Delivering the goods: The importance of screening accuracy for effective community intervention and prevention

The utility and feasibility of community intervention and prevention programs depend greatly on the accuracy by which programs' participants are screened from among community dwellers. This is because indiscriminate application of the program to the entire community benefits only a few, while it can even harm the many others. It is therefore necessary to define and screen a target population so the program can be delivered exclusively to them. Consequently, screening accuracy has implications for the plan, design, and evaluation of community‐based programs. In this manuscript indices of screening accuracy are discussed in the context of screening for substance use, and depression. Receiver Operating Characteristic curves, measurement error, as well as design and evaluation of community programs are also discussed in the context of screening accuracy.