Consumer engagement and the development, evaluation, and dissemination of evidence-based parenting programs

A consumer perspective can contribute much to enhancing the "ecological fit" of population-level parenting interventions so they meet the needs of parents. This approach involves building relationships with consumer groups and soliciting consumer input into the relevance and acceptability of interventions, clarifying the enablers and barriers to engagement and involvement of parents, and clarifying variables that influence a parent's program completion. The adoption of a more collaborative approach to working with consumers is important if meaningful population-level change in the prevalence of serious social, emotional, and behavioral problems in children and young people is to be achieved. Parents seeking assistance for their children's behavior come from a diverse range of socioeconomic backgrounds, educational levels, cultures, and languages. This paper examines consumer engagement strategies that can be employed throughout the process of program development, evaluation, training, and dissemination, and in "scaling up" the intervention. We argue that a multilevel public health approach to parenting intervention requires a strong consumer perspective to enable interventions to be more responsive to the preferences and needs of families and to ensure improved population reach of interventions. Examples from large-scale dissemination trials are used to illustrate how consumer input can result in an increasingly differentiated suite of evidence-based parenting programs.     

Short versus longer term effectiveness of an outreach program for the homeless mentally Ill

Presents 12-month follow-up results from an outreach/linkage intervention with persons who are homeless and mentally ill, contrasting these with results obtained at 4 months. Both sets reflect the success of the program in placing individuals in independent housing. However, longer term data provide useful information regarding client movement patterns and increased tenure in nonhomeless living arrangements beyond the termination of specialized services. Analyses of 12-month residential outcomes identified four variables as significant predictors: recruitment source, project service duration, CMH service duration, and client age. In contrast to 4-month predictors, variables reflecting baseline client functioning were no longer significantly related to outcome, suggesting that the positive effects of the intervention may take longer to achieve with some clients. Discussion focuses on the implications of these effectiveness results for future research designs and measures as well as the utility and limitations of preexperimental approaches for evaluating innovative service models when implementation and efficacy experiences are lacking. This research was supported in part by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health, #H87 MH44373, to the Michigan Department of Mental Health.     

Priced just for me: The role of interpersonal attachment style on consumer responses to customized pricing

Customized pricing is an increasing phenomenon in the marketplace, but little is known about factors influencing consumer responses to customized pricing. The present paper seeks to gain an understanding of how, why, and when this emerging pricing mechanism may offer benefits. Specifically, this research focuses on how consumers respond to customized pricing tactics and, more specifically, on how interpersonal attachment orientations impact consumers' responses to prices offered in the presence of a customized pricing program. The results of 3 studies suggest that customized pricing programs likely create an expectation for a discounted price among securely attached individuals, such that these consumers are dissatisfied paying the shelf price in the presence of a customized pricing program. Overall, the results provide evidence that, although customized pricing programs are often used to enhance consumer evaluations, they may not always be effective. This paper advances prior research by integrating important considerations for both pricing and customization strategies based on individual and situational differences in attachment orientations.     

Formulating policies concerning effective early childhood education and development programs

School psychologists should play a critical role in determining the policy implications of effective early childhood education and development programs. The tools they use are: (1) knowledge about human growth and development, learning, and program impact; (2) knowledge about differential effects of programs on children; and (3) knowledge about the process of program implementation at the local level. The essential findings from research are provided to clarify and support these tools. Using these tools, school psychologist are able to establish a set of procedures for determining what current policies are, what the policy implications of the new program are, and what policy changes need to be made to assure successful adaptation of the new program.     

Toward Empirically Based Standards for Abuser Intervention

Summary

This article describes the development of operational guidelines for Abuser Intervention Programs in Maryland. Unlike in many states which have adopted quite specific standards regarding program format, duration, etc., the Maryland guidelines address a fairly narrow range of issues. These include outreach to victims, communication with the courts, and the need for intervention programs to address domestic abuse directly in their program content. Maryland has also established a research task force on Abuser Intervention Programs, whose goal is to use empirical data to inform the use of best practices in the state, to facilitate empirical research at abuser intervention programs in Maryland, and to develop more detailed program standards in the future.     

AN EVALUATION OF TEACHING-FAMILY (ACHIEVEMENT PLACE) GROUP HOMES FOR JUVENILE OFFENDERS

Juvenile crime is a serious problem for which no treatment approach has been found to be reliably effective. This outcome evaluation assessed during and posttreatment effectiveness of Teaching-Family group home treatment programs for juvenile offenders. The evaluation included the original Achievement Place program, which was the prototype for the development of the Teaching-Family treatment approach, 12 replications of Achievement Place, and 9 comparison group home programs. Primary dependent measures were retrieved from court and police files and included number of alleged offenses, percentage of youths involved in those alleged offenses, and percentage of youths institutionalized. Other dependent measures were subjective ratings of effectiveness obtained from the program consumers, including the group home residents. The results showed difference during treatment favoring the Teaching-Family programs on rate of alleged criminal offenses, percentage of youths involved in those offenses, and consumer ratings of the programs. The consumer ratings provided by the youths and their school teachers were found to be inversely and significantly correlated with the reduction of criminal offenses during treatment. There were no significant differences during treatment on measures of noncriminal offenses (e.g., truancy, runaway, and curfew violations). In the posttreatment year, none of the differences between the groups was significant on any of the outcome measures. The results are discussed in terms of measurement and design issues in the evaluation of delinquency treatment programs and in relation to the evaluation of Teaching-Family group homes by Richard Jones and his colleagues.     

The Impact of Legislative Standards on Batterer Intervention Program Practices and Characteristics

Changes in social policy are often pursued with the goal of reducing a social problem by improving prevention efforts, intervention program practices, or participant outcomes. State legislative standards for intimate partner violence intervention programs have been adopted nearly universally across the US, however, we do not know whether such standards actually achieve the intended goal of affecting programs’ policies and practices. To assess the effect that batterer intervention program (BIP) standards have on policies and practices of programs, this study used longitudinal surveys collected as part of an ongoing evaluation conducted from 2001 to the present to compare intervention program (N = 74) characteristics and practices at three time points before and after the adoption of standards in Oregon. Analyses were conducted to examine all BIPs in Oregon at each time point, as well as change among a subset of programs in existence at all survey assessments. Results indicate that across all programs, the use of mixed gender group co-facilitation increased by 14 % between 2004 and 2008, while program length increased by approximately 12 weeks. However, other practices such as programs’ coordination with community partners were unchanged. Analyses of within-program change revealed fewer differences, with only program length increasing significantly over the three assessments. These and other findings indicate that while standards affected program length as intended, other practices commonly addressed by legislative standards remained unchanged. The findings provide needed information regarding programs’ compliance with components of the standards, the potential need for compliance monitoring, and the potential impact of state standards on program effectiveness and on the prevalence of intimate partner violence.     

Consumer recycling: role of incentives,information, and social class

• More and more communities have instituted recycling programs and consumer recycling is no longer a new fad; it is here to stay. However, consumer commitment to recycling and participation rates have leveled off. Whereas lack of access to recycling facilities was cited as a key inhibitor to participation in the early days of recycling, that is generally not the case anymore. Thus there is an imperative to revisit consumer recycling by focusing on behavioral issues that reflect today's context. In this study we review the past literature and propose a comprehensive model of consumer recycling. We identify two intervention mechanisms – incentives or information – that are believed to increase recycling participation. We, then, describe a longitudinal field experiment to evaluate the relative merits of these intervention programs. We conclude that either intervention program is effective, although informational programs appear to have more long‐term effects than incentive programs. We also create a new measure of social class, one that includes other influential actors' characteristics, and show its relationship to recycling attitudes and behaviors.

Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Challenges of Evaluating Multilevel Interventions

This article uses the Comprehensive Mixed-Methods Participatory Evaluation (CMMPE; Nastasi and Hitchcock Transforming school mental health services: Population-based approaches to promoting the competency and wellness of children, Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press with National Association of School Psychologists 2008; Nastasi et al. School-based mental health services: creating comprehensive and culturally specific programs. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association 2004) model as a framework for addressing the multiplicity of evaluation decisions and complex nature of questions related to program success in multilevel interventions. CMMPE defines program success in terms of acceptability, integrity, social or cultural validity, outcomes (impact), sustainability and institutionalization, thus broadening the traditional notions of program outcomes. The authors use CMMPE and an example of a community-based multilevel sexual risk prevention program with multiple outcomes to discuss challenges of evaluating multilevel interventions. The sexual risk program exemplifies what Schensul and Tricket (this issue) characterize as multilevel intervention–multilevel evaluation (M–M), with both intervention and evaluation at community, health practitioner, and patient levels. The illustration provides the context for considering several challenges related to M–M designs: feasibility of randomized controlled trials within community-based multilevel intervention; acceptability and social or cultural validity of evaluation procedures; implementer, recipient, and contextual variations in program success; interactions among levels of the intervention; unanticipated changes or conditions; multiple indicators of program success; engaging multiple stakeholders in a participatory process; and evaluating sustainability and institutionalization. The complexity of multilevel intervention and evaluation designs challenges traditional notions of evaluation research and experimental designs. Overcoming these challenges is critical to effective translation of research to practice in psychology and related disciplines.     

Use of Quality Management Methods in the Transition from Efficacious Prevention Programs to Effective Prevention Services

This paper applies concepts and methods developed in management to translate efficacious prevention programs into effective prevention services. The paper describes Quality Function Deployment (QFD) as a method for structured planning and development that connects the needs and wants of the consumer with the design of the product or service. The paper describes basic tools used in quality management, and discusses how they might be applied to prepare a prevention program for implementation by community agencies. Prevention programs are conceptualized as having multiple consumers (i.e., stakeholders), including the participants who receive the service, the service providers, the organizations that deliver the program, and the researchers who evaluate the programs. As an illustration of one step in the application of QFD to translate efficacious prevention programs into effective prevention services, analysis of the needs and preferences of Family Courts for the implementation of an the New Beginnings Program is presented.     

Using Curriculum-Based Measurement to Evaluate Intervention Efficacy

SUMMARY

The use of Curriculum-Based Measurement for evaluating treatment efficacy is described and discussed. The basic methods and applications of Curriculum-Based Measurement are described, followed by examples of its application in two intervention program evaluation projects. The first project involved one individual student experiencing academic difficulties. The second project focused on evaluating a reading instruction program for a group of students. In both examples, the use of Curriculum-Based Measurement contributed significantly to monitoring student progress in response to educational program variables and making treatment evaluation decisions.     

Development and evaluation of school-based violence prevention programs

Discusses key issues in developing and evaluating school-based violence prevention interventions. Schools provide a natural setting for implementing programs directed at teaching youth attitudes, knowledge, and skills to reduce their involvement in violence. Although multitudes of these programs exist, few have been rigorously evaluated. Developers of violence prevention programs need to pay particular attention to the type of violence being addressed, the target population, relevant risk and protective factors, and the target of the intervention. Conducting sound evaluations of such programs requires careful attention to the unit of randomization, treatment conditions, outcome measures, timing of data collection, and potential moderator variables. Efforts to develop effective prevention programs can be greatly facilitated by adopting an action-research strategy in which evaluation findings provide a basis for continual program refinement.     

Assuring me that it is as ‘Good as New’ just makes me think about how someone else used it. Examining consumer reaction toward marketer‐provided information about secondhand goods

The current study explores consumer reaction to marketer‐provided information regarding secondhand products. Contamination fears and repugnance have not been addressed at length in consumer research. This study seeks to understand why consumers react negatively to used goods from a perspective of the Accessibility and Diagnosticity of information, addressing the issue of consumer reaction elicited by information about contamination of those goods by others. Specifically, it looks at the process of information processing in consumer reaction to marketer‐provided information, assuring them that secondhand goods are as good as new. Two studies were done to determine the difference in consumer reaction to information about a pair of pants between three conditions: used pants, used pants with assurance that they are as good as new and new pants. Results find that consumers may react negatively to positive marketer‐provided information, even if they believe it. Even though marketer‐provided information can persuade consumers to believe that a secondhand product is as good as new, consumer reaction is more negative than if consumers saw no such information. Negative emotions revolving around perceived contamination are elicited by this information that influences consumer reaction seemingly independent of beliefs about used goods. These results have implications for understanding the impact of information processing on consumer reaction to secondhand goods and to marketing communications in general. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Behavior analysis in consumer affairs: Retail and consumer response to publicizing food price information

A popular program among consumer action groups involves publicizing comparative food price information (CFPI) gathered from retail stores. Its significance is based on the assumption that publishing CFPI maximizes retail competition (i.e., moderates price levels or price increases) and occasions more frugal store selections among consumers. We tested these assumptions during a 2-year analysis. Specifically, we monitored the prices of two distinct market baskets in the supermarkets of two midwestern cities (target and contrast cities). Following a lengthy baseline, we published the prices of only one of the market baskets at stores in the target city in the local newspaper on five different occasions. The results suggested that reductions in price inflation occurred for both market baskets at the independently operated target stores. The corporate chain stores were not similarly affected. In addition, surveys indicated that many consumers used the CFPI as a basis for store selection. Finally, the analysis included a discussion of the politics, economics, and future of CFPI programs.     

Feasibility of Biological Sample Collection among a High-Risk Maternal Population for Child Maltreatment-Qualitative Pilot Findings

Little is known on the feasibility of biological sample collection among at-risk parents for child maltreatment participating in evidence-based parenting intervention studies evaluating behavioral outcomes. This study explored acceptability and feasibility of collecting biospecimen samples among 12 high-risk mothers. Data were taken from semi-structured baseline interviews among participants who provided salivary, hair and buccal swab samples for a pilot study examining biobehavioral stress responses to an evidence-based parenting program. Content analysis results suggest that while uncomfortable, biospecimen collection will not impede research participation. Providers should highlight connections between biology and behaviors to motivate parents and increase engagement in parenting programs.     

A workshop model for training the school psychologist in drug education and intervention techniques

Proposed to: (1) design a model drug training program specifically for graduate student school psychologists, (2) implement the program on a pilot basis, and (3) demonstrate an approach to evaluate the program's effectiveness. A 26-hour drug education workshop was presented to 12 graduate student school psychologists as a model training program including a variety of teaching procedures and extensive evaluation. On prepost questionnaires, improved scores reflected increased understanding of drug-related laws and terminology. While participant's ratings of their knowledge about drugs did not increase, they did rate themselves as more competent regarding drug problems. The workshop's affective climate and many of the teaching techniques were rated positively. The contributions of this workshop were its focus on training techniques and the development of one approach for evaluating training projects for school psychologists.     

Is There an App for That? A Review of Popular Apps for Depression,Anxiety, and Well-Being

Smartphone apps for mental health (MH apps) and wellness reach millions of people and have the potential to reduce the public health burden of common mental health problems. Thousands of MH apps are currently available, but real-world consumers generally gravitate toward a very small number of them. Given their widespread use and the lack of empirical data on their effects, understanding the content within MH apps is an important public health priority. An overview of the content within these apps could be an important resource for users, clinicians, researchers, and experts in digital health. Here, we offer summaries of the content within highly popular MH apps. Our aim is not to provide comprehensive coverage of the MH app space. Rather, we sought to describe a small number of highly popular MH apps in three common categories: meditation and mindfulness, journaling and self-monitoring, and AI chatbots. We downloaded the two most popular apps in each of these categories (respectively: Calm, Headspace; Reflectly, Daylio; Replika, Wysa). These six apps accounted for 83% of monthly active users of MH apps. For each app, we summarize information in four domains: intervention content, features that may contribute to engagement, the app’s target audience, and differences between the app’s free version and its premium version. In the years ahead, rigorous evaluations of highly popular MH apps will be needed. Until then, we hope that this overview helps readers stay up-to-date on the content within some of the most widely used digital mental health interventions.     

Moving the field of prevention from science to service: Integrating evidence-based preventive interventions into community practice through adapted and adaptive models

The article addresses the adaptation of evidence-based prevention and positive youth development programs for community use. Two complementary approaches for adapting programs are described. In the “adapted” approach, programs are modified to accommodate the culture, climate, and operations of the organization delivering the program. In the “adaptive” approach, programs are modified to accommodate the characteristics, needs and preferences of the individual or family receiving the program. Two examples are provided that illustrate how both adapted and adaptive intervention strategies have been incorporated by community practitioners into the implementation of the Early Risers conduct problems prevention program.