Detecting Selection Bias in Community Disseminations of Universal Family-Based Prevention Programs

The goals of the present study were to demonstrate a method for examining selection bias in large-scale implementations of community-based family skills programs, and to explore the nature of selection bias in one such implementation. We used evaluation data from a statewide dissemination of a popular substance abuse prevention program (N programs = 42; N youth = 294). The program’s evaluation measures were designed to match publicly available data on risk and protective factor scales collected in the state’s schools, which enabled us to construct a comparison sample of non-participants (N = 20,608). We then examined the risk status of adolescents in both groups to determine whether risk and protective factor scores were related to the probability of program participation. Participation was predicted by both demographics and risk and protective factor scores. Among families with younger adolescents, program attendance was associated with lower risk; among families with older adolescents, participation was associated with both higher risk (on parental management skills) and lower risk (on substance use). Selection effects must be identified and corrected for in order to calculate valid estimates of program benefits, but in community-based disseminations, the necessary supplemental comparison sample is difficult to obtain. The evaluation design and analytic approach described here can be used in program evaluations of real-world, “bottom-up” dissemination efforts to identify who attends a program, which in turn can help to inform recruitment strategies, to pinpoint possible selection influences on measured program outcomes, and to refine estimates of program costs and benefits.repeated auction; selectivity; prevention program; community-based implementation; program evaluation

Extension as a Delivery System for Prevention Programming: Capacity, Barriers, and Opportunities

Implementation of programs that have demonstrated effects on risk and protective factors offers the best chance for documenting long-term program impacts and, in turn, for obtaining sustained funding. Our study explored the capacity of Extension to serve as a delivery system for best practice programs. In a statewide survey of Family Living and 4-H personnel, we assessed perceptions about such programs and Extension\u27s role in delivering them. Results indicate that Extension has significant strengths as a delivery system for best practice programs. Capacity will be enhanced by reducing the perceived dichotomy between prevention programming and traditional Extension programming

Navigating Difference: Development and Implementation of a Successful Cultural Competency Training for Extension and Outreach Professionals

As our world becomes more interconnected on international, domestic, and personal levels, our need to be more culturally competent increases (Samovar, Porter, & McDaniel, 2007; Ting-Toomey, 1999). Recognizing this need, Washington State University Extension sought to increase skills of its personnel by developing a set of cultural competencies and training curriculum. This article describes the process of creating, implementing, and evaluating the training. Examples are offered to show how WSU Extension addressed quality standards for successful implementation of diversity training models as outlined by Bendick et al. (2001), serving as guidelines for other Extension organizations with similar goals

Expanding Our Horizons: Risk, Protection, and Intervention in Emerging Adulthood

Prevention science research has focused on early childhood and early school years, on the logic that addressing individual and contextual risk factors as early as possible would prevent the compounding of risk downstream. Methodological and technological advances have opened the door to an expanded exploration of risk, health promotion, and intervention in emerging adulthood and throughout the lifespan, but prevention science remains dominated by research on early childhood and adolescence. Articles in this special issue of Prevention Science showcase the use of new technologies to access young adult populations and to develop and deliver interventions as well as strategies to help account for developmental and cultural contexts in designing interventions. The issue represents an important step forward in applying the preventive research cycle to emerging adulthood, and it provides an opportunity to expand our horizons by building theories of development that are not tied solely to age progression

Real World Evaluation

Washington State University Extension selected the Strengthening Families Program for Parents and Youth 10-14 Years (SFP), cited in the literature as the Iowa Strengthening Families Program (Molgaard, Kumpfer, & Fleming, nd), as a model program. We chose SFP for several reasons: 1) it addressed a population that was underserved (parents and preadolescents) in the state; 2) it was an Extension-developed best practice model that we were drawn to; and 3) we knew we could access funding for this particular program, because local funders had begun to require use of best-practice models

The Role of Caregivers in Physical Activity for Older Adults With Alzheimer's Disease

This study examined the determinants of physical activity (PA) for older adults with Alzheimer's disease (AD) to learn more about how to promote PA in this population. Caregivers of older adults with AD (N = 99) provided information related to care recipient's PA, as well as addressed sociodemographics and perceptions about their care recipient's PA. Gender of care recipient was a significant predictor of PA (β = .80, P < .05); men with AD participated in more PA than women with AD. Also, caregiver's outcome expectation for care recipient's PA also predicted more PA (β = .82, P < .05). Caregiver's perceived benefits of PA (outcome expectation) for their care recipient partially mediated the relationship between self-efficacy for care recipient's PA and the reported levels of PA for the care recipient. This study demonstrated the importance of caregiver perceptions about care recipient's PA

Evaluating statewide efforts to prevent adolescent substance use in Washington using the RE-AIM framework

Background: A priority for the field of prevention science is to identify a model for scaling up evidence-based programs (EBPs) that takes into account the dynamic and diverse prevention needs of communities. The WA State Community Prevention and Wellness Initiative (CPWI) is a community coalition-based model where local coalitions use a data-informed process to select and implement adolescent substance use prevention EBPs while re- ceiving state funding and technical assistance. CPWI started in 2011 with a cohort of 19 communities and currently there are six cohorts with over 80 communities. We used the RE-AIM frame- work, which posits the public health impact of an initiative is a function of multiple dimensions, to examine the impact of CPWI on four RE-AIM dimensions: Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementa- tion, and Maintenance. We examined impact of CPWI Cohorts 1- 4, and aggregated data at the cohort level to determine the higher (macro) level impact of CPWI

Research Priorities for Economic Analyses of Prevention: Current Issues & Future Directions

In response to growing interest in economic analyses of prevention efforts, a diverse group of prevention researchers, economists, and policy analysts convened a scientific panel, on “ Research Priorities in Economic Analysis of Prevention ” at the 19 th annual conference of the Society for Prevention Research. The panel articulated four priorities that, if followed in future research, would make economic analyses of prevention efforts easier to compare and more relevant to policymakers, and community stakeholders. These priorities are: (1) increased standardization of evaluation methods, (2) improved economic valuation of common prevention outcomes, (3) expanded efforts to maximize evaluation generalizability and impact, as well as (4) enhanced transparency and communicability of economic evaluations. In this paper we define three types of economic analyses in prevention, provide context and rationale for these four priorities as well as related sub-priorities, and discuss the challenges inherent in meeting them

Research Priorities for Economic Analyses of Prevention: Current Issues and Future Directions

In response to growing interest in economic analyses of prevention efforts, a diverse group of prevention researchers, economists, and policy analysts convened a scientific panel, on “Research Priorities in Economic Analysis of Prevention” at the 19(th) annual conference of the Society for Prevention Research. The panel articulated four priorities that, if followed in future research, would make economic analyses of prevention efforts easier to compare and more relevant to policymakers, and community stakeholders. These priorities are: (1) increased standardization of evaluation methods, (2) improved economic valuation of common prevention outcomes, (3) expanded efforts to maximize evaluation generalizability and impact, as well as (4) enhanced transparency and communicability of economic evaluations. In this paper we define three types of economic analyses in prevention, provide context and rationale for these four priorities as well as related sub-priorities, and discuss the challenges inherent in meeting them