An Approach for High Risk Prevention Research

SUMMARY This paper provides a framework for prevention research, based on Chaos theory elements, which was developed by the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP). The framework was designed with both theoretical and practical considerations for minority communities, where traditional experimental research methodology was found to be inappropriate. This framework offers the advantage of conceptualizing a disparate field and provides a model for designing and evaluating targeted prevention interventions. A variety of prevention research paradigms are introduced, the research problem which helped form the proposed framework is discussed, and the advantages of the model are noted.