STAGE 1. Assessing needs
What steps should be completed?
Step 2: Explore the factors associated with drug use in the population
Risk factors are individual, social, and environmental conditions demonstrated by empirical evidence to increase the likelihood of starting or sustaining drug use. Protection factors are individual, social and environmental conditions that modulate the effect of the risk factors, reducing the likelihood of starting or sustaining drug use.
The importance and effects of the same risk factor or of the same protection factor may vary depending on the type of drug, age, gender, life stage, culture, and social environment. Analysis of these factors becomes more meaningful and useful when it takes these different circumstances into account. For example, academic failure can be a significant risk factor for starting drug use in childhood, while the relationships established by the person with their peer group can be a very important factor in adolescence.
Risk factors and protection factors have a cumulative effect, but they are neither exclusive nor causal. This means that a particular person is exposed to a greater or lesser degree to both types of factors, with their balance and interaction conditioning the individual’s relationship with drugs. Protection factors should not be seen as the mere absence of risk factors nor as their opposites, but rather as circumstances or characteristics that can limit or counteract the effects of the risk factors.
Many publications provide information on these types of factors, especially in the child and juvenile population. However, the less that is known about the population with which we are going to work, the more advisable it will be to explore those factors in the population. The following link provides additional information about risk factors and protection factors related to drug use. See
The following table demonstrates a method of organising the information you collect on risk factors and protection factors in the population with whom you are going to work, to make it easier to analyse.
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Personal (specify) |
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Contextual/environmental (specify) |
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© COPOLAD. Cooperation Programme between Latin America, the Caribbean and the European Union on Drugs Policies.
