Motivation and Community Prevention of Substance Abuse

The topic of motivation, although integral to most behavioral health initiatives, is rarely addressed directly in the public health literature dealing with communitywide efforts to prevent substance abuse. After reviewing the development of community mobilization as it is applied in disease prevention, we compare the principles used in a motivationally based brief treatment of substance-abusing individuals with the ideas and strategies used to prevent substance abuse in larger community contexts. We conclude that the use of concepts and terminology from motivational psychology would complement communitywide efforts and improve the complex task of program evaluation.