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Overview

Overview

Health and behavior problems, such as alcohol use and misuse (e.g., binge drinking), aggressive and violent behavior, depression and anxiety, and risky sexual behaviors are significant problems challenging today’s communities. For example, studies have shown that the risk of an alcohol dependence disorder is 5 times greater for those youth who began drinking before age 15 as those who waited until age 21 or later to begin drinking. This Toolkit provides a guide to adapting and implementing an evidence-informed and community-driven approach to preventing health and behavior problems in your community. This approach, derived from the evidence-based Communities That Care prevention system is called Businesses That Care (BTC).

As the name suggest, BTC develops a network of local businesses that are dedicated to improving the health and well-being of community members in the areas that those businesses serve. Employees of these businesses form a multi-company “Prevention Committee” that serves as a driver for assessing local needs and implementing prevention programs and strategies that meet those needs.

Purpose of the Toolkit

This Toolkit is intended to help communities develop and implement a comprehensive approach to preventing health and behavior problems in communities through mobilizing the local private sector for effective action.

Businesses That Care will help you

  • Identify local businesses to be part of BTC in your community.
  • Develop a local BTC Prevention Committee, assess salient risk and protective factors.
  • Create an action plan for sustained implementation of tailored preventive interventions.
  • Communicate effectively within BTC companies and with the broader community.
  • Monitor and maintain the fidelity of the BTC system and the prevention programs that are implemented as part of the system.

Who is this Toolkit for?

Small- to medium-sized communities where building a broader community prevention coalition may not be feasible or difficult to implement. These communities should have a network of 4 to 8 businesses that have a commitment to social responsibility and are dedicated to the health and well-being of their community’s youth population. Companies should have a commitment from their workers to participate in this effort. It should be noted that this is an employer initiative with the larger community following this lead.

The following is a snapshot of the contents of the toolkit.

Topic Overview

What is the harmful use of alcohol? The harmful use of alcohol is a term coined by the World Health Organization to describe any use of alcohol that causes harm to the drinker, or those surrounding the drinker. It is monitored by levels of alcohol consumption. The Harmful Use of Alcohol cause 3 million deaths each year, representing 5.3% of all deaths 200+ diseases and injuries. The Harmful Use of Alcohol Some key consequences are:

Businesses That Care

The process of implementing the Businesses That Care prevention system occurs across 5 Stages with a series of activities, trainings, and workshops that take about a year to complete. Stage 1 is “Get Started” which includes: Assess community readiness. Meet with potential BTC business and community leaders Select BTC businesses. Obtain memoranda of understanding with eligible businesses. Recruit Prevention Committee Director. Stage 2 is “Get Organized” which includes: Develop the BTC Prevention Committee Introduce the Prevention Committee to BTC system and “pre-selected” prevention programs.

Prevention Programs

In this page you will find a list of evidence-based prevention programs. Tomando Buenas Decisiones Web-site: www.sdrg.org/ggc.asp Description of the program: Mexican adaptation of the Guiding Good Choices prevention program Six 2-hour session family-based prevention program designed to develop positive family cohesion. Adapted for emphasis on youth alcohol use/abuse prevention. Focus on targeted risk and protective factors. Builds a social network of families for support. Offered to employees and their spouses who have children between 8 and 16 years.

Case Study

Businesses That Care Zacatecas In 2015, the AB InBev Foundation launched the Global Smart Drinking Goals to reduce by 10% the harms associated with AU in six cities around the world, including Zacatecas, Mexico. The University of Miami was contacted by ABIF to reduce the existent high prevalence of underage drinking in Zacatecas (53.2% lifetime alcohol use & 14.5% binge drinking between ages 12 to 17 years) (ENCODAT 2016-2017)

Cost components

BTC System Costs: BTC Director Salary Local travel expenses (e.g., gas, tolls) Printing (e.g., manuals, flyers, photocopies) Office supplies (e.g., post-its, pens, table toys) Phone and Teleconference communications (e.g., Zoom) BTC Website BTC Training and Technical Assistance Data collection & management (e.g., evaluation, data coordinator salary) Intangible BTC Company Costs: Company Director time Company Employee time Meeting space AV equipment (e.g., projector, screen, cables) IT support Meeting refreshments (e.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why focus on private companies instead of the entire community like Communities That Care does? Some communities that don’t have a lot of resources or capacity, so it might be easier to start in just one sector of the community (i.e., the private sector) than in all sectors. Businesses often feel a need to be good corporate citizens and want to show good social responsibility to the community. So, it’s easier to get business to start doing science-based prevention, and that can act as a catalyst for other parts of the community to get involved in the public health.

Additional Resources

Presentations and infographics can be a helpful tool for preventing alcohol use and promoting healthy behaviors. Here are some resources you can use: Slides Empresas que se cuidan Infographics

Contact Information

For questions and clarification, please contact: Eric C. Brown Principal Investigator, University of Miami E-mail: ricbrown@miami.edu Pablo Montero-Zamora Co-Investigator, Project Director, University of Texas-Austin pmontero@austin.utexas.edu