Establishing preventive services

Emphasizing developmentally and contextually appropriate prevention service delivery models, the authors of Establishing Preventive Services identify state-of-the-art, empirically based strategies to strengthen the environments in which children develop. Since programs with strong conceptualization, design, and implementation have the potential to enhance children's social, emotional, and physical wellness, the authors first review ways to strengthen the family, child-care systems, early childhood education, school-based health and mental health services, and community-based mental health programming. They next explore the importance of theory-guided evaluation to clarify the process of program implementation as well as highlighting strategies for disseminating programs effectively. Throughout the chapters, the authors emphasize three themes: First, that scientists, practitioners, and policy makers must collaborate to diversify the portfolio of coordinated family-, school-, and community-based prevention services. Second, that rigorous evaluations of prevention programs are critical to document their efficacy and to identify ways to improve their quality. And, third, that well-designed prevention programs must be effectively conducted in order to insure implementation quality.