Innovative Prevention Strategies Target Minority Populations

A special section of the October issue of Health Education and Behavior focuses on how health communications strategies impact substance abuse prevention programs. The issue highlights the conceptualization, design, and implementation of four innovative prevention programs targeting minority populations and youth. Each program demonstrates a unique, audience-specific approach to media-based prevention education, and was funded as part of a Communications Cooperative Agreement sponsored by the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention.

For instance, a series of multicultural videotapes and related teaching materials called Right Turns Only targets African American youth. The program delivers substance abuse prevention education through a familiar channel—video—and uses young actors with whom teens can easily identify. The videos’ prevention messages are reinforced with relevant classroom activities.

Another media-based prevention effort, Jump Start, is designed for inner-city African American teens at high risk for abusing alcohol, tobacco, and drugs. Jump Start is a fast-paced, multifaceted program that has been implemented in summer youth sessions. Using small-group discussions and videos, it aims to educate teens about illicit substances and help them build life skills to resist the lure of experimenting with drugs.

Two other programs target Hispanic youth and their families. La Esperanza del Valle seeks to influence cultural attitudes about alcohol use and abuse. Radio, television, and storybook versions of a novella—a familiar genre in the Hispanic community—give families relevant material to begin discussions about alcohol use. Mirame! Look at Me! is a prevention video series developed for use on an educational television network.

The assessment tools, participant reactions, limitations, future considerations, and potential impact of these programs are discussed in detail in the special section. In addition the journal includes a selection of "Practice Notes" that profile other projects funded as part of the Communications Cooperative Agreement Program.

Overall, the diverse programming profiled in this journal demonstrates that health communications theory can be successfully applied to innovative prevention practices.
Copies of the journal are available from Sage Publications. Call 805-499-0721 or visit http://www.sagepub.com to request a copy. The address is 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320.

To receive a complimentary copy of this PreventionAlert, call SAMSHA's National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information (NCADI) @ 1-800-729-6686, TDD 1-800-487-4889 (for the hearing impaired.) PREVENTIONAlert is supported by the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and may be copied without permission with appropriate citation. For information about PREVENTIONAlert, please contact CSAP by phone (301) 443-0581 or e-mail gensley@samhsa.gov