Scaling Up Evidence-Based Preventive Interventions

Abstract

To implement preventive interventions that have had favorable outcomes in research studies into school settings may present challenges to the fidelity of the original research trial that produced these outcomes. Scaling up an evidence-based preventive intervention (EBI) is multifaceted and multilayered. Successful implementation of EBIs depends on more than appropriate selection of the intervention. A school’s organizational capacity has an influence on the quality of implementation. Factors that influence the decision to adopt EBI such as the school’s readiness, funding, time requirements, training required, community influence, and school climate are all areas to be considered. This chapter discusses key challenges in scaling up evidence-based preventive interventions in school settings and key factors that influence dissemination, adoption, and implementation stages in the scaling-up process as well as a summary of findings from studies on the multilevel factors that contribute to successful adoption and implementation with a case study that demonstrates one approach to addressing these challenges and issues.