Partnership Model for Diffusion of Proven Prevention

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DESCRIPTION: The proposed research is designed to examine reduction in youth substance use and other problem behavior resulting from the application of an innovative intervention partnership model called PROSPER (PROmoting School/community-university Partnerships to Enhance Resilience). The need for this research is indicated by epidemiological data on substance use and related problems among young adolescents, and by the limited diffusion of empirically-supported interventions designed to prevent such problems. The proposed study will draw upon results from several federally-funded projects at Iowa State University and Pennsylvania State University that have demonstrated (a) the feasibility of a diffusion partnership model linking land-grant university researchers, the Cooperative Extension System, the public school system, and community stakeholders, and (b) promising methods for the evaluation of partnership processes. A randomized, cohort sequential design will be applied. Eligible school districts (e.g., those with higher proportions of families eligible for the school lunch program) will be identified, with total school enrollments ranging between approximately 1,300 and 5,200 students. Fourteen school districts in IA and in PA (N = 28) meeting eligibility criteria will be selected, blocked on size, and randomly assigned to either the diffusion partnership condition or to a "usual programming" control condition. Approximately 2,500 6th graders in each of two consecutive cohorts in each state (N = 10,000) will complete a school-based assessment; approximately 1,200 randomly selected students and their parents in the second cohort will complete in-home interviews, including videotaped family interactions. Local partnership teams will select and implement interventions from a menu of empirically-supported family-focused and school-based interventions. The proposed study will evaluate partnership-assisted intervention outcomes-both mediators (e.g., targeted skills) and more distal outcomes (e.g., adolescent substance use) common to all interventions on the menu, conducting intervention-control comparisons at posttest and follow-up assessments, using multi-method, multi-informant procedures (Aim 1). Partnership processes will be assessed to identify factors that positively affect: (a) success of the partnerships from partner and outsider perspectives, (b) quality of intervention implementation, and (c) institutionalization of the partnership (Aim 2). Modeling of partnership and intervention-related change mechanisms also will be conducted. Results will guide application of the partnership model to other school districts in IA and PA and, subsequently, to other states.