Program Implementation in Preventive Trials shows you how you can take a more active part in program evaluation and how you can direct existing programs toward new horizons of more effective service. In this concise, focused look at community-based psychology and its operative programs, you’ll see how and why community programs should be comprehensively evaluated. You’ll see the importance of understanding how interventions were conducted before making conclusions about a program’s impact, and you’ll discover why there’s an ever-widening gap between what is planned and what actually gets implemented in community-based programs.In short, Program Implementation in Preventive Trials helps you see the increasing need for the assessment of implementation, the “active” side of community psychology. You’ll gain instant understanding as to why there’s a need for constant monitoring of a program’s use, and you’ll find answers to the following questions that continue to plague community psychologists who are interested in implementing programs of change: Does the current personnel follow the implementation program? Will new members to the setting understand and utilize the procedures developed for that setting? Will the procedures be modified such that their utility decreases? Specifically, you’ll read about: how to ensure intervention programs are conducted as planned why implementation data should be collected what protocol compliance is and its role in treatment programs when to be flexible so modifications can be made in program procedures who can enhance program adherence by “buying in” to a multi-change agent approach where cultural sensitivity helps programs be more faithfully adopted and conductedIf you’re a scholar or a student interested in studying the fundamental issue of implementation, you’ll definitely want to see what these professionals have compiled in Program Implementation in Preventive Trials. You’ll find that your program agenda, however beneficial it is now, will only be raised and elevated to a new level of performance by the positive examples and research carefully collected here.

Program Implementation in Preventive Trials shows you how you can take a more active part in program evaluation and how you can direct existing programs toward new horizons of more effective service. In this concise, focused look at community-based psychology and its operative programs, you’ll see how and why community programs should be comprehensively evaluated. You’ll see the importance of understanding how interventions were conducted before making conclusions about a program’s impact, and you’ll discover why there’s an ever-widening gap between what is planned and what actually gets implemented in community-based programs. In short, Program Implementation in Preventive Trials helps you see the increasing need for the assessment of implementation, the “active” side of community psychology. You’ll gain instant understanding as to why there’s a need for constant monitoring of a program’s use, and you’ll find answers to the following questions that continue to plague community psychologists who are interested in implementing programs of change: Does the current personnel follow the implementation program? Will new members to the setting understand and utilize the procedures developed for that setting? Will the procedures be modified such that their utility decreases? Specifically, you’ll read about: how to ensure intervention programs are conducted as planned why implementation data should be collected what protocol compliance is and its role in treatment programs when to be flexible so modifications can be made in program procedures who can enhance program adherence by “buying in” to a multi-change agent approach where cultural sensitivity helps programs be more faithfully adopted and conducted If you’re a scholar or a student interested in studying the fundamental issue of implementation, you’ll definitely want to see what these professionals have compiled in Program Implementation in Preventive Trials. You’ll find that your program agenda, however beneficial it is now, will only be raised and elevated to a new level of performance by the positive examples and research carefully collected here.

This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC 4.0 International licence. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations. Before new interventions are released into disease control programmes, it is essential that they are carefully evaluated in field trials'. These may be complex and expensive undertakings, requiring the follow-up of hundreds, or thousands, of individuals, often for long periods. Descriptions of the detailed procedures and methods used in the trials that have been conducted have rarely been published. A consequence of this, individuals planning such trials have few guidelines available and little access to knowledge accumulated previously, other than their own. In this manual, practical issues in trial design and conduct are discussed fully and in sufficient detail, that Field Trials of Health Interventions may be used as a toolbox' by field investigators. It has been compiled by an international group of over 30 authors with direct experience in the design, conduct, and analysis of field trials in low and middle income countries and is based on their accumulated knowledge and experience. Available as an open access book via Oxford Medicine Online, this new edition is a comprehensive revision, incorporating the new developments that have taken place in recent years with respect to trials, including seven new chapters on subjects ranging from trial governance, and preliminary studies to pilot testing.

The understanding of how to reduce risk factors for mental disorders has expanded remarkably as a result of recent scientific advances. This study, mandated by Congress, reviews those advances in the context of current research and provides a targeted definition of prevention and a conceptual framework that emphasizes risk reduction. Highlighting opportunities for and barriers to interventions, the book draws on successful models for the prevention of cardiovascular disease, injuries, and smoking. In addition, it reviews the risk factors associated with Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia, alcohol abuse and dependence, depressive disorders, and conduct disorders and evaluates current illustrative prevention programs. The models and examination provide a framework for the design, application, and evaluation of interventions intended to prevent mental disorders and the transfer of knowledge about prevention from research to clinical practice. The book presents a focused research agenda, with recommendations on how to develop effective intervention programs, create a cadre of prevention researchers, and improve coordination among federal agencies.

Interest in implementation research is growing, largely in recognition of the contribution it can make to maximizing the beneficial impact of health interventions. As a relatively new and, until recently, rather neglected field within the health sector, implementation research is something of an unknown quantity for many. There is therefore a need for greater clarity about what exactly implementation research is, and what it can offer. This Guide is designed to provide that clarity. Intended to support those conducting implementation research, those with responsibility for implementing programs, and those who have an interest in both, the Guide provides an introduction to basic implementation research concepts and language, briefly outlines what it involves, and describes the many opportunities that it presents. The main aim of the Guide is to boost implementation research capacity as well as demand for implementation research that is aligned with need, and that is of particular relevance to health systems in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Research on implementation requires the engagement of diverse stakeholders and multiple disciplines in order to address the complex implementation challenges they face. For this reason, the Guide is intended for a variety of actors who contribute to and/or are impacted by implementation research. This includes the decision-makers responsible for designing policies and managing programs whose decisions shape implementation and scale-up processes, as well as the practitioners and front-line workers who ultimately implement these decisions along with researchers from different disciplines who bring expertise in systematically collecting and analyzing information to inform implementation questions. The opening chapters (1-4) make the case for why implementation research is important to decision-making. They offer a workable definition of implementation research and illustrate the relevance of research to problems that are often considered to be simply administrative and provide examples of how such problems can be framed as implementation research questions. The early chapters also deal with the conduct of implementation research, emphasizing the importance of collaboration and discussing the role of implementers in the planning and designing of studies, the collection and analysis of data, as well as in the dissemination and use of results. The second half of the Guide (5-7) detail the various methods and study designs that can be used to carry out implementation research, and, using examples, illustrates the application of quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-method designs to answer complex questions related to implementation and scale-up. It offers guidance on conceptualizing an implementation research study from the identification of the problem, development of research questions, identification of implementation outcomes and variables, as well as the selection of the study design and methods while also addressing important questions of rigor.

Sixth edition of the hugely successful, internationally recognised textbook on global public health and epidemiology, with 3 volumes comprehensively covering the scope, methods, and practice of the discipline

During the past century the major causes of morbidity and mortality in the United States have shifted from those related to communicable diseases to those due to chronic diseases. Just as the major causes of morbidity and mortality have changed, so too has the understanding of health and what makes people healthy or ill. Research has documented the importance of the social determinants of health (for example, socioeconomic status and education) that affect health directly as well as through their impact on other health determinants such as risk factors. Targeting interventions toward the conditions associated with today's challenges to living a healthy life requires an increased emphasis on the factors that affect the current cause of morbidity and mortality, factors such as the social determinants of health. Many community-based prevention interventions target such conditions. Community-based prevention interventions offer three distinct strengths. First, because the intervention is implemented population-wide it is inclusive and not dependent on access to a health care system. Second, by directing strategies at an entire population an intervention can reach individuals at all levels of risk. And finally, some lifestyle and behavioral risk factors are shaped by conditions not under an individual's control. For example, encouraging an individual to eat healthy food when none is accessible undermines the potential for successful behavioral change. Community-based prevention interventions can be designed to affect environmental and social conditions that are out of the reach of clinical services. Four foundations - the California Endowment, the de Beaumont Foundation, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation - asked the Institute of Medicine to convene an expert committee to develop a framework for assessing the value of community-based, non-clinical prevention policies and wellness strategies, especially those targeting the prevention of long-term, chronic diseases. The charge to the committee was to define community-based, non-clinical prevention policy and wellness strategies; define the value for community-based, non-clinical prevention policies and wellness strategies; and analyze current frameworks used to assess the value of community-based, non-clinical prevention policies and wellness strategies, including the methodologies and measures used and the short- and long-term impacts of such prevention policy and wellness strategies on health care spending and public health. An Integrated Framework for Assessing the Value of Community-Based Prevention summarizes the committee's findings.