“Incorporating effective primary prevention into human services structures and delivery can… uproot the causes of adverse outcomes by reducing risk factors and promoting protective factors across populations, creating the safety and stability needed to avoid adverse experiences in the first place.”
On March 9, the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation Office of Human Service Policy in the federal Department of Health and Human Services released findings from their 2022 convening on primary prevention. The Advancing Primary Prevention in Human Services: Convening Findings highlights the importance of moving from tertiary and secondary prevention strategies – like crisis management and escalation prevention – to primary and primordial prevention strategies, including programs and policies that prevent adverse outcomes from occurring, such as providing families with economic and/or housing supports, programs to support healthy family relationships, and positive school culture efforts. This approach is designed to reduce risk factors and strengthen protective factors while also addressing social, economic, and structural policies that affect health and well-being. The report suggests that shifting from crisis response to crisis prevention is a critical step in the pursuit of a healthy, resilient nation.
Recommendations for human services agencies and programs include:
- Identify key risk and protective factors, including addressing the root causes of adverse experiences and expanding prevention services to include universal systems and approaches.
- Design an integrated, nationwide approach to delivering prevention services that centers equity and lived experience and build a workforce with a person-first approach.
- Support a national system for prevention service delivery, including engaging with and building trust within communities and financing primary prevention services.
To view the ASPE issue brief and examples of states’ work around primary prevention, check out our Resource Library.