Exploring the International Standards of Prevention Practice and Professionalism

As prevention professionals, we are fortunate today to have a collection of evidence-based strategies and interventions that have been shown to work effectively to prevent substance use and other problem behaviors.  The origins of this effective prevention toolbox are the result of over 30 years prevention research, which has provided rigorous scientific evidence of prevention methods that can  achieve the best outcomes. Further, based on the evidence, we have seen the development of a series of standards to guide programming and practice in the prevention field around the world. Three key documents have been developed that define the knowledge base of prevention science, the standards for prevention practice, and the evolving interventions, strategies and community systems that constitute evidence-based prevention:

• Society for Prevention Research Standards of Knowledge for the Science of Prevention https://www.preventionresearch.org/Society%20for%20Prevention%20Research%20Standards%20of%20Knowledge.pdf
• The European Drug Prevention Quality Standards.              https://www.emcdda.europa.eu/publications/adhoc/prevention-standard_en
• The International Standards for Drug Use Prevention of the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime. https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/prevention/prevention-standards.html

We invite you to this Prevention Talk to meet with two of the international prevention experts who coordinated the development of these documents: Ms. Giovanna Campello, Chief of the UNODC Prevention, Treatment & Rehabilitation Section and Dr. Gregor Burkhart, Principal Scientific Analyst — Prevention, Support to Practice Sector, Public Health Unit at the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction. Moderating the panel we will have APSI's president Dr. Zili Sloboda, who was also involved in the development of this documents and is a founding member of the Society for Prevention Research and a member of the task force who developed the Standards of Knowledge for the Science of Prevention and lead researcher in the UNODC International Standards for Drug Use Prevention. 

Do not miss this enlightening talk that we are sure will provide key elements to consider in your prevention practice and your professional development in prevention.

Speaker Bios 

Zili Sloboda, ScD. was trained in medical sociology at New York University and in mental health and epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.  Her research has focused on substance use epidemiology, services research, and the evaluation of treatment and prevention programs. Her current focus is on workforce development in the area of prevention and the relationship between training and the implementation of evidence-based prevention interventions and policies.She has served on the faculties of Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, the University of Illinois School of Public Health, and until 2009, The University of Akron. Prior to this last position, Dr. Sloboda worked for twelve years at the National Institute on Drug Abuse in several capacities, finally as the Director of the Division of Epidemiology and Prevention Research. This Division’s focus was on the development and support of national research programs in HIV/AIDS epidemiology and prevention and drug abuse epidemiology and prevention and at the time had the responsibility for several large national epidemiological and treatment data systems. While at NIDA she and her staff organized the International Epidemiology Work Group and the International HIV Prevention Network. She was a founder of the U.S. and E.U. Societies for Prevention Research and is well-published in the area of drug abuse epidemiology and substance use prevention.  Her most recent contribution to the prevention science literature is from the Springer Publishers Series, Advancing the Science of Prevention. Currently in this Series are:

Sloboda, Z. & Petras, H. (Eds.). (2014). Defining Prevention Science.

Bosworth, L.K. (Ed.) (2015). Prevention Science in School Setting

Teasdale, B. & Bradley, M. (2017). Preventing Crime and Violence.

Sloboda, Z., Petras, H., Robertson, E.B., & Hingson, R. (Eds.) (2019). Prevention of Substance Use.

She has a long standing commitment to the dissemination of evidence-based programming and the advancement of Translation I and II research through work with the Society for Prevention Research (SPR), with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to develop international standards for drug use prevention based on research evidence, with the International Narcotics Control Board in developing Chapter 1 of the Board’s 2019 Report, Improving Substance Use Prevention and Treatment Services for Young People, and as an advisor to the U.S. Prevention Technology Transfer Centers.

Ms. Giovanna Campello has more than 20 years of experience with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in supporting Member States and national stakeholders at all levels in improving their drug prevention response applying and contributing to scientific evidence. Most notably in this context, she has led the publication of the International Standards of Drug Use Prevention in 2013 and the UNODC/WHO second updated edition in 2018.

Since 2016, she has been leading the Prevention, Treatment and Rehabilitation Section of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, thus promoting evidence-based, gender and human rights sensitive practice on drug prevention, treatment, care and rehabilitation, as well as access to controlled drug and medical purposes.

Dr. Gregor Burkhart is since 1996 responsible for prevention responses at the EMCDDA. He developed databases of evidence-based programmes (Xchange), evaluation tools (EIB) and is currently implementing the European Prevention Curriculum (EUPC) in Europe and beyond. His main activities are to develop common European indicators on the implementation of prevention strategies and programmes in member states, to promote across European countries a better understanding of universal, selective, indicated as well as environmental prevention and to support the implementation of evidence-based prevention approaches. He is guest lecturer at the University of Granada (Faculty of Sociology) and co-funder of the European Society for Prevention Research. He holds a doctoral degree in medicine (medical anthropology) on the influence of culture on the classification and perception of body and diseases in the Candomblé cults of Bahia, Brazil as well as a MPH degree from the University of Düsseldorf.