Environmental Strategies

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Environmental Strategies

• Adapted from a presentation by Becky Ireland -
  Higher Education Alcohol Prevention Project and
  Mary Bourque - Partnership For A Tobacco-Free
  Maine

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We can try to change conditions within each
individual to influence their decisions
But we also need to change conditions in the
environment surrounding the individuals to
encourage and support healthier/safer decisions.
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Definition of Environmental Strategies

• Those strategies that alter the legal, social,
  economic or physical environment in some way to
  make it more conducive to health and well-being

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Policy and Environmental Interventions

• Policy interventions include laws, regulations
  and rules (formal and informal).
• Environmental interventions include changes to
  the economic, social, or physical environment.
• Policy Environmental Change Executive
  Summary
• ASTDHPPHE/CDC 2001

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ENVIRONMENT

• local / regional / national / global
• natural environment (physical)
• built/architectural environment (physical)
• political/policy environment (social)
• mass culture/media environment (social)
• technological environment (social)

Maine Bureau of Health
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Individual vs. Environmental Strategies

• It is difficult to encourage young people to
  Just Say No when their environment in so many
  ways shouts Just Say Yes!
• Research increasingly shows a need for both
  individual and environmental strategies.

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Why Environmental Strategies?

• Tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs are not just
  youth issues adult attitudes and behavior must
  change as well if we hope to make progress.
• Many people are fence sitters they will go
  either way if they are given a good enough reason
  and enough support to justify their decision.
• It can be difficult to reach all of these fence
  sitters to convince them each to make
  healthy/safe decisions, but they are greatly
  influenced by their environment rather than
  trying to convince them to go against the wind,
  we can sometimes increase our impact by changing
  the way the wind blows.

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In order to better assess and address the
environment, prevention uses a social ecological
model. This model illustrates the multiple
domains, or levels, which make up the overall
environment.
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Multiple levels within a social ecology framework
Policy Environment
public policies/regs
(localstatefederal)
environment built or natural
Community norms, cultures, practices
Organizations policies, practices
Social Networks peers, families, cliques

Individuals
Community Health Program/Bureau of Health/DHS
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Using the Framework

• To increase the likelihood of effectiveness,
  prevention needs to use multiple strategies in
  multiple domains.
• By attacking the issue from multiple angles the
  likelihood of long-term, systemic change is
  improved.

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Effective Prevention Multiple Strategies in
Multiple Domains

• Knowledge
• Attitudes/Beliefs
• Social Skills
• Personal
• characteristics
• Aspirations
• Expectations about
• effects of substances
• Biological risk factors

Individual
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Multiple Strategies in Multiple Domains
Social Networks
Family
Peers

• Family bonding/rewards
• Rules enforcement
• Addiction
• Modeling behavior
• Access to substances

• Friends attitudes/behavior
• Perceptions of norms
• Access to substances
• Peer pressure

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Multiple Strategies in Multiple Domains
Youth Organizations
School
Adult Organizations

• Policies Enforcement
• Practices
• Role modeling

• Academic success
• Policies enforcement
• Opportunities/rewards for
• positive involvement
• Adult role models

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Multiple Strategies in Multiple Domains

• Norms, culture
• Practices
• Laws enforcement
• Opportunities/rewards for positive involvement
• Access to substances
• Adult role models

Community
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Multiple Strategies in Multiple Domains

• Local/State/Federal laws
• Physical environment
• Mass media
• Alcohol advertising
• Traditions/expectations
• Economic forces/
• funding issues

Policy Environment
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Community Coalitions

• Fit the socio-ecological perspective because they
  work with multiple domains and promote community
  change.

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Community Coalition

• Coalition - Organization of individuals
  representing diverse organizations combining to
  effect a specific change by working together.
• Develop widespread public support.
• Maximize power through joint action.
• Minimize duplication.
• Help mobilize more talent, resources and
  approaches to issues.

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Changing the Environment Where are the
breakdowns in our community?
NORMS
AVAILABILITY
-what is acceptable? -actual norms (behavior) -as
expressed/communicated - as perceived
-retail -social
REGULATIONS
laws, policies, guidelines, rules -as
designed -as communicated -as understood -as
enforced -as perceived to be enforced
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Norms

• Occur at all levels of the social ecological
  model.
• There is often a big variance between the
  perceived norm and the actual norm.
• There is evidence that correcting peoples
  misperceptions can lead to behavior change.

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Tobacco Use Perception

• 60 of the high school students surveyed reported
  that they think over 50 of high school students
  smoke cigarettes once a month or more. (2001
  YTS)
• Adults surveyed reported that they think out of
  100 students, 49 smoke cigarettes at least once
  a month. (2001 MATS)
• In reality only 24.8 of high school youth smoke
  cigarettes at least once a month. (2001 YTS)

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Social Norm Marketing Example

• PTM 92 Campaign (Teaser Campaign)
• Desired outcome - Help middle school youth
  understand that most kids dont smoke.
• 92 posters throughout participating middle
  schools what is this about?
• Answer 92 is the percent of kids who think
  smoking is not cool. (youth segmentation tobacco
  survey)

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Researchers have found these misperceptions in
every group they have studied, from middle school
to college students.
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Changing Norms

• Strategies
• Social Norms Theory
• Correcting youth over-perceptions of how
  much/often their peers are drinking.
• Highlighting the wide existence of desirable
  attitudes/beliefs/actions.
• Media Campaigns
• Correcting adult under-perceptions of how
  much/often youth are using and other factors such
  as where they are getting alcohol.

• How you can get involved
• Know the data use it whenever you hear people
  verbalizing a misperception.
• Present data from a positive perspective what
  the majority is doing right.
• Media advocacy
• Use existing materials locally communicate needs
  for additional materials.

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Social Norms Theory Considerations for
Implementation

• In your experience, do students suffer from these
  exaggerated misperceptions?
• Is the real norm that the majority is making
  healthy choices?
• Does the exaggerated misperception influence
  peoples decisions?
• Can the misperception be corrected? How?
• Who are the carriers of the misperceptions?
  (people who spread them without even realizing
  they arent true)
• Would it make a difference if people knew the
  truth and understood the misperceptions? How?

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Reducing Retail Availability

• Sample Strategies
• Compliance Checks
• collaborative effort
• Nationally one of the most well-documented
  strategies for reducing underage retail access to
  tobacco/alcohol
• Vendor Education NO Buts
• Point of Sale Initiatives
• Sticker Shock Campaign
• May December each year
• Publicizes furnishing laws to deter adults from
  purchasing alcohol for youth

• How you can get involved
• Be prepared to publicly support the strategy when
  opposition arises letters to the editor,
  legislative contacts if necessary, etc.
• Many different options
• Youth/community group plans local initiative
• Encourage stores to participate
• Use materials in other ways

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Regulations Enforcement

• Includes laws, policies, guidelines, and rules
• Careful and continuous attention needs to be paid
  to how regulations are written, communicated to
  people, understood by people, as well as how they
  are enforced and how people THINK they are
  enforced.

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Examples of Tobacco Policy Initiatives

• Tobacco-Free School Policy (norms, availability,
  regulations)
• Tobacco-Free Playing Field Policy (norms,
  availability, regulations)
• Worksite No Smoking Policy (norms, availability,
  regulations)
• Road map Working Toward Sustainable Local
  Policy Change Steps and Examples
• 
  

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Examples of Alcohol Policy Initiatives

• Public possession/intoxication
• Minimum drinking age
• Providing to a minor
• Operating under the influence
• Alcohol outlet density
• Keg registration
• Indirect policy initiatives- parties, noise

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Finally

• Dont expect change overnight make it a
  long-term commitment.
• Celebrate small successes often.
• Dont underestimate your power to start an
  avalanche with a small strategic set of
  snowballs.

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Exercise

• Split into groups and read the scenario given to
  your group.
• Answer the questions given to your group based on
  the scenario.
• When all groups are done, we will ask 1 or 2
  people from the group to share the responses.

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Environmental Strategies Scenario

• Your community assessment indicates that the most
  common places youth are drinking alcohol are in
  homes or other private property with or without
  an adults permission. Within your coalition
  there has been discussion about how to address
  this.
• Please discuss how this issue can be addressed in
  terms of the environmental strategies that reach
  all of the domains in the social ecological model.