Prevention Systems: Structure and Challenges: Europe as an Example

Abstract

Optimising the implementation and roll-out of evidence-based programs to prevent risky health behaviours such as the use of psychoactive substances (herein referred to as substance use) depends greatly on existing prevention systems that are in place to support and sustain them over time. The field of substance-use prevention is at a pivotal point. The evolution of prevention science has demonstrated that interventions grounded in theories of human behaviour and learning are effective in not only achieving their short-term objectives such as changes in normative beliefs and intentions to use substances but also having a significant effect on substance-use outcomes and in some cases on other associated behaviours. Prevention science is concerned with how programmes or interventions can be developed, implemented, assessed and improved in terms of content and effectiveness; their internal validity, i.e. design, logic model and structure; their timing within the human life cycle; and their adequacy, relevance and feasibility for the target communities. These interventions are designed to impact human behaviour directly using manualised interventions that target individuals and groups through improving micro-level environments such as the relationship between parents and children or school teachers and students to increase prosocial attitudes and behaviours among youth, and through creating macro-level environments so as to provide social controls over harmful behaviours such as increasing taxes and thus prices of cigarettes or enforcing laws that limit access to tobacco or alcohol products such as altering where these products can be sold or imposing age restrictions on purchase and consumption.