Session: Making It Work in the “Real World:” Assessments of Multiple Dimensions of Program Implementation in Community Settings (Society for Prevention Research 23rd Annual Meeting)

Drawing on tenets of the Multidimensional Model of Program Implementation (Berkel, Mauricio, Schoenfelder & Sandler, 2011), this proposed organized symposium presents three studies addressing dimensions of implementation that represent potential sources of variability in participant outcomes. Specifically, the studies assess providers’ clinical delivery (fidelity and quality) and participants’ responsiveness to the program (retention and use of program skills). The first paper, “A Mixed Methods Approach for Optimization of an Implementation and Consultation Model for Scaling up a Family-centered Evidence-based Intervention” discusses providers’ fidelity and quality of delivery, barriers to achieving and assessing high quality implementation in the real world, and a consultation process to promote fidelity and quality in community settings. The second study, “Profiles and Predictors of Family Engagement in the Family Check-Up Program and Community Services During the Early Steps Multisite Trial” focuses on patterns of families’ engagement in the Family Check–Up across program activities, including the assessment, feedback, parent support sessions, as well as referrals to community services, across an 8 year span from early to late childhood. This study will answer the important question of whether families who need the program are engaging in the appropriate services and has implications for how to reduce barriers to engagement. Finally, unless participants put to use what they have learned in programs, the efforts of providers, supervisors, and program developers will have diminished impact, yet few programs study home practice of skills. The third paper, “Home Practice Is the Program: Correlates of parents' practice of program skills in the New Beginnings Program effectiveness trial,” examines participant use of and competence with program skills. It explores predictors of skill use and assesses the relation between skill use and outcomes targeted by the program.