Risk Factors and Protective Factors for Prevention Programs
The community level is one of the best places for drug treatment to happen. Each community has its own unique set of problems and community-based programs can address these specific needs while giving patients a familiar and comfortable place to heal. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) has developed a series of principles that parents, educators and community leaders should consider when thinking about research-based drug abuse prevention programs at the community level.
The first principle laid out by the NIDA is that a drug prevention and drug rehab program should “enhance protective factors and reverse or reduce risk factors.” The protective factors are elements that can stop people from experimenting with drugs such as parental involvement, while risk factors can include “deviant attitudes and behaviors.”
The NIDA also points out that when it comes to keeping high-risk youths out of a rehab center, early intervention when risk factors are established is a key element to any drug prevention program.
