About This Course - Page 1 of 3

The field of prevention has long focused on the behaviors of individuals. Helping individuals avoid or change risky behaviors will always be a component of prevention work. But today prevention specialists are aware of the need to shape the environment as well, because the right environment can make it easier for people to make healthy choices.

Prevention strategies that focus on altering and improving the environment are known as "environmental strategies." Some environmental strategies attempt, for example, to change social norms or attitudes relating to the use of illicit drugs or alcohol. Other environmental strategies work to control the availability of these substances, or to create or strengthen enforcement of laws and regulations affecting their use.

Many communities have implemented a range of interventions focused on changing behaviors and patterns in the individual, but fewer have interventions addressing those aspects of the environment that put individuals at risk. This course is designed to bridge that gap by introducing prevention professionals and concerned citizens to the basic principles of environmental strategies, and to help them learn how to apply these approaches in their own communities.