Student Assistance Programs (SAP): Concepts, Methods and a Theory of Organization

Despite the proliferation of prevention and treatmentprograms over the last decade, a great urgency remains for the correct identification and assessmentof problem behaviors in children and adolescents.School environments provide an easily accessiblevenue for this process. The establishment ofprograms in schools to assist students has long been a staple in American education.However, the effectiveness of these programs is opento debate. Student assistance programs are designed to identify,assess and refer youth to resources internally and externally. Modeled after Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) that exist in many workplaces today,SAP was initially developed to address chemical use issues among students. Today's SAP has evolved to include a variety of services. SAP provides a link between community resources and schools to help meet the needs of students and their families. This work describes and evaluates three SAP models from an organizational perspective. By examining the structural differences in each model this work can provide some useful guidelines for professionals in education and youth programs prior to implementation.