Culturally diverse barbershops serve as effective location for circulation of prevention information

An innovative health promotion outreach initiative was conducted in one hundred barber shops and hair salons located in multiple multi-cultural Boston neighborhoods. These venues were chosen because they are locally owned businesses in the heart of the communities and they are sites where pre-teen and teen drug and alcohol abuse prevention are among the many topics regularly discussed. Shop owners and stylists eagerly agreed to distribute booklets written for parents with information on how they can help prevent youth's substance abuse. Local radio personalities gave publicity to the salons and to the project during a live weekend show when they thanked those who participated. Each week the radio show aired public service announcements about alcohol and drug abuse prevention and gave the toll-free number for a 24-hour helpline. Over the project's three month timeline, customer responses regarding the booklet's effectiveness and utility were gathered.

Quantitative and qualitative data from follow-up calls made to all the shops for feedback from the owners, barbers, stylists and customers will be presented. This will be complemented by anecdotal reports; for example, when a local bank manager was given a booklet during her hair appointment, she recognized that the communities her bank serves have similar concerns and requested copies for distribution at her branch.

The “Preventing Youth Substance Abuse through Social Marketing” project of the Bureau of Substance Abuse Services of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health was done in collaboration with The Tucker Brown Group, Geovision, and Barber Time, social marketing companies.