Partnerships for the Design, Conduct, and Analysis of Effectiveness, and Implementation Research: Experiences of the Prevention Science and Methodology Group

Partnerships for the Design, Conduct, and Analysis of Effectiveness, and Implementation Research: Experiences of the Prevention Science and Methodology Group

Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, December 2011

22160786

C. Hendricks Brown, Sheppard G. Kellam, Sheila Kaupert, Bengt O. Muthén, Wei Wang, Linda K. Muthén, Patricia Chamberlain, Craig L. PoVey, Rick Cady, Thomas W. Valente, Mitsunori Ogihara, Guillermo J. Prado, Hilda M. Pantin, Carlos G. Gallo, José Szapocznik, Sara J. Czaja, John W. McManus

What progress prevention research has made comes through strategic partnerships with communities and institutions that host this research, as well as professional and practice networks that facilitate the diffusion of knowledge about prevention. We discuss partnership issues related to the design, analysis, and implementation of prevention research and especially how rigorous designs, including random assignment, get resolved through a partnership between community stakeholders, institutions, and researchers. These partnerships shape not only study design, but they determine the data that can be collected and how results and new methods are disseminated. We also examine a second type of partnership to improve the implementation of effective prevention programs into practice. We draw on social networks to studying partnership formation and function. The experience of the Prevention Science and Methodology Group, which itself is a networked partnership between scientists and methodologists, is highlighted.