Primary prevention as health and social competence promotion

Abstract

Primary prevention continues to be shackled by an implicit "magic bullet" perspective and an inoculationist mentality. The proliferation of short-term, uncoordinated programs co-exists with data showing that large segments of our teenage-and-younger population are exposed to conditions that are likely to harm their psychosocial growth. The status of primary prevention in the schools is shown pictorially as a jumbled confusion. An argument is made that coordination of interventions, centered around the goal of promotion of health and social competence, is necessary to achieve more successful primary prevention. Skills comprising social competence as life skills for adaptation to diverse environments are outlined. A representation of schools with programming organized by a shared prevention/promotion skills/set of strategies is provided. Primary prevention is discussed as emergent from the promotion of health and social competence; the latter are ends in themselves, reflecting children's inalienable, developmental "rights". Persons concerned with primary prevention-and therefore with the education and the socialization of children-are called upon to examine their efforts and determine the extent to which they are addressing focal skills and doing so in a coherent, developmental, and cross-culturally sensitive manner, accompanied by the commitment of resources, time, and focused professional development activity guided by the tenets of knowledge in the primary prevention field.

A Qualitative Evaluation of a Project to Enhance Pupils' Emotional Literacy Through a Student Assistance Programme

“…In order to benefit students it is imperative, therefore, that strategies to improve emotional literacy and social and emotional competence are addressed in schools (Elias, 1995;Elias et al, 1997;Zins, Bloodworth, Weissberg and Walberg, 2004). Accordingly, in the United Kingdom some local education authorities (LEAs) are developing initiatives to improve emotional literacy (Weare and Gray, 2003).…”

The Coming of Age of Primary Prevention: Comments on Durlak and Wells's Meta‐Analysis

“…Elsewhere (Cowen, 1994(Cowen, , 1996, I suggested that although such a view of primary prevention is legitimate in its own right, using it as the dominant definition of the concept is restrictive. Those articles stressed as others (Antonovsky, 1979;Elias, 1995) have, the need for the broader notion of wellness enhancement. DW's adoption of this two-factor definition of primary prevention led them, importantly, to assess both problem reducing and competence enhancing outcomes of such programs.…”

Addressing Students' Social and Emotional Needs

“…Most continue to follow the tradition of providing adjunct services, marginal to the daily functioning of the school (Lee, 1993). The current, unenlightened system only provides students and families with the necessary attention and access to resources after a problem has escalated out of control (Elias, 1995;Romualdi & Sandoval, 1995). If counselors are going to be of help to educators and students, they need to increase access to both crisis intervention and case management services that are connected to the school life of the child (Knitzer et al, 1992).…”

“…Because school service professionals often operate in isolation from each other, they frequently engage in a duplication of efforts or conflicting interventions (Adelman, 1993;Romualdi & Sandoval, 1995). Programs have failed to coordinate services within the school and community and the students have paid the price with inefficient and costly services, as well as a lack of continuity in programming for various problems and across grade levels (Elias, 1995;Adelman, 1993). In one New York school where there were 200 different prevention and treatment programs operating concurrently, even the principal could not identify the function of any of the programs (Dryfoos, 1993).…”