Community-based Prevention Using Simple, Low-cost, Evidence-based Kernels and Behavior Vaccines

This 17-page article, published in August 2004 is from the Journal of Community Psychology. Dennis Embry seeks to demonstrate that the current programmatic strategies are not working and suggests a new way forward based on what he refers to as behavioural vaccines.

The author states "This article introduces a rational alternative: promotion of evidence-based behavioral kernels and vaccines that have a chance of becoming cultural practices—with community-level effects on various multiproblems like substance abuse, delinquency, violence, or school failure. Evidence-based kernels are irreducible units of behavior-change technology that produce an observable, reliable result."

According to the opening statement of this article "most of the best practices aimed at preventing these community problems are composed of evidence-based kernels, which act on core principles of prevention (risk and protective factors). What is not widely known is that the evidence-based kernels are powerful in their own right. Evidence-based kernels are irreducible units of behavior-change technology, and they can be put together into behavioral vaccines (daily practices) with powerful longitudinal prevention results."

excerpt from opening statement


"This article presents examples of evidence-based kernels and behavioral vaccines that can be promoted easily across whole communities or states using social marketing principles. Widespread propagation of evidence-based kernels and behavioral vaccines
could have a significant impact on communities and their prevention norms, providing low-cost alternatives and practical models for community psychology, public health, and policy makers. Behavioral kernels and vaccines can add needed precision to prevention
science and community psychology."

Dennis Embry's research indicates that there is: "no effect of strategies on child and youth outcomes" that there is "a significant negative effect on adult substance-abuse outcomes" and there is "no effect of community strategies on outcomes." He adds, "Perversely, the more high-dose strategies the communities did, the worse the substance abuse outcomes—that is, substance abuse increased. These findings soundly refuted the community-empowerment model."

In the summary the author concludes, "The use of best practice prevention programs and intuitively appealing community coalition processes have generally failed, so far, to yield population-level effects despite the funds allocated and regulations to promote them."