Environmental approaches and prevention: The dangers of imprecision

Abstract

This paper urges environmental psychologists to adopt an “empiricist stance” as they focus their field's expertise on issues related to prevention in mental health. Criteria for such a stance are presented which presume that preventive interventions evolve sequentially from a program of research which clarifies the nature, epidemiology, etiological mechanisms and natural history of the mental illness or psychological dysfunction to be prevented. The rationale for this stance is based on empirical, political and ethical grounds. The applicability of this stance to the current status of the emerging field of environmental approaches to prevention in mental health is reviewed specifically in relation to the contributions to the special issue of Prevention in Human Services.