THE NURTURING ENVIRONMENTS FRAMEWORK FOR ORGANIZING MORE EFFECTIVE PREVENTION POLICY AND PRACTICESOME TED-LIKE TALKS ABOUT THE FUTURE OF PREVENTION

The Concept of Nurturing Environments: An Evidence-Based Framework for Organizing a Movement to Promote Prevention

Moderator: Anthony Biglan, PhD, Senior Scientist

In our recent work, we have proposed that sufficient evidence has now accumulated on the key features of prevention to justify shifting some research and intervention resources to increasing the prevalence of nurturing families and schools (Biglan, 2015; Biglan, Flay, Embry, & Sandler, 2012). Focusing on increasing the prevalence of nurturing families and schools would stimulate research on policies that affect stresses on families and schools, such as poverty. Such a focus would promote policies that increase the availability of evidence-based family and school interventions and would benefit from increased research on the impact of stressors on families and schools. Further bolstering arises from Surgeon General and Institute of Medicine reports on the impact of developing the prevalence of nurturing families and schools on the major psychological, behavioral, and health problems. Taking a page from the tobacco control movement, these efforts could accompany and strengthen a movement to increase nurturance in society.

Ten-Minute Recipe for a National Behavioral Vaccine to Create a Nurturing Environment in Every First Grade (10 minutes)

Dennis D. Embry, PhD, President/Senior Scientist, PAXIS Institute

The Society for Prevention Research has largely been about efficacy trials and epidemiological research, not population-level level prevention results. This presentation involves ten, 1-minute bullet points from six population level projects I have led to create nurturing environments that will protect young people from mental, emotional, or behavioral disorders in the US, Canada, and New Zealand. My talk specifically focuses on how we are using the lessons learned to achieve population-level prevalence change in the US, Canada, and Europe with the PAX Good Behavior Game—the third-generation iteration of the Good Behavior Game recipe for a nurturing environment in primary-grade classrooms.

The Role of Social Capital, Collective Efficacy, and Caring Adults (10 minutes)

Phillip Graham, PhD, Program Director

Drugs, Violence, and Delinquency Prevention Program

Center for Justice, Safety, and Resilience, RTI International

Empirical findings suggest that youth and young adults face risk factors across the ecological spectrum that need understanding individually and collectively if effective prevention interventions are to be developed. Such factors include individual (e.g., biological, psychological, and behavior), relational (e.g., family and peer influences), community (e.g., gangs and social integration), and societal (e.g., demographic and social changes, income inequality, political structure, and cultural influences) factors.

Within this context, it is also important to better understand the extent to which social settings have differential effects on violence-related risk factors and outcomes. The purpose of this talk is to discuss to what extent developing social capital and collective efficacy can reduce youth violence and other related behavior. Social capital refers to the individual and communal time and energy available for community improvement, social networking, civic engagement, personal recreation, and other activities that create social bonds between individuals and groups (Saegert, Thompson, & Warren, 2001). Collective efficacy is a task-specific construct that measures neighbors’ willingness to intervene on behalf of the common good (Sampson, 1997; Pridemore, 2002). This presentation contends that the presence of caring adults is a key component of both constructs.

Using the Social Development Strategy to Promote Well-Being (10 minutes)

Kevin Haggerty, MSW, PhD

Social Development Research Group, University of Washington

We have taken what we know about protective factors and organized it into a strategy that concerned adults can use to boost protection for young people. We call this the Social Development Strategy. Overall, it’s a pretty simple concept:

®    Young people need opportunities to become meaningfully involved (at home, at school, and in the community)

®    They need skills to be successful in their involvements and recognition from those involvements

®    This promotes a strong bond between them and the adults in their lives

®    Such bonds provide the incentive to follow the beliefs and standards that are at work in their homes, schools, and communities

The Social Development Strategy has been tested and shown to be effective. When applied by teachers and parents during the elementary grades, the strategy has proven to be effective in promoting academic success and economic well-being, reducing heavy alcohol use, violence, teen pregnancies, and mental health problems with elementary school kids well into their twenties.

The Strategy is more than a model on paper: it’s a way of life, a way for communities to come together for the benefit of their children. The power lies in mobilizing protective factors in a consistent way against whatever risk factors might exist in the community. This session will bring the strategy to life, to show how you can use it to promote well-being and prevent problem behaviors among young people.

Keeping Our Youth Alive (10 minutes)

Mildred M. Maldonado-Molina, PhD

University of Florida Institute for Child Health Policy

Unintentional injuries, including car crashes, are leading causes of death among youth. Many prevention programs target the reduction of risk factors. This talk, however, will focus on the role of family and friends to shape safe environments to promote youth driving behaviors. We propose a systems science framework to address the interface between advances in technology, cell phone use, motor safety laws, and the role of family and friends to promote safe driving environments.

Discussion (30 minutes)

 

The discussion is intended to generate audience and presenter dialogue about what the body of work contained in these presentations implies for the future of prevention.

           

1. One question will examine the extent to which the problems and strategies discussed in these talks are consistent with the common theme of creating more nurturing environments? That is, to what extent do all of the work described involve one or more of the following: minimizing toxic conditions, richly reinforcing prosocial behavior, limiting influences and opportunities for problem behavior, and promoting psychological flexibility?
2. If the major research and practice organizations that are focused on improving human wellbeing shared the general mission of making our families, schools, and neighborhoods more nurturing, would an explicit framing in these terms advance public support, policymaking, and effective implementation of the strategies being discussed?
3. Taken collectively, what does the work described in these presentations imply for how prevention science and practice could become more efficient and effective.
4. Are 10 minutes Ted-like talks a useful means of communication for SPR?  Would it benefit SPR members to become skilled in giving such talks?

 Literature cited

Biglan, A. (2015). The nurture effect: How the science of human behavior can improve our lives and our world. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger.

Biglan, A., Flay, B. R., Embry, D. D., & Sandler, I. (2012). Nurturing environments and the next generation of prevention research and practice. American Psychologist, 67, 257-271.

Pridemore, W. A. (2002). What we know about social structure and homicide: A review of the theoretical and empirical literature. Violence and Victims, 17, 127-156.

Saegert, S., Thompson, J. P., & Warren, M. R. (2001). Social capital and poor communities. New York: Sage Foundation.

Sampson, R. J. (1997). Collective regulation of adolescent misbehavior: Validation results from eighty Chicago neighborhoods. Journal of Adolescent Research, 12, 227-244.