Planning, Development, and Process Issues in the Rhode Island Alcohol-Related Injury Prevention Project (From Research, Action, and the Community: Experiences in the Prevention of Alcohol and Other Drug Problems, P 183-195, 1990, Norman Giesbrecht, Peter Conley, et al., eds. -- See NCJ-128273)

• NCJ Number: 128295
• Author(s): S L Putnam
• Date Published: 1990
• Length: 13 pages
• Sale Source: Superintendent of Documents, GPO; National Institute of Justice/; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Publication Type: Program/Project Evaluation
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Paper presented at the Symposium on Experiences with Community Action Projects for the Prevention of Alcohol and Other Drug Problems, March 1989, Scarborough, Ontario, Canada

Annotation

The Rhode Island community-based, alcohol-related injury prevention project integrates a conceptual framework and theoretical model for community change with a systemic approach to reducing alcohol-related assault and motor vehicle crash injuries and deaths.

Abstract

Intervention programs are designed to reduce injury morbidity and mortality and to reduce the incidence of intoxication and the likelihood of combining alcohol consumption with such high-risk behaviors as driving. Interventions focus on changing the knowledge, attitudes, and behavior of servers of alcoholic beverages and the police. Project strategies combine sociocultural and environmental modification affecting group norms and behavior, regulatory mechanisms in the form of increased law enforcement and mandated penalties, education and information as a primary method of persuasion, and economic incentives and disincentives through the use of legal liability as a lever for gatekeeper training and responsibility. The theoretical basis of the project rests on the idea of the community as a system of influence, with servers of alcoholic beverages and the police at the front line of alcohol-related injury prevention. Procedures involved in project initiation are detailed as well as lessons learned and recommendations for future projects.