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Systems Change Approach to Substance Abuse Prevention

NCJ Number
173638
Editor(s)
J U Gordon
Date Published
1997
Length
213 pages
Annotation
These 10 papers explore the guiding principles of a community drug prevention resource system that uses an outcome-based approach to system change, as well as the structural components, operational functions, and functional areas of such a system.
Abstract
Most of the papers were presented at a 1995 symposium on drug abuse organized by Project Neighborhood, Inc., in Kansas City to create a collective vision for Kansas City as a community in relation to drug abuse prevention and technical assistance. The first paper a systemic analysis of drug prevention, using the public health model to shift in emphasis from interventions directed at individuals to those directed at systems and ecology. Additional papers describe successful and unsuccessful school-based drug prevention programs, discuss the relationship between drug abuse and violence and crime, and present new health promotion strategies for a generation at risk. Further papers examine partnerships among public, private, and philanthropic organizations and their relationships in developing an infrastructure to solve drug problems, the impact of ethnographic research methods on multicultural community-based system, effective community-based drug prevention programs, and the concept and practice of community exchange as an imperative in shaping drug policies. The final two papers summarize the position papers and recommendations of four symposium workshops and examine future efforts and needs in drug prevention. Chapter reference lists; index; and appended figures, tables, and glossary