Reducing alcohol problems through community action research projects: Contexts, strategies, implications, and challenges

Community-based action research projects may include a number of challenges . The secular context may impede a project, for example, reducing aggregate rates of drinking-related problems may involve curtailing very popular hig h-risk drinking occasions. These projects may also embrace important but un realistic goals, require matching competing goals emerging from multifoci p roject teams, of involve convoluted funding arrangements. Attention to team development, priority setting, and project design and evaluation issues is essential. Many projects downplay conceptual issues, such as understanding the nature of communities, organizations, systems, their operation, and so cial change and prevention models. Focus populations, community members and leaders, change agents team members, funding agencies, and policymakers ca n benefit from these projects.