Terminology Matters
Online References

LANGUAGE MATTERS

During the 2002 U.S. Department of Education's Annual meeting on Alcohol, Other Drug and Violence Prevention in Higher Education a town meeting The Language of Prevention: Finding Common Ground generated interest in continuing the discussion and developing some guidance on terminology used in alcohol and other drug prevention, especially such controversial terms as binge drinking and harm reduction.

The terminology used in alcohol and other drug research, treatment, prevention and policy has a potential effect on what people think and feel about the problems related to their use, while also defining the boundaries of potential solutions to consider. But just how much does language matter? How do terms such as binge drinking, responsible drinking, abuse, and addict, among others relate to research agendas and communicating research findings to support prevention and policy development to reduce problems? Discussions in the prevention field have focused on the impacts of language and developing a "shared" understanding of how, why, and when we engage in either responsible use or abuse of our nomenclature, and whether the field can move toward more unified words and definitions within alcohol and other drug prevention field.

The following articles, guides and papers represent some of the current thinking on the terminology of prevention and are offered to help further discussion in the prevention field on the the importance of the words we use.

 

This page was last updated:  02/10/05 09:20 AM