Abstract
There is an increased call for research on promising prevention programs already embedded in communities ("homegrown interventions"). Unfortunately, there is limited guidance to help researchers prepare these types of interventions for rigorous evaluation. To address this need, this article presents our team's process for revising a promising community-based sexual violence prevention intervention for rigorous research. Our extensive and iterative process of reviewing and revising the intervention was guided by evaluability assessment (EA) approaches, implementation science, and a close collaboration with our community partners. Our EA process allowed us to specify the intervention's core components and develop a "research ready" standardized curriculum with implementation fidelity assessments. We offer four lessons learned from our process: (1) even with existing materials and an extensive history of community-based delivery, community-developed programs are not necessarily research-ready; (2) close collaboration and a trusting relationship between researchers and community partners throughout the revision process ensures the integrity of core program components are maintained and implementation in diverse community settings is feasible; (3) observations of program implementation are a crucial part of the revision process; and (4) it is important to budget adequate time and resources for such revisions.
Highlights
In the research-based model of intervention development and evaluation, researchers first test the efficacy of interventions within highly controlled environments to establish internal validity, and assess intervention effectiveness in controlled “real world” conditions using experimental designs and larger samples (Carroll & Nuro, 2002; Fraser & Galinsky, 2010)
Practitioner-developed interventions may have advantages over interventions developed by researchers. Such “homegrown” interventions are typically developed by practitioners who already work in the intervention’s priority communities and are more likely to attend to local challenges, strengths, and needs (Ragavan et al, 2019)
The process used in the development of the “researchready” Wise Guys: The Next Level (WGNL) curriculum and intervention was guided and informed by recommended practices in the areas of (1) evaluability assessment and formative research strategies for community-based settings (Leviton et al, 2010; Trevisan & Walser, 2014); (2) a user-centered design approach, which places primary importance on the needs of end users; (3) public health intervention development recommendations to ensure the production of high-quality materials (O’Cathain et al, 2019; Wight et al, 2016); and (4) recommended practices in fidelity instrument and protocol development (Gearing et al, 2011)
Summary
In the research-based model of intervention development and evaluation, researchers first test the efficacy of interventions within highly controlled environments to establish internal validity, and assess intervention effectiveness in controlled “real world” conditions using experimental designs and larger samples (Carroll & Nuro, 2002; Fraser & Galinsky, 2010). The process used in the development of the “researchready” WGNL curriculum and intervention was guided and informed by recommended practices in the areas of (1) evaluability assessment and formative research strategies for community-based settings (Leviton et al, 2010; Trevisan & Walser, 2014); (2) a user-centered design approach, which places primary importance on the needs of end users (e.g., both prevention educators who would implement the programs and young men who would participate in the program; Lyon & Koerner, 2016); (3) public health intervention development recommendations to ensure the production of high-quality materials (O’Cathain et al, 2019; Wight et al, 2016); and (4) recommended practices in fidelity instrument and protocol development (Gearing et al, 2011). We detail our processes for preparing the WGNL intervention for research, as well as lessons learned from this process
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