Publication Detail

COMPARI (Community Mobilisation for the Prevention of Alcohol Related Injury)was a unique alcohol harm reduction project in Australia, because it was located in an isolated and small rural Australian city, and yet was well supported financially and professionally by a major tertiary institution and funding agency. As a result, an evaluation of the COMPARI project provides a unique opportunity to scrutinise both the work undertaken by the project and the fundamental concepts that lie behind the project's development, aims, implementation and evaluation. Four major conclusions have been drawn from the COMPARI project. Community participation can be achieved using a "top down" model but considerable time is required and the institutionalisation of project aims may be difficult. The process of community mobilisation is more likely to be successful if dedicated community development strategies such as media advocacy are supplemented by health promotion activities which are positive, visible and effective. Harm reduction projects such as COMPARI can achieve a significant and measurable impact upon specific attitudes, knowledge and behaviours within a community, but more than three years is required to achieve and measure significant community-wide change. There is limited value in using quasi-experimental evaluation designs as the basis for evaluating community mobilisation projects which emphasise a community development approach. Overall COMPARI developed a particular ability to respond to local alcohol issues and the approaches and techniques involved can inform responses to alcohol related harm in other community settings.