Developing and Implementing Interventions in Community Settings (From The Etiology and Prevention of Drug Abuse Among Minority Youth, P 49-67, 1997, Gilbert J. Botvin, Steven Schinke, eds. - See NCJ-166518)

• NCJ Number: 166521
• Author(s): S Schinke; K Cole; T Diaz; G J Botvin
• Date Published: 1997
• Length: 19 pages
• Grant Number(s): DA05321
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute on Drug Abuse
• Sale Source: Haworth Press, Inc
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: DCC

Annotation

This paper describes the needs of youth at high risk of future drug use and an intervention approach which responds to those needs by using community settings.

Abstract

The paper discusses the merits of community-based drug abuse prevention; reviews the background and nature of drug use among youth who are at inordinately high risk for using and encountering problems associated with drugs; and offers an approach to intervening with high-risk youth to prevent drug use and its attendant problems. The community-based preventive intervention approach includes relevant theory, applicable principles and specific strategies. The article discusses results from community-based prevention interventions, and summarizes the strengths and limitations of that approach to combating problems of drug use among high-risk youth. Community-based intervention has advantages over school-based intervention for the following reasons: (1) It avoids the problem of persuading school administrators and teachers to release class time for an intervention; (2) Children in community centers choose to be there, rather than their mandated attendance at school; (3) Substance experimentation usually occurs outside of school and in the community; (4) Community centers have access to a more varied age group of youth; and (5) Many of the youth most at risk for drug use do not attend school regularly or drop out altogether. References