Community Prevention Drug Use Among

Community Prevention Drug use among high school athletes is often a problem in relation to the pressure to perform while also coping with other factors such as peer group, home life, and school work. The temptation to use steroids or other performance-enhancing drugs therefore increases concomitantly with pressures from the social and private lives of the athletes. In order to help curb this problem, I would therefore propose a community prevention program that focuses on preventing drug use in high school athletes in Boise High School, Idaho.

Risks Risk factors include: a difficult home life, where there is for example constant discord between parents, or between the parents and children; parents and family members who use drugs; friends who use drugs; and the availability of drugs. Other risk factors could include individual emotional problems such as depression and a feeling of unworthiness, as well as less than average school performance. These factors are mitigated by perceived talents in sports, and hence the drive to perform better. This drive further strengthens the propensity towards using drugs.

Protective factors Protective factors could relate to the individual, as well as his or her relationships with peers, family, and the community. An individual may for example have a particularly strong character, which could offset risk factors such as peer pressure and home life. Concomitantly, a good home and community basis will support the individual in choosing not to choose drugs. Community programs for example have proven to significantly reduce the occurrence of drug use among young people in general, and among athletes in particular.

After-school programs for example reduce the opportunity to become involved in less desirable activities, and drug use as a result is reduced. Community activities can also cultivate healthy peer-group and family relationships that will reduce the risk of drug use among athletes. Young athletes can then be encouraged to view themselves as worthy on the basis of more than only their athletic performance, and cultivate a more balanced lifestyle in this way.

In cases where rehabilitation is necessary, the community can also serve as an important protective factor in cultivating healthy family and peer relationships. These relationships will then be a strong basis upon which to build a maintenance plan for the future health of the athlete and the athletic team of which he or she is part. Strategy would mainly base my strategy upon prevention by means of information dissemination and community training programs.

I would handle the former via pamphlets, talks at the school concerned, visual materials such as DVDs, and other materials to provide information on the risk factors involved in drug use. For this, I would particularly focus upon the long-term dangers of steroid use. I would also emphasize the importance of cultivating healthy relationships concomitantly with a healthy lifestyle. In terms of community training programs, I would provide young athletes with the opportunity to learn more about the specific risk factors for their particular peer group.

For these, I would also focus on building relationships with family members and friends. Specifically, one could create separate programs for various relationship types. For a young person, the peer group is vitally important, while the home life provides a vital basis for healthy relationship models. Role models could also be emphasized in this regard, as these provide a strong guideline for healthy athletic performance and achievement. Institute of Medicine The IOM type I would use is selective: I would specifically target high school athletes for my prevention program.

I would furthermore investigate the specific risk and protective factors involved, and incorporate these in the program. It is important to use the selective IOM type as the primary basis for the strategy, as the target group displays very particular risk and protective factors. The selective type would enable me to make optimal use of the specific factors that are relevant to my target group.

This IOM type would also enable me to identify cases of prior and current drug use, and to refer these to specialized groups and programs for help. The selective type is therefore optimal for the specific sector of society that I want to target. Best Practice Program From the "Best Practice Programs," I chose "Athletes Training and Learning to Avoid Steroids: The ATLAS Program," because it specifically focuses on high school athletes as a target group.

While it focuses mostly on one particular kind of drug, I would perhaps modify it to address the specific problems, risks and protective factors of my target group. The ATLAS program focuses on male high school athletes and aims at reducing the risk factors involved in the use of anabolic steroids and other performance enhancing drugs that such students are often tempted to indulge in. The program uses strategies such as healthy sports nutrition and strength training as alternatives to drugs.

The program is administered by coaches and peers, with the support of scripted manuals. A particularly valuable element of the training is the fact that the program is provided to small cooperative learning groups. Such groups hold the advantage of individual visibility. No team member is allowed to hide or vanish among the others. When help is needed, this soon becomes clear and can be provided by a coach or peer who is trusted by the rest of the team members.

This sense of trust is vital in changing attitudes that could be positive towards the use and effects of drugs. Specifically, the program is provided by means of ten sessions of 45 minutes each, along with physical training and workout programs. Furthermore, the program includes role-playing and education games, with campaigns that are created by students, while instructional aids include food and exercise guides supplemented by workbooks. Parents are involved by means of.