The United States is facing a serious social problem in the name of the opioid epidemic. It is a challenge that impacts millions of people, especially teenage children. A significant population of young American people is at risk. The good news is that the opioid problem and other related addictions are preventable if the right preventive models are employed. Throughout this course, different preventive models and their effectiveness have been explored. Specifically, primary, secondary, and tertiary intervention methods have been emphasized as the best approaches to dealing with social concerns at a broad level. Based on what I have learned, I strongly believe combining the three prevention models would be effective in my school or community.
The prevention models work perfectly well since they target different behaviors and groups. As a result, the strategy or programs ensures that everyone in the community is served. The primary prevention level majorly aims to create awareness about the social problem and how to avoid it (Capuzzi & Stauffer, 2014). In the case of the opioid pandemic, the primary stage educates the masses on the causes and effects of misusing opioid drugs. Although the target population is young people, other members of society can also benefit from the knowledge. Thus, the goal of primary prevention is to control the problem before it harms people by creating awareness.
On the contrary, secondary prevention targets individuals at risk through exposure to social problems. Although the approach educates the targeted people, the main purpose is to enhance change in behaviors (Capuzzi & Stauffer, 2014). For instance, secondary prevention helps in educating those youths who are experimenting with drugs. Thus, it enables the affected individuals to abandon the behavior before it gets to the addiction level. Lastly, the tertiary prevention approach focuses on treating the affected individuals (Capuzzi & Stauffer, 2014). An excellent example is young people already addicted to drugs like opioids. The aim is to lessen the impact of the addiction and help the persons recover from the problem. Therefore, the prevention model would be effective in my school or community since it caters to everyone, including people not yet affected and those already struggling with addiction.
Reference
Capuzzi, D., & Stauffer, M. D. (2014). Foundations of addictions counseling (3rd ed.). Pearson.