The Social-Ecological Model

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) developed the Social-Ecological Model which recognizes that our behavior is influenced by many things including with whom we spend our time, the neighborhood or community we live in, and the society around us. Since these settings impact our behavior, to be effective, prevention efforts must focus on more than just individual behavior. Prevention cannot be effective if it only impacts an individual, consistent and intersectional prevention strategies must occur on all levels of this model.