The premise of comprehensive drug prevention is that program activities should focus on the individual and his or her interactions with the social environment. Relevant to the individual, research indicates that a promising approach to prevention would be one that promoted self-regulated health behavior. Research is needed to assess how social environments can be structured and strengthened to promote positive self-regulated health behavior change. Multiple Component and Comprehensive Prevention Interventions Research is needed to assess multiple component and comprehensive strategies that simultaneously utilize the schools, media, family, peers, social networks, and health policies to both shape and reinforce the process of self-regulated health behavior change. Intervention research indicates that a comprehensive approach to drug abuse prevention that includes multiple program components can prevent the use of cigarettes, alcohol, marijuana, and cocaine by youth exposed to the program in comparison to controls.
Research is needed to test a variety of multiple component prevention strategies.
Research on the use of mass media combined with school-based prevention education programs has been encouraging and indicates that these two components are essential elements of comprehensive drug prevention programming. Media can increase public awareness of drug abuse problems, promote organizational involvement in preventing substance abuse, create public agendas for community action, strengthen drug-free social norms, stimulate interpersonal discussions relevant to prevention of drug problems, and reinforce changes in relevant health behaviors of individuals residing within the community. Research suggests that parent education and life skills training can increase family communication, enhance the use of positive family management techniques, and promote social bonding within the family. Research is needed to assess the efficacy of comprehensive drug prevention that includes parent education. In addition, research is needed to assess comprehensive drug prevention that includes components focused upon re-structuring the social influences of the peer group, increasing the social bonding of youth to school, home, workplace, church or neighborhood youth group, and exposure to positive role models provided by caring adult neighborhood volunteers, such as mentoring.