What is Prevention Science?
Prevention science is a relatively new but rapidly growing interdisciplinary field. The Society for Prevention Science was formed in 1991 in response for the need for a multidisciplinary community of researchers concerned with the use of science to address problems, issues, and challenges pertaining to the prevention of social and public health problems. Prevention science interventions are based on research-based theoretical models of risk and protective processes involved in the etiology of a preventable problem. These models guide the methods, contexts, timing, and targets for intervention. Prevention researchers attempt to determine not only the efficacy of a preventive intervention based on a theoretical model, but also the processes responsible for the intervention's impact on a problem. Prevention science includes the study of universal, selective, and indicated prevention. The prevention research cycle progresses from pilot theoretical studies and replications, to effectiveness trials, to large-scale dissemination trials. Prevention researchers represent a broad cross-section of expertise relevant to the prevention of social and health problems, including epidemiological research, developmental psychopathology, youth development, intervention research in areas such as prevention of tobacco product use by youth, promotion of social and emotional competencies in preschool children, and use of media to increase the acceptance of protective health practices.
