 10 to 24. She develops targeted educational materials for presentations and social media messaging geared toward youth and at-risk populations who are experiencing substance misuse and related health issues. She also collaborates with community organizations and federal and state agencies to develop new procedures for treatment programs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m always looking to see how we can better inform our work and discover new ways to intervene and delay the onset of drug use, or prevent it altogether,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<p>Unlike other cities, Washington, DC is grappling with an opioid crisis that has produced more overdoses of heroin, rather than prescription drugs. King says many of city\u2019s youth centers are grappling with racism and classism issues that compound youth drug use.<\/p>\n<p>A DC native, King says it is satisfying to have the opportunity to improve her hometown.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy job keeps me constantly thinking about how we can support the next generation,\u201d King says. \u201cThese are people who live in the neighborhoods that I know and love. Being able to think of ways to make this city safer and healthier is really exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span><em>\u2014<a href=\"mailto:jpmckoy@bu.edu\">Jillian McKoy<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> Alum Ashley King analyzes substance misuse data at DBH in Washington, DC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8472,"featured_media":146533,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"bu_prepress_billboard":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term_manual":""},"tags":[1750,1871,1735],"bu-publication":[3516],"sphnews-article-category":[3519,3520,3531],"sphnews-topic":[],"bu_edition":[],"media_type":[],"profile_tax":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/146524"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/bu-article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8472"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146524"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/146524\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":173121,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/146524\/revisions\/173121"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146524"},{"taxonomy":"bu-publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-publication?post=146524"},{"taxonomy":"sphnews-article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sphnews-article-category?post=146524"},{"taxonomy":"sphnews-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sphnews-topic?post=146524"},{"taxonomy":"bu_edition","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu_edition?post=146524"},{"taxonomy":"media_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media_type?post=146524"},{"taxonomy":"profile_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile_tax?post=146524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}