Research training in drug abuse prevention: closing the research-practice gap

摘要

Abstract Despite clear and convincing evidence for the efficacy of preventive interventions in preventing substance use and abuse (SU/A), the public health impact of these programs has been limited by inadequate uptake in community settings. This application seeks to train 3 pre-doctoral and 3 post-doctoral fellows annually to conduct research that reduces the gap between real-world practice and evidence-based preventive interventions targeting SU/A. The proposed background is a renewal of our current NIDA-funded T32 (currently in Year 5) and builds on a lengthy and successful 33-year history of T32 training that has been funded by NIMH from 1987-2014 and NIDA from 2014-present. Our training program is informed by the translational research cycle and Chambers and Proctor's recommendations on training for early career Dissemination & Implementation (D&I) researchers. The training is housed at ASU's REACH Institute, and participating units include the Arizona State University (ASU) Department of Psychology and School for Social and Family Dynamics. The interdisciplinary training faculty will be drawn from these units, as well as existing collaborators from College of Health Solutions, W.P. Carey Colleges of Business, Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation, Fulton Schools of Engineering, Hugh Downs School of Human Communications, School of Criminology and Social Justice, and the School of Social Work. Training faculty conduct numerous NIH-funded projects in which collaborative research teams design, implement, and evaluate theory-based preventive interventions in natural service delivery settings and study the implementation science questions related to successful program uptake. Training faculty have unique strengths in SU/A prevention, D&I, culture and health disparities, and research methodology (particularly quantitative methods). The program is guided by an External Training Faculty of national experts in implementation science and a Community Advisory Board composed of decision leaders from service delivery settings (schools, courts, health care, and mental health care settings), with whom we partner on community-based research projects. Training consists of mentored research apprenticeships, an ongoing training seminar (including training in ethics and career development), required courses in SU/A and D&I, and other relevant experiences based on Individualized Training Plans that will be co-created with mentors. Through this tailored combination of coursework and research apprenticeships, trainees acquire skills in designing interventions for implementation, models of cultural adaptation, technology-based interventions, community-based participatory research, implementation theory and design, organizational characteristics, and economic analysis. The research contributions of our trainees will increase the adoption of evidence-based interventions in real world practice, helping to realize their public health impact at the population level.