Logoprevention: A New Concept of Prevention of Risky Behaviors in Children and Adolescents Based on the Assumptions of Victor E. Frankl’s Logotherapy

Abstract

The article is based on both theory and research. The goal is to analyze selected aspects of the concepts of logotherapy and logotheory by Viktor E. Frankl, in terms of their use in developing programs for the prevention of risky behavior of children and adolescents. The subject of research is logotherapy. This concept provides a theoretical framework for creating programs for prevention of risky behavior. The main research problem boils down to the following question: Is logotherapy applicable, and to what extent, as the theoretical basis in the new concept of risk behavior prevention? The research method is a source analysis of data obtained through a selective search and a qualitative interview with the author of the first risk behavior prevention program in Poland based on the principles of logotherapy. After introducing the ideas of logotherapy, the author describes its key concept: the meaning of life in the process of human development and upbringing. She then discusses selected principles and techniques of logotherapy as the theoretical underpinning of logoprophylaxis. In the next section, she cites the practical application of logotheory and logotherapy in social prevention, using the example of the prevention program “Cuder: Live With Meaning” run by the “Archezja” Educational Support Foundation.