Abstract
The process by which children in the New York City Public Schools are identified and provided one of the several types of substance abuse prevention education or intervention services is presented as a formal model. The aligning of the students with services is compared to a psychological diagnostic-prescriptive process, and it is concluded that the school personnel, using observations available to them, make essentially the same decisions trained mental health professionals would. The types of student problems matched to each prevention service is shown in terms of comparable match between DSM III diagnostic categories and suitable treatment procedures. The exact nature of the decision model, the differential diagnoses, the different prevention dynamics, and the match of student-to-service are displayed schematically.
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