Prevention + Promotion

M.Rudkin Reading:

  • Prevention efforts are based in belief that actions taken now can avert more serious problems in future

  • Goal is to prevent some undesirable state, condition, or problem from emerging

  • Practitioners explored it in response to mental disorders

  • Taken hold as an important mental health concept

  • Prevention program promised to reach more ppl than one-on-one therapy

 

Meta-Analyses

 

  • Research technique that collapses data across many studies to obtain overview of magnitude of effects

  • Conducted by Durlak and Wells

 

 

Typologies of Prevention:

 

 

Incidence - Number of NEW cases over a given period of time

 

Ex: How many of you know someone who was diagnosed with HIV in the past year?

 

Prevalence - Number of TOTAL cases at a given point in time

 

Ex: How many of you know someone who is HIV +?

 

 

Taxonomy - A scheme or classification, way of categorizing things

 

Public Health Prevention Taxonomy:

 

  • Primary Prevention

    • Targets people/communities who show no signs of problems

    • Goal: Prevent problem from ever occurring

    • Decreases incidence -

    • Decreases prevalence -

      • Example: City of Chicago provides free transit to free health clinics for all residents

 

  • Secondary Prevention

    • Early intervention - intervene early on in problem development

    • Goal: Reduce the duration of problem

    • Does not impact incidence 0

    • Decreases prevalence -

      • Example: Cowen's study on informal helpers

 

  • Tertiary Prevention

    • Occurs after problem has developed

    • Goal: Alleviate harmful, long-term effects of problems

    • Reduce the severity, discomfort, or disability associated with problem

    • Does not impact incidence 0

    • Increases prevalence +

      • Example: Fairweather's lodge societies

 

 

Institute of Medicine Prevention Taxonomy:

 

Universal Prevention:

  • Targets everyone in a given population

  • Goal: Prevent problem from ever occurring

  • Decreases prevalence

    • Example: All kids participate in program to learn life skills

 

 

Selective Prevention:

  • Targets individuals at high risk of developing the problem

  • Goal: Prevent problem from ever occurring

  • Decreased Incidence

  • Decreases Prevalence

    • Example: Kids transitioning from middle school to high school

 

 

 

Indicated Prevention:

  • Targets individuals who have early signs that problem may develop

  • Goal: Prevent problem from ever occurring

  • Decreases incidence

  • Decreases Prevalence

    • Example: Kids missing assignments, showing up late, disengaged

    • Example: College students with family histories of alcoholism and social drinking

 

Prevention: Focuses on preventing something bad 

 

Promotion: Focuses on promoting something good

 

  • Goal: Promote health, and well being

  • Not just survive, but thrive

  • Decreases incidence

  • Decreases prevalence

    • Example: Anti-bullying program that doesn’t mention bullying at all