Promoting Prevention: Targeting Family-Based Risk and Protective Factors for Drug Use and Youth Offending in Swansea

The multi-agency, multiple-intervention Promoting Prevention initiative to prevent youth offending in Swansea was evaluated with a computer-based interactive questionnaire with five hundred and eighty young people (aged eleven to eighteen years). Results indicate that multiple exposure to risk factors within the family domain significantly increases the likelihood that a young person will become involved in school exclusion, drug-taking and offending, whilst exposure to multiple protective factors decrease the likelihood of these problem behaviours. The evaluation process indicates that Promoting Prevention’s cross-cutting and consultative methodology is an empowering and engaging way of targeting family-based interventions.