[Youth-list] Research to Practice Briefs -Juvenile Prevention Prgms and Evidence-Based Prgms in General

[Elizabeth Shack]

    A new Research to Practice Brief is now available from the What Works, Wisconsin team at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and University of Wisconsin-Extension. "Program fidelity and adaptation: Meeting local needs without compromising program effectiveness" addresses the difficult questions of whether and how to adapt evidence-based programs. See more details about this and the previous briefs below. The entire series is available at: www.uwex.edu/ces/flp/families /whatworks.cfm .
   
  RESEARCH TO PRACTICE BRIEFS 
  The Research to Practice Briefs address issues related to juvenile delinquency prevention programs and evidence-based programs in general. In each brief, we synthesize relevant research to help practitioners understand a particular issue and make informed decisions about their own programming. 
   
    The latest brief is entitled "Program fidelity and adaptation: Meeting community needs without compromising program effectiveness." In it, we tackle a dilemma that often arises when implementing an evidence-based program: how much room is there for adaptation, and what types of adaptation are more or less likely to change the effect of the program? We review the types of changes that are often made to programs and the effects these changes can have. We also suggest strategies for maintaining program effectiveness while ensuring that the program is appealing to participants and meets local needs. 
   
  In "Guidelines for selecting an evidence-based program: Balancing community needs, program quality, and organizational resources," we address considerations when selecting an evidence-based program for implementation. With questions to ask yourself and a list of online program registries, the brief gives you the tools you need to assess whether a program is the right one to implement in your community. 
   

  "Strategies for recruiting and retaining participants in prevention programs" offers strategies based in research and practice for making a program attractive and worthwhile to youth and families, recruiting participants, and keeping them involved. 
   
  In "Culturally appropriate programming: What do we know about evidence-based programs for culturally and ethnically diverse youth and their families?" we review the research on whether evidence-based programs are equally effective for youth from different cultural and ethnic backgrounds.    
Future briefs will address other issues related to implementing evidence-based programs, principles of effective programs, effective approaches for specific types of programs, program evaluation and improvement, and reducing disproportionate minority contact with the juvenile justice system. 
  

BACKGROUND ON WHAT WORKS, WISCONSIN
  What Works, Wisconsin is a project of the University of Wisconsin–Madison's School of Human Ecology and the University of Wisconsin–Extension's Family Living Program, funded by the Governor's Juvenile Justice Commission. Initially commissioned to write a report about evidence-based programs and cost-benefit analysis (What Works, Wisconsin: What science tells us about cost-effective programs for juvenile delinquency prevention, by Stephen A. Small, Arthur J. Reynolds, Cailin O'Connor, and Siobhan M. Cooney, released in 2005 and available at www.uwex.edu/ces/flp/families /whatworks.cfm), the What Works team now focuses on disseminating information about effective programs and distilling prevention and intervention research for practitioners and policymakers. Through publications, conference presentations, and workshops, the researchers on the What Works team provide practitioners with tools to improve their existing programming based on our accumulating knowledge of
 evidence-based programs and what makes them work.
   
   
  If you would like to be informed as new Research to Practice Briefs are published and other materials are made available on our website, please send an email to Cailin.OConnor at gmail.com and ask to be added to the distribution list. 
   
  Please feel free to forward this message and share the What Works resources with your colleagues. 
   
   

   

  -- 
Cailin O'Connor
Outreach Specialist, School of Human Ecology
University of Wisconsin-Madison
cailin.oconnor at gmail.com 
(608) 262-6766 

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