Enhancing Prevention Capacity With Developmental Assets and Getting to Outcomes
Condition: Substance Abuse
MeSH terms: Substance-Related Disorders
Study type: Interventional
Phase: Phase 2

Summary: 
      Alcohol and other drug use among youth is costly for communities. More research is needed
      about how to best support community based prevention programs and how community prevention
      expertise can inform the research process. The National Institute on Drug Abuse has funded a
      5 year collaboration of the RAND Corporation, Search Institute and its training division,
      Vision Training Associates, Communities for Children and Youth, and the University of
      Southern Maine to implement and assess the impact on prevention coalitions, the combination
      of two complimentary, community-based interventions: Developmental Assets, which supports
      community mobilization and collaboration to promote positive youth development, and Getting
      To Outcomes (GTO), which enhances community capacity to complete critical prevention tasks
      (e.g., evaluation). The purpose of the project is to investigate: 1) How well is the
      Assets-GTO intervention delivered, how much is it used, and what coalitions think about it;
      2) The extent to which the Assets-GTO approach enhances the prevention capacity (knowledge,
      attitudes, and skills) of individual coalition members and the quality of prevention
      performance; and 3) Whether enhanced prevention capacity improves alcohol and drug outcomes
      among youth. Twelve community-based prevention coalitions in Maine (part of Communities for
      Children and Youth) will participate. Six coalitions-determined at random-will receive
      manuals, training, and on-site technical assistance consisting of bi-Weekly meetings between
      A-GTO 4 ME! and key coalition staff. The other six coalitions will continue practice as
      usual, but will receive an abbreviated version of the Assets-GTO intervention near the end of
      the project. A Community Research Workgroup made of coalition representatives will review all
      aspects of the study and interim findings and facilitate dissemination on A-GTO 4 ME! The
      project will demonstrate and evaluate strategies to strengthen the prevention capacity of
      community organizations that can be used broadly across many types of programs.
    

Detailed description: 
      Alcohol and drug (AOD) use is problematic in many communities. Despite the spread of
      evidence-based prevention, communities still face difficulty in achieving outcomes
      demonstrated by prevention science. This "gap" is because resources are limited, prevention
      is complex, and communities often lack the capacity to adapt and implement "off the shelf"
      programs. Also, many evidence-based programs aim to improve deficits-- despite evidence
      showing the need to also promote positive youth development through community-wide efforts.
      Common ways to bridge this gap, such as information dissemination, fail to change practice or
      outcomes at the local level in part because it does not sufficiently address capacity or use
      community input. Therefore, building a community's prevention capacity, through greater
      collaboration between scientists and practitioners, with a focus on positive youth
      development, is a method that could improve the quality of prevention and outcomes. This
      project will assess the combination of two models that are specifically designed to foster
      such an approach: Getting To Outcomes (GTO) and Developmental Assets. They are complimentary:
      GTO enhances local capacity for discrete prevention tasks (e.g., evaluation); Developmental
      Assets supports community mobilization and collaboration to promote positive youth
      development. Combining the content, tools, and resources of these two SAMHSA (Best Practice)
      prevention planning processes has the potential to improve the quality of prevention
      programming and accountability more than either would do alone. Quasi - experimental and case
      studies of both Assets and GTO have demonstrated feasibility in community settings and
      yielded evidence suggesting these models can help communities mobilize and improve prevention
      practices and outcomes. As a next step, we propose a randomized controlled efficacy trial
      with elements of an effectiveness study (i.e., implementation in community-based setting)
      comparing 6 AOD prevention coalitions using Assets-GTO with 6 similar coalitions who are not.
      Such blended designs that emphasize generalizability and external validity are now
      recommended for community-based research. We will use a participatory research approach in
      which a Workgroup of coalition representatives will be actively involved in all phases of the
      research. Assets-GTO's impact on prevention capacity will be assessed at the program level (5
      per coalition) with staff interviews and at the individual level with a Coalition Survey
      (each has about 54 members). A survey of schools in which the coalitions operate will assess
      the impact on AOD use and positive developmental outcomes among the programs' target
      populations. Organizational change theories will guide Assets-GTO implementation;
      standardized measures will track Assets-GTO adoption. Results will have implications for how
      to ensure that prevention programming found to be effective through research trials is
      successfully delivered in real world settings, a priority for NIDA and NIAAA. Project
      Narrative The demonstration and evaluation of the Assets-Getting To Outcomes system for the
      prevention of alcohol and drug (AOD) use outlined in this proposal has direct relevance to
      public health. This is because AOD use among youth is a significant health problem facing US
      communities. The Assets-Getting To Outcomes system is designed to help communities engaged in
      AOD prevention work to better plan, implement, and self-evaluate their prevention strategies
      in order to help them achieve positive results, thereby positively impacting the mortality
      and morbidity of youth at the local level. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The demonstration and
      evaluation of the Assets-Getting to Outcomes system for the prevention of alcohol and drug
      (AOD) use outlined in this proposal has direct relevance to public health. This is because
      AOD use among youth is a significant health problem facing US communities. The Assets-Getting
      To Outcomes system is designed to help communities engaged in AOD prevention work to better
      plan, implement, and self-evaluate their prevention strategies in order to help them achieve
      positive results, thereby positively impacting the mortality and morbidity of youth at the
      local level.
    

Intervention name(s): Assets Getting To Outcomes
Intervention type(s): Other
Intervention description(s): Face to Face Training Assets Getting To Outcomes Manuals Technical Assistance
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Prevention