Community-based efforts to prevent substance
use, like the work done by Prevention WINS, are an essential component of
promoting health during adolescence and later life according to an article published
in the most recent edition of JAMA – Pediatrics.
The article discusses findings from a study
conducted by the UW Social Development Research Group. They looked at communities that used
Communities That Care (CTC), a system similar to the Strategic Prevention
Framework used by Prevention WINS.
During the study, coalitions of community stakeholders received
training to use CTC. They used data to
identify elevated risk factors and depressed protective factors for adolescent
problem behaviors in the community. Like
Prevention WINS, they implemented tested and effective programs for middle
school youth, their families, and schools to address risks specific to their community.
The
study showed that by spring of
12th grade, students in CTC communities were more likely than students in
control communities to have abstained from any drug use, including
alcohol and tobacco. Using the CTC
system continued to prevent the initiation of adolescent problem
behaviors through 12th grade, 8 years after implementation of CTC and 3 years
after study-provided resources ended.
The article goes on to note, The enduring effects of CTC through 12th
grade were observed with little preventive programming targeting the high
school years. Because CTC communities were asked to focus their prevention
plans on programs for youths in grades 5 through 9, and continued to do so
following study support, few students in the longitudinal panel were exposed to
tested and effective programs beyond ninth grade. It is noteworthy that
initiation of alcohol use, tobacco use, delinquency, and violence in the panel
was prevented through 12th grade in CTC communities.
Targeting
preventive interventions during middle school, a developmentally sensitive time
for drug use and delinquency initiation, appears to have prevented the onset of
alcohol and tobacco use . . . through high school. However, the present
findings suggest that continued preventive interventions during high school may
be needed to lower the current prevalence of substance use, delinquency, and
violence among those who have initiated these behaviors.
