RURAL-COMMUNITY SUBSTANCE-ABUSE PREVENTION AND INTERVENTION

The Community Health Demonstration Project (CHDP) was organized to dev elop, implement, and evaluate substance abuse prevention programming i n a resource-poor rural Appalachian area. The goals of the CHDP were t o develop new community-initiated and community-based programs and ser vices for the prevention of alcohol, tobacco, and other drug (ATOD) us e during pregnancy and for the first 2 years after birth by women and their families in the target community, to increase use of prevention services, and thereby to reduce ATOD use among this population. Measur able results of the communitywide prevention project included increase d awareness and knowledge of problems associated with ATOD use during pregnancy and postpartum, new services adopted by local agencies and o rganizations, more cooperative efforts to provide prevention programs for all ages throughout the community, a range of new or expanded prog rams to enhance development, and a reduction in ATOD use during and af ter pregnancy by women in this rural area.