Environmental Management

Altering an environment is a proven method for changing the behavior of a community. For example, on a street where many drivers speed, a community could add a stop sign or a speed bump. That intervention has the potential to change behavior by encouraging safer choices through the altering of the environment. 

At UNC, we work to have an integrated approach to behavior change, using a spectrum of intervention and prevention initiatives, and following the concept of environmental management.

“Environmental approaches seek to bring about behavior change through multiple channels, both promoting positive behaviors and norms and also discouraging high-risk behaviors. It encompasses a range of activities from environmental change that includes policy changes at the campus and community level to early intervention programs aimed at students displaying signs of distress to awareness activities aimed at groups known to be at higher risk for engaging in problem behaviors, and finally, to health protection programs that aim to minimize the harm incurred by problem behaviors.

“While environmental management encompasses a spectrum of programs and interventions from primary prevention to early intervention and treatment, it stresses the prevention of high-risk behavior through changes to the environment in which students make decisions...” -www.highereducationcenter.org