Scaling Up Evidence-Based Preventive Interventions

Abstract

(from the chapter) Research conducted during the past several decades has established the effectiveness of a number of interventions for the prevention of social, emotional, behavioral, and health problems among youth, such as unhealthy eating, physical inactivity, substance abuse, teen pregnancy, school failure, delinquent behavior, and violence. However, current implementation of these evidence-based interventions (EBIs) in the school setting is low, despite national and state policies requiring their use. To maximize their potential impact on public health, EBIs need to be delivered on a large scale. Scaling up or going-to-scale refers to the process by which EBIs become disseminated, implemented, and institutionalized widely throughout a program, organization, or geographic area. In this chapter, we addressed the key challenges in scaling up evidence-based prevention programming in school settings. Multiple factors will interact within the mutlilevel context provided by the school, school district, community, and state department of education to explain success in scale-up of EBIs. The current focus on academic achievement in the nation's schools, coupled with school reform efforts, reductions in funding, complex decision-making mechanisms, and limited time and resources for prevention programming have impeded large-scale implementation of prevention programs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)