Distance Learning to Support Prevention Services for Early Drug Abuse Risk

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This application, Distance Learning to Support Prevention Services for Early Drug Abuse Risk, focuses on the education sector, specifically elementary school, a normative setting for children and an important delivery system for prevention programs. A number of school-based prevention programs directed at aggressive, disruptive behavior, a confirmed antecedent for drug abuse and violence, have demonstrated both short- and long-term impact in randomized field trials. A challenge is that little is known about how to move these programs into general practice while maintaining high-quality fidelity of implementation. This application proposes to develop a program of research aimed at understanding how implementer training, fidelity, dosage, and delivery setting impact program implementation and outcomes-a focus of prevention services research or Type 2 translational research. The programmatic base for the proposed work is the Good Behavior Game (GBG). GBG, a classroom-based behavior management strategy for elementary school, is one of the few prevention programs that have shown positive impact from elementary school to young adulthood, ages 19- 21, including reductions in the incidence of drug abuse and dependence. The proposed R21 will provide funds for formative research leading to a subsequent randomized field trial to test GBG training and support under conditions that allow for variation i modality, intensity, and feedback in response to the unique needs of each teacher. The specific work outlined in this R21 includes developing a suite of distance learning modules to support high-quality implementation of GBG; collecting and analyzing preliminary data regarding implementation, student outcomes, and a set of multilevel contextual factors hypothesized to influence implementation; and finalizing the measurement framework and the design requirements for a subsequent fully randomized trial. If effective, distance learning has the potential to further the reach of GBG and other school-based preventive interventions more quickly than face-to-face options alone. The proposed work is supported by a set of close institutional partnerships among researchers, practitioners, and methodologists, including American Institutes for Research; the Center for Prevention Implementation Methodology for Drug Abuse and Sexual Risk Behavior, University of Miami; and the Nebraska Department of Education.