What Works in Prevention

Principles of Effective Prevention Programs

Nation, Maury
Crusto, Cindy
Wandersman, Abraham
Kumpfer, Karol L.
Seybolt, Diana
Morrissey-Kane, Erin
Davino, Katrina

¹Department of Human and Organizational Development, Vanderbilt University
²Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine
³Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina
⁴Department of Health Promotion and Education, University of Utah
⁵School of Medicine, University of Maryland, Baltimore.

⁶Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Maury Nation, Department of Human and Organizational Development, Vanderbilt University, Peabody College, #90, Nashville, TN 37203. E-mail: [email protected]

Editor's note. This special issue was developed by Roger P. Weissberg and Karol L. Kumpfer as a result of the work of the APA Task Force on Prevention: Promoting Strength, Resilience, and Health in Young People.

Some of the supporting documentation and references were omitted because of space limitations.

We thank the following people for recommending reviews and providing feedback on earlier drafts of this article: Joy Dryfoos, Joseph Durlak, Anthony Biglan, and Maurice Elias.

American Psychologist 58(7):p 449-456, June-July 2003.

The high prevalence of drug abuse, delinquency, youth violence, and other youth problems creates a need to identify and disseminate effective prevention strategies. General principles gleaned from effective interventions may help prevention practitioners select, modify, or create more effective programs. Using a review-of-reviews approach across 4 areas (substance abuse, risky sexual behavior, school failure, and juvenile delinquency and violence), the authors identified 9 characteristics that were consistently associated with effective prevention programs: Programs were comprehensive, included varied teaching methods, provided sufficient dosage, were theory driven, provided opportunities for positive relationships, were appropriately timed, were socioculturally relevant, included outcome evaluation, and involved well-trained staff. This synthesis can inform the planning and implementation of problem-specific prevention interventions, provide a rationale for multiproblem prevention programs, and serve as a basis for further research.