This core describes development and adaptation of methods only, even though members of the quantitative core group will be involved in analyses of substantive data from prevention trials. Most often, we compare changes through time across intervention groups. Hence, prevention researchers require statistical methods to design and analyze studies that compare changes through time in possibly high-dimensional responses across intervention groups. Study the effects of preventive interventions on distal responses and the extent to which these distal effects are mediated through proximal variables, which are the immediate targets of interventions. A distal response is the ultimate target of our interventions in the sense that it is an unwanted outcome of primary concern to public health and public policy.
Examples are violent behavior or truancy in high school or criminal behavior as young adults.
Proximal outcomes are more immediate targets in the sense that the trial is designed to test the impact of the intervention on the proximal target. For example, aggressive behavior in elementary school might be the target of a classroom-based intervention designed to promote conflict resolution without violence. This last question addresses the mechanism of action of our preventive intervention. In addition, if the linkage between the proximal and distal variables is strong for a particular intervention, then the proximal target can be a surrogate for the distal variable, thus saving time and expense in evaluating interventions. The Hopkins Prevention Intervention Research program takes a developmental perspective on mental health.