Scaling up the PROSPER Partnership Model As an EBI Delivery System: Highlights of Findings and Lessons Learned

The PROSPER Partnership Model is innovative and complex, requiring systems change and an alternative to doing “business as usual” for states’ Cooperative Extension Systems (CES), in collaboration with their public school systems. Positive findings from the original PROSPER project in Iowa and Pennsylvania have generated interest from prevention researchers and CES personnel in states across the U.S. This development motivated several formative-stage projects oriented toward better understanding how to support adoption of the PROSPER Model in additional states.

Over the course of these projects a variety of lessons were learned. These lessons concern: how best to (a) assess state agency and CES readiness for Model adoption; (b) assist with the adoption decision-making process; (c) build capacity for Model implementation, including ongoing evaluation and quality improvement; and (d) address the diversity of populations and systems across states. This presentation will include a summary of key findings bearing on each of the lessons listed above. For example, a “motivational coaching” component applied during the adoption decision-making process elicited change in perceived system staffing and financial capacity to implement the PROSPER Model, but did not necessarily translate into the belief that the CES should adopt it.

 Additional lessons learned concern challenges perceived by key CES personnel, as well as practical and logistical constraints in Model adoption. For example, some states do not have a sufficient number of communities in the recommended size range to render implementation of the PROSPER Model cost efficient. Another issue is that many Extension Systems have had to downsize due to budget cuts, which leaves them without adequate staff to create the type of technical assistance infrastructure that is central to implementation of the PROSPER Model. Moreover, in many instances, the budgets of other state agencies were reduced along with CES budgets, reducing their ability to partner with CES in support of EBI dissemination efforts. Finally, implementing the PROSPER Model in diverse cultural and geographic locations requires changes to the PROSPER program menu because the EBIs currently on the menu are not appropriate for all populations.

 Overall, our work has demonstrated the importance of using a systematic, comprehensive process to prepare additional states to implement the Model with fidelity, while accommodating each state’s unique characteristics and practical constraints. The presentation will conclude with discussion of future directions informed by findings from the research on this comprehensive process, in conjunction with our experience in conducting the aforementioned projects.