Back to Annual Meeting

Back to Annual Meeting

APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Courtney E. Pierce, MPH, Shai Fuxman, EdM, and Lisa McGlinchy, MPH. Northeast Center for the Application of Prevention Technologies, Education Development Center, 55 Chapel Street, Newton, MA 02458-1060, 617-618-2413, cpierce@edc.org

Traditionally, substance abuse prevention efforts have been limited to educational settings. These programs often failed to reach those young adults most at risk: 18 to 25 year-olds in the workforce. Yet the recent expansion of funding priorities by SAMHSA and others to address prevention across the lifespan create new opportunities for focusing on this group. According to the 2004 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 75.2 percent of illicit drug users 18 and older were employed. Furthermore, workers age 18–25 were roughly twice as likely as the rest of the population to engage in illicit drug use and/or heavy drinking. In 2002, the estimated societal cost of drug abuse was $180.8 billion, including $128.6 billion in lost workforce productivity. Thus, workplace-based programs have the potential to both improve worker health and improve productivity. This presentation will review the literature on workplace substance abuse prevention, including national data sources describing the extent and consequences of the problem; historical prevention approaches, such as Employee Assistance Programs; emerging approaches, such as changing workplace culture, and approaches from other public health fields, such as tobacco cessation. It will consider the effectiveness of these approaches for reducing substance use among 18-25 year-olds, overall, and within special populations (e.g., high school dropouts, high school graduates, and college graduates). Findings from the literature review will be used to make recommendations for evidence-based policy and practices which policymakers, employers, and community members can use to address substance abuse among 18 to 25 year-olds in the workplace.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant will be able to

• Articulate the rationale for prevention efforts among 18 to 25 year-olds in the workplace using relevant data
• Construct a coherent argument to convince employers, policymakers and community members of the importance of workplace prevention for this specific age-group
• Describe different approaches to work-place prevention and the relative advantages and disadvantages of the programs for the specified age-group, including historical approaches and emerging approaches
• Apply lessons learned from the field of prevention and other public health fields to work-based prevention for 18 to 25 years-olds

Keywords: Workforce, Prevention

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation