1. Prevention of Substance
Abuse

2. Prevention of Substance Abuse
Complete the true/false based on your
homework reading

3. Objectives
• Describe how the following techniques work to prevent substance abuse:
1. Identifying and targeting at risk groups
2. Using fear-arousing appeals
3. Social inoculation
• Know evidence to show how effective these three techniques are
• Evaluate the effectiveness of these three techniques
For top band responses, as part of your evaluation, you should try to develop comparative analysis:
• Comparative analysis between the three techniques
• Comparative analysis between the prevention techniques and treatment
• Draw on knowledge of theories of substance abuse to evaluate the efficacy of prevention techniques

4. Evaluation of identifying at risk groups
• Focus too much on targeting individuals and not wider social/cultural
factors involved in substance use
• Intervention programmes need to be developed in a
culturally/socially sensitive way for them to be effective
• No use alone – needs to be education and treatment programmes
delivered at the same time!

5. Fear-arousing appeals: an example
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mo_49X7B53o

6. How do fear-arousing appeal work? Aim to shock
people into behaviour change. But what makes
them effective/ineffective?
Janis & Feschbach found:
• Low fear = no change
• Medium fear = high change
• High fear = no change
Why?

7. Arousal Theory
Behaviour change
Fear causes a change in
physiological arousal
If message is not frightening
enough then there is low arousal
leading to no change in behaviour
If it is too frightening then the
individual becomes over-aroused
which also leads to low behaviour
change

8. HOWdoes it shock people into behaviour
change?
• Makes substance abuse appear really unpleasant for those who
haven’t yet started and highlights the dangers/unpleasantness for
those who have
• HOW does it work for people who HAVE started to abuse a
substance?

9. Cognitive Dissonance Theory
• The mental discomfort experienced by an individual who holds two or
more contradictory beliefs at the same time, or is confronted by new
information that conflicts with existing beliefs.
• When dissonance is experienced, individuals tend to become
psychologically uncomfortable and are motivated to attempt to
reduce this dissonance.

10. How is dissonance reduced?
1. Change behavior
2. Justify behavior by changing the conflicting cognition
3. Justify behavior by adding new cognitions
4. Ignore/deny any information that conflicts with existing beliefs

11. Health psychologists want people to change their
behaviour as a results of fear-arousing appeals.
How would cognitive dissonance theory explain
why they won’t always work?

12. Further Evaluation: some cues to discuss
1. Advertising campaigns or media portrayals such as this:
2. Wide audience versus specific
3. Treatment?
4. Cause and effect
5. Causes of substance abuse

13. Evaluation of Social Inoculation
Social inoculation can be useful for preventing substance abuse because it
addresses the social factors involved in substance abuse. How does this link
to normative social influence?
The characteristics of the person inoculating others are important if it is to
work well. What sorts of things should be considered here?
Most of the research into social inoculation is with teenagers. What’s the
problem here?
Research suggests we tend to over-estimate our ability to resist. What’s the
problem here?