Community-based approaches for the prevention of alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use

This paper summarizes what is known about community-based approaches for the prevention of ATOD problems and how the current practices in the field reflect these approaches. The first section of the chapter provides a brief summary of events early in this century when community-based approaches were central to addressing alcohol and other public health problems. The second section contains an overview of current research and empirical findings that yield consensus as to what conceptually and in practice constitutes a comprehensive, community-based prevention program for the prevention of ATOD problems. The third section reviews the literature of existing programs to assess the extent to which they include the salient elements and employ interventions determined to be fundamental to comprehensive community-based prevention programs. The final section discusses some of the challenges that confront researchers and practitioners when developing prevention initiatives and programs in high-risk environments.