Certified Prevention Specialist CPS Practice Exam

What should a logic model communicate about the path toward a desired result?

1. Population groupings

2. Systems approach

3. Best practices

4. Guiding principles

The correct answer is: Systems approach

A logic model is a visual representation that outlines the relationship between resources, activities, outputs, and outcomes in a program. Its primary function is to communicate how various elements contribute to achieving desired results or impacts. A systems approach is correct because it emphasizes the interconnectedness of these elements, illustrating how inputs (resources) lead to specific activities that generate outputs, which ultimately produce short-term, intermediate, and long-term outcomes. By using a systems framework, stakeholders can understand the holistic picture of how a program operates and the pathways to achieving its goals. Focusing on population groupings provides important demographic information but does not encapsulate the overall mechanism of how results are achieved. Best practices detail effective methods or strategies used in programs but do not directly show the logic or pathway leading to desired outcomes. Guiding principles offer ethical or operational frameworks, which are important, but they do not depict the flow of processes and results as comprehensively as a systems approach does.