The Role of Cultural Adaptation in Dissemination and Implementation Research

The importance of culture and cultural factors is often recognized in the development of evidence-based prevention interventions. However, there exists limited research on the role and application of cultural adaptation as evidence-based interventions are implemented and taken to scale in populations, settings, and systems beyond the contexts where the evidence-base was initially established.  This  roundtable  will provide an opportunity to discuss the relevance and importance of cultural factors and cultural adaptation in dissemination and implementation research and address key questions pertaining to the role and application of research on cultural adaptation in this process.  Key questions for discussion include:  1) How are culture and cultural factors best conceptualized based on existing theory and models regarding approaches to cultural adaptation? 2) How can research on cultural adaptation be integrated and utilized in the adoption, dissemination, implementation and scaling-up of prevention interventions? 3) At what point in the dissemination and implementation process should issues of cultural fit and cultural adaptation be considered? 4) What models exist and what gaps remain?  5) Who should be involved in the process of adaptation?  The discussants will include federal representatives from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), who will highlight their respective agencies’ portfolios and priorities pertaining to cultural adaptation in implementation and dissemination research.  Discussants will also include researchers who are addressing cultural adaptation in the context of implementing and disseminating evidence based programs:  1) The New Beginnings Program, a prevention program for divorced families, which is being adapted for culturally diverse groups within the context of dissemination and implementation of an evidence-based intervention for divorcing families, and 2) the Tribal Maternal Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program, in which American Indian / Alaska Native communities are implementing and evaluating home visiting programs that have been found effective in communities much different than their own.  The discussants also will include a researcher with expertise in models for cultural adaptation.  Attendees are invited to come prepared to share their questions and experiences and participate in an interactive dialogue.