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Community Readiness Strategies

Once you have assessed your community's readiness for prevention, you can use some of the strategies below to improve your community's readiness. These strategies are included in NIDA's "Community Readiness for Drug Abuse Prevention: Issues, Tips and Tools."

Appropriate Strategies for Each State of Readiness

(Excerpt from NIDA's Community Readiness for Drug Abuse Prevention: Issues, Tips and Tools, p. 29-31 which are based on Oetting et al's approach.)

Based on Oetting's approach, the following includes strategies communities can take to strengthen their prevention programming, depending on their stages of readiness.

Stage 1: Community Tolerance/No Knowledge

1. Small-group and one-on-one discussions with community leaders to identify perceived benefits of substance abuse and how norms reinforce use.
2. Small-group and one-on-one discussions on the health, psychological, and social costs of substance abuse with community leaders to change perceptions with those most likely to be part of the group that begins development of programs.

Stage 2: Denial

1. Educational outreach programs on the health, psychological, and social costs of substance abuse to community leaders and community groups interested in sponsoring local programs.
2. Use of local incidents that illustrate harmful consequences of substance abuse in one-on-one discussions and educational outreach programs.

Stage 3: Vague Awareness

1. Educational outreach programs on national and state prevalence rates of substance abuse and prevalence rates in other communities with similar characteristics to community leaders and possible sponsorship groups. Programs should include use of local incidents that illustrate harmful consequences of substance abuse.
2. Local media campaigns that emphasize consequences of substance abuse.

Stage 4: Preplanning

1. Educational outreach programs that include prevalence rates and correlates or causes of substance abuse to community leaders and sponsorship groups.
2. Educational outreach programs that introduce the concept of prevention and illustrate specific prevention programs adopted by other communities with similar profiles.
3. Local media campaigns emphasizing the consequences of substance abuse and ways of reducing demand for illicit substances through prevention programming.

Stage 5: Preparation

1. Educational outreach programs open to the general public on specific types of prevention programs, their goals, and how they can be implemented.
2. Educational outreach programs for community leaders and local sponsorship groups on prevention program, goals, staff requirements, and other startup aspects of programming.
3. A local media campaign describing the benefits of prevention programs for reducing consequences of substance abuse.

Stage 6: Initiation

1. In-service educational training for program staff (paid and/or volunteer) on substance abuse consequences, correlates, and causes and the nature of the problem in the local community.
2. Publicity efforts associated with the kickoff of the program.
3. A special meeting to provide an update and review of initial program activities with community leaders and local sponsorship groups.

Stage 7: Institutionalization/Stabilization

1. In-service educational programs on the evaluation process, new trends in substance abuse, and new initiatives in prevention programming. Either trainers are brought in from the outside or staff are sent to programs sponsored by professional societies.
2. Periodic review meetings and/or special recognition events for local supporters of prevention program.
3. Local publicity efforts associated with review meetings and recognition events.

Stage 8: Confirmation/Expansion

1. In-service educational programs on conducting local needs assessments to target specific groups in the community for prevention programming. Either trainers are brought in from the outside or staff are sent to programs sponsored by professional societies.
2. Periodic review meetings and/or special recognition events for local supporters of prevention programs.
3. Results of research and evaluation activities of the prevention program are presented to the public through local media and/or public meetings.

Stage 9: Professionalization

1. Continued in-service training of staff.
2. Continued assessment of new drug-related problems and reassessment of targeted groups within community.
3. Continued evaluation of program effort.
4. Continued update on program activities and results for the benefit of community leaders and local sponsorship groups and periodic stories through local media and/or public meetings.

Next Step: Mobilize Your Community

For more information and tools on community readiness, the National Institute on Drug Abuse has available "Community Readiness for Drug Abuse Prevention: Issues, Tips and Tools." To obtain a copy, contact National Technical Information Services at (800) 553-6847 (publication number PB# 97-209605). This book is part of a 5 book packet which costs $83 plus $5 handling.