Bridging the gap between science and practice in drug abuse prevention through needs assessment and strategic community planning

✍ Scribed by Michael W. Arthur; Caryn Blitz

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2000
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 136 KB
• Volume: 28
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0090-4392
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1520-6629(200005)28:3<241::aid-jcop2>3.0.co;2-x

✦ Synopsis

Despite advances in knowledge about factors that predict substance abuse and interventions that have been effective at preventing alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use among adolescents, the prevalence of drug use and abuse among American adolescents and young adults remains alarmingly high. The U.S. government spent $2.45 billion in 1999 on drug abuse prevention services and research, yet there is little evidence these expenditures are achieving meaningful reductions in the prevalence of drug abuse. It is estimated that drug abuse costs American society more than $250 billion per year, and these cost are increasing. Translating the expanding scientific knowledge base for effective preventive interventions into widespread practice that can achieve reductions in the prevalence of drug abuse in this country is a pressing policy issue.

This article examines recent advances in prevention science and discusses how this knowledge base can be applied to the development of strategic, science-based community prevention systems. Methods for assessing the need for drug abuse prevention services among populations of children and adolescents are reviewed, and the utility of these methods for guiding strategic community prevention planning is examined. It is argued that