A Review of Environmental-Based Community Interventions

Alcohol use and related problems can be influenced by a wide variety of prevention interventions, including efforts that focus on changing the community alcohol environment—for example, by reducing underage access to alcohol, decreasing alcohol availability among adults, and increasing awareness of alcohol-related issues. Examples of environmental-based community interventions that focus on reducing alcohol use and related problems are Communities Mobilizing for Change on Alcohol, the Community Prevention Trial, the Sacramento Neighborhood Alcohol Prevention Project, Saving Lives, Operation Safe Crossing, and Fighting Back. Evaluations of these programs found that programs that change the community environment can reduce alcohol use and related problems among both youth and adults, even in communities with relatively low readiness to address alcohol issues. Research also has identified particular settings and situations where alcohol environmental changes are particularly needed as well as factors influencing the effectiveness of certain strategies. Despite the progress made, additional questions still need to be addressed in future research to maximize the benefits associated with environmental-based community interventions.