Environmental Strategies for Prevention
A Guide To Helping the Prevention Professional Work Effectively in the Community

About This Course - Page 2 of 3

Who Can Use This Course

In order for environmental strategies to be effective, everyone in the community needs to be on board. Environmental Strategies for Prevention: A Guide To Helping the Prevention Professional Work Effectively in the Community is appropriate for everyone who has a role in prevention -- health and mental health professionals, social workers, and social service workers as well as community organizers, faith communities, program planners, educators, law enforcement officers, volunteers, and individuals working in juvenile justice, among others.

What Is Covered in This Course

This online course provides an overview of environmental strategies and their role in prevention. Five categories of environmental strategies are discussed -- policies, enforcement, education, communication, and collaboration. The course also presents specific examples of effective programs from the field and from SAMHSA's Model Programs.

Environmental strategies can be applied to many different kinds of public health concerns. However, much of the research on environmental strategies and many community-based prevention activities focus on substance abuse. Therefore, this course focuses mainly on environmental strategies for preventing use/abuse of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs.

Throughout the course, links are provided to other Web sites that can provide more information about topics. The course is intended as a starting point for prevention professionals and others to plan interventions appropriate to their community's needs, rather than a detailed manual for how to implement specific environmental strategies.

Quizzes at the end of each course module allow participants to gauge learning against course objectives. The Resources section at the end of the course includes publications, Web sites, videos, and other materials that provide additional information on the topic. Listing of these resources is provided solely as a service. These listings do not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) or any of its agencies or employees. The authors of this course and DHHS are not responsible for the content of any Web pages referenced in this course, other than those in the official DHHS domain.

This online course complements other training efforts by the Centers for the Application of Prevention Technology (CAPTs) within DHHS. More information about the regional CAPTs is provided throughout the course.

CEU Information

Continuing Education Units (CEUs) will be offered for successful completion of this course from the following organizations:

Acknowledgments

The Center for Substance Abuse Prevention gratefully acknowledges the contributions of the following people in reviewing this course: Stephen E. Gardner, D.S.W., and Paul J. Brounstein, Ph.D., who developed seminal resources on environmental strategies for the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention; Robert Voas, Ph.D., John Lacey, M.P.H., and Tara Kelley-Baker, Ph.D., of the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE), and Melanie Adler, S.M., distance learning manager for the Northeast Center for the Application of Prevention Technologies.

Black and white photographs in the multimedia segment "Grandchildren" courtesy Kathleen Theiler Lanza.

<< Previous Page Next Page >>