Session: Evaluation in the Age of Dissemination (Society for Prevention Research 27th Annual Meeting)

Many prevention programs have demonstrated efficacy in controlled trials. Randomized Control Trials (RCTs) are often characterized by extensive training, implementation directed by the program developer, and significant attention given to ensuring high-quality measurement of fidelity and outcomes. Our field is now actively transitioning to a dissemination phase to reach the broader population. Programs are adopted by schools, agencies and other groups that may receive less intensive training, have a less-than-ideal understanding of the underlying logic that guided the development of the program, and make significant numbers of adaptations. An implementation gap, where programs are not implemented as well once they are disseminated, is a real possibility. To address this gap and ensure public health outcome, it's crucial to develop methods that allow researchers, administrators and policy makers to monitor quality of implementation and program outcomes.

This symposium presents three papers focused on evaluation methods for dissemination.

The first paper focuses on narrowing down the scope of implementation measurement to the most critical features.

The second paper focuses on developing and testing advanced automated methods for evaluating the implementation of mHealth interventions.

The third paper focuses on an innovative approach to evaluating outcomes using virtual controls when obtaining data from a traditional control group is not feasible or desirable.