In the last 20 years, drug abuse prevention strategies have increased dramatically in number and in scientific sophistication. Prevention training programs have not kept pace, especially in the area of equipping health professionals to deliver prevention education to adults.

To make up this lag, ISA Associates of Alexandria, Virginia, offers Prevention Connection: Substance Abuse Prevention Training for Health Promotion Practitioners. The Web-based training program was developed and tested under a NIDA-supported Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant. It uses an interactive, multimedia approach to train wellness professionals to integrate substance abuse prevention materials and messages into health promotion programs across a range of topics—from stress management to healthy eating, active lifestyle, and parenting skills.

Screen captures from the Prevention Connection Web site.

"Research shows that by integrating substance abuse messages into health promotion programs in the workplace and community, we can reach a much larger audience and reduce substance abuse," says Dr. Royer Cook, principal investigator for the project. "Unfortunately, many health practitioners do not know enough about substance abuse or how to incorporate relevant information into their programs. With Prevention Connection, any English-speaking health practitioner with an Internet connection can learn in just hours how to integrate substance abuse prevention messages and materials into a wellness program."

Prevention Connection emphasizes that health promotion and health education practitioners can weave substance abuse prevention information seamlessly into other health promotion programs without losing the program's impact on the targeted health behavior. In addition to hands-on exercises that allow practitioners to build their own program outlines, Prevention Connection helps wellness professionals understand the importance of integrating substance abuse prevention with health promotion and shows how substance abuse prevention makes good business sense.

Practitioners will appreciate Prevention Connection's indepth look at the leading substance abuse prevention models and theories, descriptions of innovative workplace prevention programs, and facts about drugs and their effects. ISA tested the program with members of the Worksite Health Promotion and Health Educator Groups of the American College of Sports Medicine, who found it engaging and effective.

In the past two decades, ISA has completed eight NIDA-funded SBIR projects. Two more prevention projects are in development: One targets prescription drug abuse, and the other is a DVD-based program for young adults in the workplace.

For More Information . . .

The current annual licensing fee for an individual Prevention Connection user is $495; group rates are available. To order Prevention Connection or to get more information about this and other employee-focused health promotion programs offered by ISA Associates and the Center for Workforce Health (www.centerforworkforcehealth.com), please contact Dr. Tracy McPherson (tmcpherson@isagroup.com) or Dr. Cook (rcook@isagroup.com) at 703-739-0880.

Volume 19, Number 3 (September 2004)

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Questions? See our Contact Information. Last updated on Wednesday, September 29, 2004.