Best Practice Guidelines on Prevention Improving the Well-Being of Individuals, Families, and Communities

Abstract The health care system in the United States is shifting toward a focus on prevention. Several reasons account for this shift, including staggering health care costs and research indicating many illnesses are preventable through behavioral interventions. Hence, increasing evidence linking mental and physical health outcomes make the involvement of psychologists crucial in promoting a prevention orientation within the health care system. Counseling psychologists have been leaders in the development and ratification of a set of prevention practice guidelines for psychologists. These guidelines, entitled Prevention Science and Practice Guidelines for Psychologists, provide an aspirational model for best practice in the area of prevention. This chapter aims to further psychologists’ and other mental health care professionals’ understanding and application of the principles of the Prevention Guidelines (APA, Under Review) to their work. Specific examples of model programs in areas of psychological practice, research, training, and social advocacy illustrate each of the prevention guidelines