Protective factors are vital to Drug Demand Reduction Program success Published Sept. 16, 2016 By Bo Joyner ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. -- As Air Force Reserve Command’s Drug Demand Reduction Program manager, Dr. Don Jenrette spends a lot of his time talking about the less than 1 percent of Air Force Reservists who test positive each year for illegal substance use. For a change, he would like to talk about the 99.2 percent of Reservists who come back with a clean urinalysis test result.“In DDR, we spend most of our time focused on people who test positive for illegal or illicit drugs during urinalysis, but the reality is that the vast majority of our folks who test every year come back with a negative test result,” he said. “Obviously, most of our people are doing the right things when it comes to drug use or abuse. I think a lot of that is due to the protective factors that are available to Air Force Reservists and all members of the total Air Force team.”Protective factors are defined as “conditions or attributes (skills, strengths, resources, support or coping strategies) in individuals, families, communities or the larger society that help people deal more effectively with stressful events and mitigate or eliminate risk in families and communities.”Protective factors are often discussed in conjunction with risk factors – conditions or attributes than can increase a person’s chances for drug abuse or other destructive behaviors. Hanging out with people who use drugs is one of the greatest risk factors for drug abuse, for example. Hanging out with people who would never consider using drugs is a prominent protective factor.Jenrette and his DDR specialists at Air Force Reserve locations spend a lot of their time on prevention and trying to change the balance between risk and protective factors so that protective factors outweigh the risk factors.“The idea is to have enough protective factors in place so that you head off drug abuse or other destructive behaviors before they ever become a problem,” Jenrette said.He went on to say that the Air Force does a good job of providing and promoting protective factors for members of the Air Force team. Common protective factors include:• Attitudes, values and norms prohibiting destructive behaviors.• Positive social skills, such as decision making, problem solving and anger management.• Good health and access to mental and physical health care.• Strong connections to friends, family and supportive significant others.• A healthy fear of risky behaviors.• Hope for the future, optimism.• Opportunities to participate in and contribute to community projects and activities.• A safe and stable environment.• Responsibilities and duties to others.“I think the Air Force does a great job of promoting environmental protective factors that discourage things like drug abuse, sexual assault and suicide,” Jenrette said. “But we can always do more to create and strengthen personal protective factors that will help us live healthier and more productive lives.“I was talking to a reservist not too long ago who had recently been to his high school reunion, and everybody there was telling him how much healthier and happier he looked than most of his classmates. When they asked him why he looked so good, he told them it was because he takes the Air Force pill. That’s just another way of saying he buys into the lifestyle the Air Force encourages by promoting positive protective factors.”For more information on AFRC’s DDR program, contact Jenrette at DSN 497-1906 or don.jenrette@us.af.mil.