Advances in Prevention Science – serie

Whoever coined the adage "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" could not have known how important this adage would become. The challenge of altering the health trajectories of poor lifestyle decisions for such behaviors as smoking, drinking and using illicit drugs, violence, dropping out of school, engagement in risky sexual behaviors and crime through prevention research has led to a new discipline, prevention science.Defining Prevention Science covers this emerging field of science: its goals, its conceptual and theoretical foundations, its methods and especially its utility. Not content to simply differentiate the field from its close allies: epidemiology, psychology, neuroscience, sociology, economics, the text explains how these many disciplines enhance each other at both research and intervention levels and how prevention science draws on these biological, behavioral and social sciences to create an innovative knowledge base that has provided cost-effective, evidence-based prevention interventions and policies. To this end, familiar developmental benchmarks are recast in prevention/health promotion context, from the crucial importance of adolescence in encountering and deterring high-risk behaviors to the risks and resiliencies of single-mother families. An international group of contributors offers current findings, up-to-date methods for effective evidence-based interventions and improvements in research technologies in these key areas:Physical, cognitive and emotional vulnerability across the life course.The roles of developmental influences in prevention.Intervention development, delivery and implementation.Bringing the intervention approach to research design.New directions in analytic methods.Cost analysis and policy implications.Advances in Prevention Science: Defining Prevention Science aims to inspire further refinements in the fieldand encourage communication among researchers in its own and related disciplines, including public health, epidemiology, psychology, and criminology. This is the first volume in the series, Advances in Prevention Science, that provides the framework for other volume that will focus on such issues as: Prevention Science in School Settings: Complex Relationships and Processes; Preventing Crime and Violence and The Prevention of Substance Use.

Whoever coined the adage "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" could not have known how important this adage would become. The challenge of altering the health trajectories of poor lifestyle decisions for such behaviors as smoking, drinking and using illicit drugs, violence, dropping out of school, engagement in risky sexual behaviors and crime through prevention research has led to a new discipline, prevention science.Defining Prevention Science covers this emerging field of science: its goals, its conceptual and theoretical foundations, its methods and especially its utility. Not content to simply differentiate the field from its close allies: epidemiology, psychology, neuroscience, sociology, economics, the text explains how these many disciplines enhance each other at both research and intervention levels and how prevention science draws on these biological, behavioral and social sciences to create an innovative knowledge base that has provided cost-effective, evidence-based prevention interventions and policies. To this end, familiar developmental benchmarks are recast in prevention/health promotion context, from the crucial importance of adolescence in encountering and deterring high-risk behaviors to the risks and resiliencies of single-mother families. An international group of contributors offers current findings, up-to-date methods for effective evidence-based interventions and improvements in research technologies in these key areas:Physical, cognitive and emotional vulnerability across the life course.The roles of developmental influences in prevention.Intervention development, delivery and implementation.Bringing the intervention approach to research design.New directions in analytic methods.Cost analysis and policy implications.Advances in Prevention Science: Defining Prevention Science aims to inspire further refinements in the fieldand encourage communication among researchers in its own and related disciplines, including public health, epidemiology, psychology, and criminology. This is the first volume in the series, Advances in Prevention Science, that provides the framework for other volume that will focus on such issues as: Prevention Science in School Settings: Complex Relationships and Processes; Preventing Crime and Violence and The Prevention of Substance Use.

This straightforward volume makes a strong, practical, research-based case for integrating prevention programs into middle and high schools. Written by experts in prevention science and education, it examines educational goals and prevention of risky behaviors as parallel and complementary processes and provides evidence for health-promoting schools as a critical forum for student development. Chapters show the benefits of this collaboration, as instructors engage with prevention content, prevention scientists study schools and create interventions, and counselors develop and implement activities, resulting in improved academic, social, and health outcomes. Examples of successful prevention strategies address personal and public health issues as varied as substance abuse, dating violence, dropping out, and suicide.Among the topics covered: Engaging school leaders in preventionDeveloping school-based prevention curriculaScaling up evidence-based prevention interventions and practicesConducting prevention research and evaluation in schoolsPromoting a positive school climate and cultureReducing disruptive behavior, violence, and bullying Child and school psychologists, administrators, teachers,  school counselors, and prevention specialists will find significant common ground in Prevention Science in School Settings. The breadth and depth of coverage point to new, multidisciplinary directions in health education, school climate/culture, and positive youth development.

This straightforward volume makes a strong, practical, research-based case for integrating prevention programs into middle and high schools. Written by experts in prevention science and education, it examines educational goals and prevention of risky behaviors as parallel and complementary processes and provides evidence for health-promoting schools as a critical forum for student development. Chapters show the benefits of this collaboration, as instructors engage with prevention content, prevention scientists study schools and create interventions, and counselors develop and implement activities, resulting in improved academic, social, and health outcomes. Examples of successful prevention strategies address personal and public health issues as varied as substance abuse, dating violence, dropping out, and suicide.Among the topics covered: Engaging school leaders in preventionDeveloping school-based prevention curriculaScaling up evidence-based prevention interventions and practicesConducting prevention research and evaluation in schoolsPromoting a positive school climate and cultureReducing disruptive behavior, violence, and bullying Child and school psychologists, administrators, teachers,  school counselors, and prevention specialists will find significant common ground in Prevention Science in School Settings. The breadth and depth of coverage point to new, multidisciplinary directions in health education, school climate/culture, and positive youth development.

This volume provides a serious examination of substance use prevention research and practice as components of the continuum from health promotion through to prevention and health care in sub-groups and in the general population. Extensive background chapters provide portals into the evolution of the field and the cutting edge research being conducted on the etiology, epidemiology, and genetics of substance use and abuse. The global nature and health burden of substance use and abuse incorporates assessments of the serious problems related to the prevention of legal substance use (i.e., alcohol and tobacco) and how lessons learned in those arenas may apply to the prevention of illicit substance use.  Research and practice chapters detail a range of effective evidence-based programs, policies and practices and emerging prevention interventions from the literatures on the family and school contexts in addition to innovations involving mindfulness and the social media. Continued advancements in substance use prevention research, practice, training, and policy are projected.Included among topics addressed are:Progression of substance use to abuse and substance use disordersThe tobacco prevention experience: a model for substance use prevention?Policy interventions: intended and unintended influences on substance useQualitative methods in the study of psychoactive substance useUse of media and social media in the prevention of substance useSupporting prevention science and prevention research internationallyThe array of research accomplishments and real-world methods presented in Prevention of Substance Use merits the attention of a variety of researchers and practitioners, including public health professionals, health psychologists, and epidemiologists.

This book provides a comprehensive and updated review of the concepts, models, and interventions related to the process of adjustment to life course transitions. In times of transition, an individual is exposed to experiences that require them to assume new roles and exhibit updated behaviors. Regardless of the characteristics of these transitions, exposure to normative trajectories imposes on the person an intensive engagement in a process of (re-)adjustment. Sometimes this demand is beyond the scope of one's ability, motivation, or comprehension. Hence, some people might ineffectively perceive and/or react to the change and end up feeling unable to handle the change and inclined to escape the situation. A preventive intervention that either reduces the impact of possible risk factors or fosters possible protective factors would support the people in managing the transition.While the importance of prevention of maladjustment is repeatedly mentioned in the literature, this is the first-known book on how to prevent maladjustment. It examines how the sense of transition emerges, what adjustment means, the models that elaborate on how people manage in times of transition, what the antecedents of maladjustment are, and especially how maladjustment could be prevented. Out of these discussions, a new model, The Transitional Stress and Adjustment (TSA) Model, is suggested as a grand framework for paving a way forward to better prevent people's maladjustment to life course transitions. Prevention of Maladjustment to Life Course Transitions is a much-needed cornerstone in the future development within the prevention science framework. This book has interdisciplinary appeal for researchers, practitioners, and graduate students in psychology, sociology, public health, social work, criminology, medicine, health sciences, public policy, economics, and education who consider prevention an important vehicle of intervention to promote health and wellbeing. Its focus on the topic of adjustment also would be of special interest to those who explore child and youth development.

This book provides a comprehensive and updated review of the concepts, models, and interventions related to the process of adjustment to life course transitions. In times of transition, an individual is exposed to experiences that require them to assume new roles and exhibit updated behaviors. Regardless of the characteristics of these transitions, exposure to normative trajectories imposes on the person an intensive engagement in a process of (re-)adjustment. Sometimes this demand is beyond the scope of one's ability, motivation, or comprehension. Hence, some people might ineffectively perceive and/or react to the change and end up feeling unable to handle the change and inclined to escape the situation. A preventive intervention that either reduces the impact of possible risk factors or fosters possible protective factors would support the people in managing the transition.While the importance of prevention of maladjustment is repeatedly mentioned in the literature, this is the first-known book on how to prevent maladjustment. It examines how the sense of transition emerges, what adjustment means, the models that elaborate on how people manage in times of transition, what the antecedents of maladjustment are, and especially how maladjustment could be prevented. Out of these discussions, a new model, The Transitional Stress and Adjustment (TSA) Model, is suggested as a grand framework for paving a way forward to better prevent people's maladjustment to life course transitions. Prevention of Maladjustment to Life Course Transitions is a much-needed cornerstone in the future development within the prevention science framework. This book has interdisciplinary appeal for researchers, practitioners, and graduate students in psychology, sociology, public health, social work, criminology, medicine, health sciences, public policy, economics, and education who consider prevention an important vehicle of intervention to promote health and wellbeing. Its focus on the topic of adjustment also would be of special interest to those who explore child and youth development.

This insightful volume integrates criminological theories, prevention science, and empirical findings to create an up-to-date survey of crime prevention research and strategies. Its interdisciplinary perspective expands on our knowledge of risk factors to isolate the malleable mechanisms that produce criminal outcomes, and can therefore be targeted for intervention.  In addition, the text identifies developmental, lifespan, and social areas for effective intervention. Reviews of family-, community-, and criminal justice-based crime prevention approaches not only detail a wide gamut of successful techniques, but also provide evidence for why they succeed. And as an extra research dimension, the book’s chapters on methodological issues and challenges uncover rich possibilities for the next generation of crime prevention studies. Included in the coverage: Integrating criminology and prevention researchSocial disorganization theory: its history and relevance to crime preventionResearch designs in crime and violence preventionMacro- and micro-approaches to crime prevention and intervention programsImplications of life course: approaches for prevention sciencePromising avenues for prevention, including confronting sexual victimization on college campusesSpotlighting current progress and continuing evolution of the field, Preventing Crime and Violence will enhance the work of researchers, practitioners, academicians, and policymakers in public health, prevention science, criminology, and criminal justice, as well as students interested in criminology and criminal justice.