International standards in prevention: how to influence prevention systems by policy interventions?

Abstract

The existence of multiple standards for drug prevention, published by different national and international organisations, might seem redundant and confusing at a glance. This paper aims to explain the rationales of the different standards and that they differentially respond to specific challenges of each of the three main components of a prevention system: interventions, services and people. Effectiveness of standards can improve the effectiveness of programmes and interventions, while process standards can improve the context within which effective programmes and interventions are implemented. The variety of the existing standards and their different levels of exigencies can be beneficiary if policy makers apply them in combination -ie. choosing effective interventions and assuring that they are properly implemented and accepted, and in the appropriate cultural and geographic context. Other international organisations involved provide additional support such as certified training and online resources. Taken together, these initiatives might pave the way for setting up accreditation systems, in some countries, and help to assure that prevention providers take up such effective interventions and that prevention professionals are capable of implementing and willing to use it. All this requires, however, the political will to actually implement these standards since it implies revising, challenging and improving customary prevention systems with traditional approaches.

The first University E-learning Study Programme Based on the Adaption of the EUPC: Portuguese Implementation Study

“…The first international standards (e.g. EDPQS, CICAD -the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission, and CCSA -the China Communication Standards Association) and specifically formulated rules and recommendations focused on the workforce have been developed (Burkhart, 2015). In some countries, the first specific activities have encountered major complications in relation to interdisciplinarity, which is a distinctive attribute of modern prevention.…”

Incorporation of Universal Prevention Curriculum into established academic degree study programme: qualitative process evaluation

“…In the last two decades, this multifaceted phenomenon has played a significant role in shaping discourse across professional groups. Besides being a subject of lively debates within international and national professional associations, it led to the formulation of the first international and national quality standards for substance use prevention (10)(11)(12). For example, the Czech Republic began to address the issue of quality standards as part of a certification process as part of the European Commission-funded Phare "Twining project 2000".…”