Prevention Talk # 3: Providing Family-Based Prevention during COVID-19: Challenges and Opportunities for Prevention

Family life all over the world has dramatically changed over the past several months as we all have faced the COVID-19 pandemic.  As families are the most important proximal influence on the health and well-being of children and youth, the stress of changing family structures and interactions has the potential of profoundly influencing the behavioral choices that youth make, specifically, as to  whether to use substances or engage in risky behaviors. Parents are struggling to work from home while caring for and homeschooling children; and many are facing job loss or job insecurity or food insecurity. At the same time, children and youth face their own struggles as they are missing out being in school with their peers and experiencing those transitions or “rites of passage” that are very important to their social and emotional development.

Family-based prevention interventions have demonstrated effectiveness with a strong level of evidence to address…