2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWENTY-FOUR - Health and Sanitation (§§ 1 — 15010) › PART X - Health Professionals (§§ 10001 — 12020) › Chapter 505 - Evaluating Commission for Psychoactive Substance Use Prevention Specialist Certification Act (§§ 10051 — 10067) › § 10051 - Definitions

(1) Teenagers. — For purposes of the Commission, it shall mean minors from the age of twelve (12) to the age of seventeen (17) or who [are in] the seventh (7th) to the twelfth (12th) grade.
(2) Assessment. — A process whereby the needs of a specific population are identified, as well as the resources available to develop prevention services. It is a fundamental component in objective development, strategy selection, activities and general design of prevention programs.
(3) Grandfather clause. — A provision that allows persons who practice a profession or trade about to be regulated, to continue practicing in an authorized manner. In the case of professions that shall require license renewal, the grandfather clause recognizes the practice of the profession until the next date for renewal.
(4) Client/participant. — A person who seeks, participates in or is referred to prevention services.
(5) Collaboration. — A process that leads to the creation of a shared vision and goals, directed toward addressing conditions and problems beyond the activity of a particular agency or entity. Resources and responsibilities are shared; there is a long-term commitment to manage complex social issues.
(6) Commission. — Refers to the Evaluating Commission for Psychoactive Substance Use Prevention Specialist Certification, created by this chapter.
(7) Competency. — The knowledge in a specific are which renders a person capable to provide intervention and prevention services to individuals, groups, families, and communities.
(8) Consultantship. — The process of clarifying issues or providing information, alternatives or specific recommendations to individuals, organizations, or groups on prevention efforts. This includes providing appropriate technical assistance which will foster an understanding of the design and implementation of prevention efforts and their implications.
(9) Prevention strategy. — A scientifically based activity, program, curriculum, or event that is designed and implemented to reduce risk factors and to reinforce protection factors in order to promote healthy and drug-free lifestyles.
(10) Evaluation. — Refers to the implementation of research techniques to gather data as to the effectiveness of the program. It is the process whereby the impact of a program is determined based on results and process indicators.
(11) Protection factors. — Attitudes, behaviors, beliefs, situations, or actions that reinforce the stance against the use of psychoactive substances in a group, organization, individual, or community.
(12) Risk factors. — Attitudes, behaviors, beliefs, situations, or actions that place a group, organization, individual, or community at risk of developing problems with the use of psychoactive substances.
(13) Indicators. — Data that point to the existence of a condition or variable within a system under study.
(14) Young adults. — For purposes of the Commission, it shall be the population constituted by citizens between the age of eighteen (18) and the age of twenty-four (24).
(15) Children. — For purposes of the Commission, it shall be the population constituted by minors in elementary school, from pre-kinder to the sixth grade. They are deemed to be the minors between the age of four (4) and the age of eleven (11).
(16) Prevention. — A process which aims to empower individuals and systems to effectively meet life’s challenges and transitions by creating and reinforcing the conditions which promote healthy lifestyles and behaviors.
(17) Recommended prevention. — A prevention strategy aimed at people who have used or experimented with psychoactive substances and show some kind of sign or symptom associated with the use thereof.
(18) Selective prevention. — A prevention strategy aimed at people at a high risk of beginning to use psychoactive substances.
(19) Universal prevention. — A prevention strategy with a general and broad intervention perspective, aimed at the entire population.
(20) Community-based program. — A service structure that encourages participants to have the greatest degree of autonomy possible and to collaborate with each other in the search and implementation of strategies to prevent or solve problems associated with the substance use that affects them.
(21) Scientifically-based prevention program. — Comprehensive programs based on scientific studies that have proven effective and are aimed at reducing risk factors and reinforcing protection factors.
(22) Psychoactive substance. — A chemical substance that alters the mood, behavior and cognitive processes, its main effects being experienced in the central nervous system.
(23) Volunteers. — People who offer prevention services under the supervision of a certified specialist, without receiving pay or compensation for their services.
History —Sept. 16, 2004, No. 369, § 2, eff. 90 days after Sept. 16, 2004.