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A Framework for Testing and Promoting Expanded Dissemination of Promising Preventive Interventions That Are Being Implemented in Community Settings

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Abstract

Many evidence-based preventive interventions have been developed in recent years, but few are widely used. With the current focus on efficacy trials, widespread dissemination and implementation of evidence-based interventions are often afterthoughts. One potential strategy for reversing this trend is to find a promising program with a strong delivery vehicle in place and improve and test the program’s efficacy through rigorous evaluation. If the program is supported by evidence, the dissemination vehicle is already in place and potentially can be expanded. This strategy has been used infrequently and has met with limited success to date, in part, because the field lacks a framework for guiding such research. To address this gap, we outline a framework for moving promising preventive interventions that are currently being implemented in community settings through a process of rigorous testing and, if needed, program modification in order to promote expanded dissemination. The framework is guided by RE-AIM (Reach, Efficacy/Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance) (Glasgow et al., Am J Publ Health 89:1322–1327, 1999), which focuses attention on external as well as internal validity in program tests, and is illustrated with examples. Challenges, such as responding to negative and null results, and opportunities inherent in the framework are discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Research Institute for Child and Family Studies, Boys Town, 14100 Crawford Street, Boys Town, NE, 68010, USA

    W. Alex Mason & Ronald W. Thompson

  2. Social Development Research Group, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 98105, USA

    Charles B. Fleming & Kevin P. Haggerty

  3. Department of Psychology, Wichita State University, Wichita, KS, 67260, USA

    James J. Snyder

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  1. W. Alex Mason
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  2. Charles B. Fleming
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  3. Ronald W. Thompson
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  4. Kevin P. Haggerty
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  5. James J. Snyder
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Correspondence to W. Alex Mason.

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The project described was supported by National Institute on Drug Abuse Grant # 1R01DA025651. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the funding agency or the National Institutes of Health.

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Mason, W.A., Fleming, C.B., Thompson, R.W. et al. A Framework for Testing and Promoting Expanded Dissemination of Promising Preventive Interventions That Are Being Implemented in Community Settings. Prev Sci 15, 674–683 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-013-0409-3

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