The Role of Prevention in a Trauma-Informed Approach to Wellness

Vol. 9, Iss. 14

This Prevention Tactic describes the impact of trauma on individuals and communities; defines the key components of a trauma-informed approach, and how they differ from current prevention efforts; and provides examples from cities that are using a trauma-informed approach to whole community wellness.

Social Determinants of Health: A Common Language for Collaborating Across Sectors

Vol. 9, Iss. 13

This tactic will help prevention professionals employ the language of social determinants of health (SDH) as a means of grounding substance use disorder prevention work in the broader cross-systems prevention dialogue. This tactic defines SDH and explains how this terminology ties into language currently used in prevention. Finally, it outlines … read more

Preventing Substance Abuse in Military Members and Their Families

Vol. 9, Iss. 14

The focus of this Tactic is to examine the challenges that military members and their families experience that may result in an increased risk for substance abuse. The Tactic will also highlight best practices, prevention programs, and resources that specialize in serving military members and their families.

Sustaining Prevention: Eight Capacity Building Factors for Success

Vol. 9, Iss. 13

The goal of this Prevention Tactic is to demonstrate how prevention stakeholders can utilize eight capacity building factors to continue and expand prevention efforts regardless of the entity’s size, bureaucracy or the changing environment. To demonstrate how capacity building can enhance the likelihood of sustaining prevention efforts, this Tactic examines … read more

Culturally Responsive Environmental Prevention

Vol. 9, Iss. 12

The goal of this Tactic is to assist professional prevention providers, grassroots citizen groups, prevention coalitions, and others who aim to change substance use and abuse patterns on a community scale by illuminating what culturally responsive selection, implementation, and evaluation of environmental AOD prevention efforts might look like. This Tactic … read more

Digital After-School Programming as Prevention: Positive Outlets for Youth Expression in an Increasingly Hi-Tech World

Vol. 9, Iss. 11

Digital after school programs can provide positive outlets for youth who face higher risks of delinquency and substance abuse. Participation in such programs generally increases youth safety, promotes development of interest and skills, reduces drop out rates, improves academic performance, and strengthens social skills. This publication provides information about how … read more

Know the Facts: Staying the Course of Data-Driven Prevention Planning

Vol. 9, Iss. 9

A major accomplishment in the field of substance abuse prevention has been the professionalization of the field through the effective use of data. With such scarce resources for prevention, it’s vital that planning efforts be focused on those substances and risk/protective factors that are impacting the greatest number of youth … read more

Cross-Sector Collaboration

Vol. 9, Iss. 10

The California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS), in alignment with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), is prioritizing integration and coordination of prevention services in public health, mental health, social services, juvenile justice, and education for youth and families … read more

The California Healthy Kids Survey: The Case for Continuation

Vol. 9, Iss. 8

This Prevention Tactic discusses how this decline in the CHKS participation stymies prevention efforts throughout California. It also provides strategies that stakeholders can pursue to ensure that they have the fiscal, administrative, and community support needed to continue the administration of the CHKS.

Effective Substance Abuse Prevention

This paper arms prevention planners and practitioners with clear information to help make prevention a priority. It attempts to take the pulse of prevention by looking at effective strategies within the substance abuse prevention field, providing tips on selecting the most effective interventions, and discussing the future of substance abuse … read more

Substance Abuse Prevention: Benefits Outweigh Costs – Spreading the Message Where It Counts

Vol. 9, Iss. 7

Many social science fields embrace taking the long view when addressing problems, seeing prevention as the cornerstone of effective problem solving. This publication focuses on the cost/ benefits of substance abuse prevention and how to support these essential efforts in our governments, schools, and communities.

A Paradigm Shift in Selecting Evidence-Based Approaches for Substance Abuse Prevention

Vol. 9, Iss. 6

This publication reviews the designation of “evidence-based” to describe prevention approaches; examines the evolution of the use of evidence-based in the National Registry of Effective Programs & Practices (NREPP); explores how the recent changes to NREPP have impacted the process that providers use to select interventions to meet the needs … read more

Creating a Policy to Manage Donations

Vol. 9, Iss. 5

We are again seeing a new wave of unease with industry ads displayed at local, community events such as fairs, fundraisers, and festivals, especially where children and families are in attendance. In light of these concerns, government bodies and community-based organizations are taking a second look at how they raise … read more

The Elderly and Prescription Drug Misuse and Abuse

Vol. 9, Iss. 2

Elderly individuals are particularly vulnerable to prescription drug misuse. Prescription drug abuse is present in 12% to 15% of elderly individuals who seek medical attention. In addition to the toll on individuals and families, abuse places a heavy financial toll on health care systems.

Preventing Substance Abuse Among Youth in Foster Care

Vol. 9, Iss. 4

Many youth who experience the foster care system struggle with substance use and abuse. By understanding these complex needs and underscoring the context prevention in which services are provided, substance abuse prevention providers can adapt their service models to effectively address the needs of foster youth. This Prevention Tactic addresses … read more

Moving Towards a Continuum of Services: Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) Screening and Referral

Vol. 9, Iss. 3

This Prevention Tactic provides background about the integration of prevention screening as part of a continuum of services. It examines common definitions of AOD screening, discusses prevention screening and referral strategies, and suggests implementation and management strategies.

Youth Prescription Drug Abuse: A Growing Concern

Vol. 9, Iss. 1

This Prevention Tactic focuses on the intentional abuse of prescription drugs among teens. First, the prescription medications commonly abused are identified. Secondly, the prevalence and accessibility of prescription drugs among teens is explored. Finally, effective strategies for preventing and addressing this issue in local communities are discussed.

Selecting and Implementing Evidence-Based Prevention through the Strategic Prevention Framework

Vol. 8, Iss. 15

This paper aims to: 1) introduce evidence-based practice and its application to community-based interventions; 2) guide the application of criteria and procedures for selecting evidence-based policies, programs, and practices appropriate to your community-based prevention plan; and 3) outline the tactical planning steps for developing implementation work plans.

Using Data to Establish Needs: Using the SPF Planning Process

Vol. 8, Iss. 15.2

This publication emphasizes the importance of setting boundaries for community-based planning processes; identifies the importance of agreeing on criteria in advance for analyzing and interpreting data to guide decision making, and suggests questions that will help to identify these criteria. It also identifies useful ways of analyzing data in order … read more

Underage Binge Drinking

Vol. 8, Iss. 14

This Tactic explores the issue of underage binge drinking—what it is, its significance, and the numerous harms afflicting youth and communities as a result of it. As a prevention specialist, it will provide you with ways to raise awareness of the need to proactively address this issue and plan strategies … read more

The IOM Model : A Tool for Prevention Planning and Implementation

Vol. 8, Iss. 13

This Tactic (a) provides a brief history of the development of the IOM model and its application to prevention, and (b) outlines applications of the IOM model that will strengthen prevention planning, implementation and outcomes.

A Comprehensive Approach to Methamphetamines

Vol. 8, Iss. 12

Methamphetamine can feel like a “larger than life” issue and trying to address the problem can feel even more overwhelming. That is why it is so important to approach the problem from a variety of fronts and with an arsenal of tactics. This Tactic explores multiple approaches to the problem … read more

How Communities Adopt Change

Vol. 8, Iss. 11

This article is about turning ideas into action. What are the nuts and bolts that constitute change mechanisms? What are the evidence-based interventions that support the theory of change? This Tactic explores how community norms on alcohol and drug use can be purposefully changed through environmental strategies.

Changing Community Norms

Vol. 8, Iss. 10

This Tactic explains how community norms change, how ideas are initially championed by a small, innovative, and persistent group until slowly the idea takes hold. Slowly, the idea hits a critical mass and acceptance becomes the norm and “laggards” are the exception.

Under Construction: Adolescent Brain Development

Vol. 8, Iss. 8

The more we know about the social, emotional, cultural, cognitive, and biological realities of adolescent development, the better position we will be in to understand what they are going through and help them navigate the often turbulent waters. Neuroscientific discoveries are tools that we can use in our ever-growing toolkit.

Social Norms Theory

Vol. 8, Iss. 9

This Tactic focuses on the social norms approach to prevention of alcohol and drug abuse. We explore the underlying theory of social norms based prevention strategies, research that has documented common misperceptions on alcohol and drug use, a case study of a successful social norms program at a college campus, … read more

Initiating Community-Based Alcohol Prevention Interventions: Suggestions from Research and Model Programs

Vol. 8, Iss. 7

The thought of launching a community-based alcohol prevention initiative can be daunting. In the early stages of planning, it may help to look at how other comprehensive prevention projects have approached their communities, and how they developed their specific intervention strategies.

Mini-Grants: A Community Approach to AOD Prevention

Vol. 8, Iss. 6

One often overlooked funding source for AOD prevention is mini-grants. These are small grants made to community organizations to implement specific AOD prevention activities. This Tactic gives advice about how to find and apply for mini-grants, and offers suggestions for appropriate uses of these funds.

Social Norms: Promoting Positive Behavior as the Rule, Not the Exception

Vol. 8, Iss. 5

While leaders all agree that alcohol use and abuse among youth is a significant problem, they have not agreed on a solution. One promising method that has shown successful reductions in alcohol use and abuse is the Social Norms Marketing approach. This Tactic provides information on how to develop, market, … read more

Binge Drinking: Community Action to Reduce Binge Drinking

Vol. 8, Iss. 4

An environmental prevention model includes strategic use of data, community organizing, policy and media advocacy, and enforcement to bring about long-lasting change. Data are used to identify the problem, develop strategy, plan, and monitor progress. Community organizing ensures that community stakeholders are identified and involved to gain public support and … read more

Policy Panels: Creating Effective Public Policy

Vol. 8, Iss. 3

Local policy panels are powerful tools to assist California communities in addressing alcohol and other drug-related problems, such as youth access to alcohol. Policy panels also serve to mobilize new community organizations and leadership in the service of progressive prevention strategies.

Social Host Ordinances: An Approach to Prevent Underage Drinking

Vol. 8, Iss. 2

Many in the prevention field agree that reducing youth access to alcohol is an essential strategy. A student survey showed that thirty percent of youth drink at home with their parents’ permission. These kinds of statistics have motivated prevention advocates to seek ways to close this loophole and establish more … read more

Community Organizing for the Next Millennium

Vol. 7, Iss. 3

It used to be easy to gather community support to protest an offensive ad campaign, but how do you counteract the new marketing trend of “real life experiences”? How do you counteract traveling, alcohol-industry produced, one-time events? We need to expand our work to address the industry’s latest antics. Our … read more

Cinco de Mayo

Vol. 7, Iss. 2

Cinco de Mayo celebrations have been increasingly infested with violence, crime, underage drinking, increased DUI citations and other problems caused, in part, by heavy alcohol consumption and inappropriate advertising targeted toward Latinos. The good news is that there is a lot we can do to affect the environment created by … read more

Student Athletes and Performance Enhancing Drug Use

Vol. 7, Iss. 1

Today most prevention efforts regarding drug use are aimed at marijuana, alcohol, amphetamines, and ecstasy. But there is another class of drugs given less attention and gaining in popularity: performance enhancing drugs (PEDs). PEDs are being used at the professional athlete level on down and according to recent research, PED … read more

Characteristics of Effective Substance Abuse Prevention with High Risk Youth

Vol. 6, Iss. 3

The findings reported here use information on the relative effectiveness of 46 study programs in preventing substance use among participating youth relative to comparison youth within each site, and presents detailed information on the prevention strategies delivered to participating youth in each site. The analyses produce statistical findings concerning those … read more

After-School Programs as Prevention

Vol. 6, Iss. 2

Spending increases and new programs become established across the nation, the future of after-school programs looks bright. The key to program success will depend on the cultivation of effective service efforts that incorporate the components of quality programming while addressing identified needs.

College Presidents Forum On Underage & Binge Drinking: One Community’s Success Story

Vol. 6, Iss. 1

San Diego area institutions of higher learning have joined with government agencies in an unprecedented regional effort to reduce underage and binge drinking among college students. The San Diego County “College Presidents’ Forum on Underage and Binge Drinking” has undertaken a bold new effort to reduce high-risk levels of alcohol … read more

Prevention Strategies for Adolescent Girls and Young Women

Vol. 5, Iss. 3

How do the lives of girls and young women differ from those of boys and young men? What alcohol and other drug prevention strategies have been found to be especially effective with girls and young women? What kinds of prevention strategies and activities can be integrated into a particular prevention … read more

A Generation At Risk: Applying Prevention Concepts to the Elderly

Vol. 5, Iss. 1

Older people are less likely to abuse substances, except perhaps prescription psychoactive medications. However, aging bodies are more susceptible to the effects of alcohol and other drugs. Very few treatment programs or public health initiatives are directed at older populations, but the evidence suggests that elders benefit just as much … read more

Alcohol Propaganda: Analyzing and Countering Alcohol Industry Advertising

Vol. 5, Iss. 2

Prevention activists and organizations can utilize media literacy techniques to counter industry propaganda, reframing alcohol ads to communicate the reality-based negative consequences associated with alcohol such as drunk driving, crime and violence, health problems, and abuse.

PREVENTION WORKS! The recent National Cross-Site Evaluation of High-Risk Youth Programs reveals the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of prevention

Vol. 4, Iss. 3

The findings of the National Cross-Site Evaluation have important implications in prevention design and implementation. This Tactic highlights the study’s key findings to illustrate how and why prevention works, and what practitioners and policymakers can do to make prevention work better.

From Science to Practice: Using CSAP Model Programs to Prevent Youth ATOD Use

Vol. 4, Iss. 1

This issue of Prevention Tactics briefly describes each of the seven model programs identified by CSAP and looks at the key factors that make these programs work. A self-assessment tool is also provided to help organizations and agencies begin using science-based programming to achieve desired outcomes.