Abstract
BackgroundTranslation science entails application of information gained through scientific research to practices intended to improve prevention and public health. The outreach arm of Land-Grant Universities—the Cooperative Extension System—is uniquely poised to facilitate this translation process and contribute to resolution of current substance misuse and other behavioral health issues.ObjectiveThis paper summarizes selected literatures that guided the conceptualization of a framework for building Extension’s capacity to enhance the translation process, in order to better address substance misuse and other behavioral health issues.MethodPeer-reviewed literature was obtained from journals representing varied disciplines including medicine, public health, education, and psychology. Journals for Extension professionals were a prominent source of relevant literature. The literature review informed the identification of relevant practice gaps, barriers in addressing those gaps, and the development of a capacity-building framework.ResultsThe framework described highlights opportunities for building Cooperative Extension’s capacity to address goals in four key domains. These goals include (1) catalyzing Extension’s organizational development to support science-driven practices, (2) bolstering prevention and behavioral health-oriented professional development for Extension faculty and staff, (3) creating a stronger culture of behavioral health in Extension, and (4) strengthening Extension’s financing of prevention-oriented behavioral health efforts.ConclusionAddressing the capacity-related goals identified in this paper could be a major catalyst for enhancing the power of proven, prevention-oriented behavioral health and, thereby, the well-being of our families, communities and nation.
Highlights
The United States Department of Health and Human Services (USDHHS) 2016 Surgeon General’s report on Facing Addiction in America states that it is “...critical to prevent substance misuse from starting and to identify those who already have begun to miuse substances and intervene early” (p. 3–1)
Addressing substance misuse and associated behavioral health problems is greatly bolstered by putting science into broader practice by disseminating evidence-based preventive interventions for general populations (USDHHS 2016)
We summarize selected literatures that support a broader role for Extension in addressing growing behavioral health problems in this country
Summary
Opportunities to address several of the barriers summarized earlier would entail Extension staff professional development in the prevention-oriented behavioral health arena These include: (a) increased understanding of how to measure and articulate the public value of behavioral health education, (b) increased competence in behavioral health programming and program effectiveness evaluation, along with (c) increased knowledge and use of best practices in developing and sustaining mutually beneficial community-university partnerships. There is a clear opportunity to build on existing Extension education that supports behavioral health programming by expanded training for implementation of evidencebased programming and behavioral health subject matters This could include training for staff whose educational background did not include instruction about substance misuse or behavioral health, such as that offered by public health departments in every state, or by social work-related professional organizations.
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