title: Community-based prevention support: using the interactive systems framework to facilitate grassroots evidenced-based substance abuse prevention.
abstract: The community plays an important role in the success of substance abuse prevention efforts. However, current funding structures and a focus on limited approaches to prevention delivery have created a large gap between what substance abuse prevention professionals practice and what the community at large knows about prevention. The concept of "community" has not always been well-defined in the field of prevention, and there are few mechanisms to engage grassroots community members in evidence-based substance abuse prevention. This article explains how Wandersman et al.'s (Am J Community Psychol 41:171-181, 2008) Interactive Systems Framework can be applied to grassroots prevention efforts. The authors describe a Community Prevention Support System that collaborates with the Professional Prevention Support System to promote the adoption of evidence-based substance abuse prevention practices at the grassroots, community level.
authors.affiliation: The Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA. kfiresheets@healthfoundation.org
authors.forename: E Kelly
authors.initials: EK
authors.lastname: Firesheets
authors.forename: Mary
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Francis
authors.forename: Ann
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Barnum
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rolf
mesh_terms: D019058:Community Networks / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D055317:Evidence-Based Practice / Q000379:methods / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D017146:Models, Organizational; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000517:prevention & control*