One Step@a Time is an online interactive support system to plan and evaluate of drug demand reduction interventions. It has been developed to help plan and evaluate preventive, risk-reducing, harm-reducing, treatment and social inclusion interventions related to drug abuse and dependence.

When designing an intervention, doubts often arise such as: Where do I start? What can be done to improve a drug-related problem that has been detected? Will our actions serve to change this reality? Where can we find the information we need to design the project? Are we doing all right? etc. One Step@a Time is a tool to help address these doubts and alleviate the loneliness that can sometimes be felt when designing a drug demand reduction intervention.

One Step@a Time responds to the need for an instrument that homogenises content, methodologies and practices in the field of drugs demand reduction interventions. In this sense, it is not a manual but a guide that divides the planning process into seven sequential and complementary phases detailing the information, procedures to follow, useful links and tools required to develop a project or intervention. In short, it offers an informative working space for planning.

One Step@a Time integrates the three essential components to plan a drug reduction intervention. It provides information on how to design an intervention, suggests strategies to design your project and allows you to run a basic check on the quality of your intervention plan.

Underpinning the application is the Logic Model for planning, which provides an effective roadmap to plan and evaluate interventions.

One Step@a Time's Logic Model for planning

The Logic Model for planning is a conceptual framework that serves to structure the intervention planning, design and evaluation process. The Logic Model represents a sequence of actions that are essential when planning an intervention and gives them a coherent, sequential and progressive structure aimed at achieving results.

The conceptual map of the Logic Model of planning applied to One Step@a Time includes seven planning stages and is graphically represented as follows:   

When planning an intervention, needs should be identified first, rather than solutions, and the Logic Model of planning responds to precisely this approach. This conceptual framework combines tasks such as collecting relevant information to evaluate the drugs phenomenon in a given territory, using it to make realistic decisions for an intervention, selecting the most effective actions to respond to the needs detected, and evaluating the results achieved.

Systematising planning process tasks contributes to an intervention’s success. However, the structure of the Logic Model of planning does not detract from its flexibility and ability to adapt. The tasks it proposes are generic and allow different types of projects to be created so that the same intervention can be adjusted to a changing reality.