Translating Research into Protective Processes in African American Families: Buffering Effects of Race Related Experiences

Velma McBride Murry, Phd
Vanderbilt University

ABSTRACTS:
Discrimination has been linked to mental health disparities for African American parents and adolescents. Data from longitudinal studies of the Family and Community Health Study (FACHS) identified salient processes in African American families that have demonstrated effectiveness in promoting positive development among youth, including protective processes that buffer youth from the negative consequences of racial discrimination. These research findings were translated into the design, development and implementation of two RCT, with demonstrated efficacy and effectiveness in preventing the onset and escalation of substance use and risky sexual practices.  Recent analyses of these programs have shown spillover effects on several other outcomes and may hold for addressing the racial/ethnic disparities gap.  This presentation will highlight findings from several analyses of the Strong African American Families (SAAF) and Pathways for African American Success (PAAS) Programs in their effectiveness in inducing positive changes in a wide spectrum of behavioral and developmental beyond those targeted in the programs, with emphasis on the protective nature of adaptive racial socialization.  

Addressing Health Equity and Social Justice within Prevention Registries: Blueprints for Healthy Youth Development

Pamela Rose Buckley, Phd
University of Colorado Boulder

Karl Hill, Phd
University of Colorado Boulder

ABSTRACTS:
Registries of effective preventive interventions such as Blueprints for Healthy Youth Development play an important role in informing communities and policy makers about interventions that are likely to improve the lives of youths and their families. However, important challenges within prevention registries arise in addressing concerns about health equity and social justice. For example, a critical question is for whom do the certified interventions work? While establishing the internal validity of interventions appears to be the dominant focus across current clearinghouses (including Blueprints), issues of external validity are becoming more salient as program developers wrestle with barriers to implementation. Clearinghouses are positioned to play a useful role in identifying gaps in implementation to address external validity concerns, particularly those related to health equity and social justice.

 This webinar first presents an overview of the Blueprints registry, including standards for certification. We then discuss the sorts of concerns regarding adaptation/cultural relevance that registry staff and users encounter with increasing frequency. The webinar then presents the background and goals of a recently funded project that begins to address these concerns within Blueprints. While lack of representation of youth of color in health-related research studies has been well-documented, a critical evaluation of this omission has not been undertaken to substantiate this claim.  This new project will examine the representation of ethnic minority groups in preventive intervention research. This project will review and evaluate the nature, size, and/or scope of extant research involving representation of ethnic minority groups in preventive intervention research, thus serving as a vehicle for decision-making regarding the generalizability of EBIs listed on clearinghouse websites (such as Blueprints).

If you don’t look for it, you will probably not find it: Determining barriers to equitable implementation in healthcare settings

Rajinder Singh, Phd
South Central Mental Illness, Research, and Clinical Center
Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences

ABSTRACTS:
The integration of health equity and implementation science is a relatively novel topic and there is a need for practical tools for researchers and practitioners. Methodological advancements in the integration between health equity and implementation science assist with the uptake of new treatments and at the same time, assist with reducing healthcare disparities. One such methodological advancement is the Health Equity Implementation Framework designed by Woodward and colleagues (2019). The original Health Equity Implementation Framework suggested enhancing existing implementation science frameworks with three health equity domains that have significant evidence to suggest they impact implementation: 1) culturally relevant factors of recipients (e.g., biases), 2) clinical encounter, or patient-provider interaction (e.g., discrimination), and 3) societal influences (social norms such as racism, political forces, physical structures, economic barriers, including but not limited to social determinants of health). This presentation will provide an overview of the Health Equity Implementation Framework, discuss practical ways to incorporate three health equity domains (culturally relevant factors, clinical encounter, and societal influences) into implementation determinants frameworks, and review an example of using the Health Equity Implementation Framework applied to Hepatitis C Virus and its treatment among Black and African American patients seeking care in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

The Implementation and Sustainment Facilitation (ISF) Strategy A promising strategy for improving implementation climate, implementation effectiveness, and intervention effectiveness.

Bryan Garner, Ph.D.
RTI International

ABSTRACT:
Over at least the past 15 years, implementation research has been defined as the scientific study of the use of strategies to adopt and integrate evidence-based health interventions into clinical and community settings in order to improve patient outcomes and benefit population health. Notwithstanding the significant progress that has been made to date, there remains a significant need for implementation research to identify effective and cost-effective strategies for improving the implementation and sustainment of evidence-based health interventions into clinical and community settings. In 2014, the National Institute on Drug Abuse funded a dual-randomized type 2 hybrid trial that focused on experimentally testing the Implementation and Sustainment Facilitation (ISF) Strategy as an adjunct to a staff-focused Addiction Technology Transfer Center (ATTC) Strategy. After providing a brief overview of the ATTC Strategy, this presentation will focus on describing the ISF Strategy, with emphasis on: (a) its guiding theory, framework, and principles, (b) its standardized tools/exercise, (c) study results that support its effectiveness and cost-effectiveness as an adjunct to the ATTC strategy, and (d) how it is currently being tested as part of several on-going implementation research experiments.

Looking Over the Wall—The Professionalization of the Field of Prevention

Kimberly Johnson, Ph.D.
University of South Florida

Zili Sloboda, Sc.D., President
Applied Prevention Science International

ABSTRACT:
The field of prevention science and practice has matured over the past 50 years and is increasingly being recognized as a profession. The sociology of professions provides parameters as to what constitutes a profession: having a systematic body of theory; an established knowledge-base; the authority to define problems and their treatment; community sanctions to admit and train its members; ethical codes that stress an ideal of service to others; and a culture that includes the institutions necessary to carry out all of its functions. Another component is achieving international recognition and acceptance and acknowledgement. The status and maturation of the prevention as a profession is reviewed. Recommendations for moving forward are presented including developing a structure to ‘internationalize’ the field of prevention to fully professionalize it that would include such groups as the U.S. and EU Societies for Prevention Research and the International Consortium of Universities for Demand Reduction.

Introduction to PSMG Series: Systemic Racism and Prevention Science: Enhancing Social Justice to Achieve Health Equity

Velma McBride Murry, Phd
Vanderbilt University

Neely Williams, MDiv
Meharry Vanderbilt Alliance

Marlena Debreaux, MA, MS
Vanderbilt University

ABSTRACTS:
Disrupting Systemic Racism: Reimagining the Role of Prevention Science

Systemic racism and its consequences have been associated with numerous disparities, including altering the physical structure of an individual’s DNA(epigenetics),  when subjected to these toxic act. Efforts to address this socio-eco-political ills of systemic racism have primarily focused on describing ways in which these experiences influence  the everyday life experiences of minoritized individuals, families, and communities. While this line of inquiry has been informative, descriptively, there is a need to identify ways to disrupt systems and patterns that perpetuate systemic racism.  Such information can inform and guide the design of preventive interventions. A critical starting point is to re-examine and re-image ways to integrate race-related risk and protective processes in the design, development, and implementation of preventive intervention programs, expanding the line of inquiry beyond those who are recipients of systemic racism. This presentation aims to jumpstart the process to urge our field to deliberately consider ways to elevate social justice and equity lens in our work and engage active agents as disruptors of systemic racism.

A Call to Remember the Path Trodden Through Discrimination and Systemic Racism: Taking Actions on the road to Healing for the Wounded

“There can be no PEACE without JUSTICE and RESPECT of human rights.”
Irene Khan

From the backdrop of racism and discrimination in the deep south sixty years ago to this present point in history, I am poised to call out to all who will listen, it is time for a change. Our nation is buried in the pains of our past and the lack of hope for our future. Something has got the change for the good of all, and the future of the nation.  I offer up my story and highlight some of my journey with the intent of setting a context of racism and discrimination in the south and mid twenty century. My story is the story of many in my generation. My story is only meant to serve as an example to frame the conversation about reality and history of discrimination and racism that has be endured by the masses of African Americans (Black and Brown People) across this country. The context will vary from generations to individuals, nevertheless the impact has many of the same characteristics and outcomes. I will discuss the impact of Racism and Discrimination on the life of a sharecropper’s daughter in the deep south. Immediately moving the challenges that lie ahead of all who dare to make a difference in race relations in this country today. Ultimately, we will discuss the what, the why and how of dealing with Discrimination, Racism and Social Injustice thought the lenses of Prevention Science and Health Equity.

All Things Considered: Contemplating the Utility of Critical Race Theory to Enhance Racial Equity in Prevention Science

Critical race theory (or CRT) has recently entered into popular political discourse as a misrepresentation of American history and social policies. Despite this mischaracterization of CRT, the framework has been utilized for decades by scholars in various fields to better understand the role of racism in shaping differential outcomes in everything from law to education. Based upon five central tenets, CRT invites scholars to not only consider the prevalence and scope of racial discrimination but to consider how to co-construct more equitable futures with and for marginalized populations.  While critical race theory and social science have not always been compatible, social science research has further validated the tenets of CRT. Over the course of this presentation we will review the origins and central tenets of CRT, consider ways in which CRT may contribute to increased racial equity in prevention science, and discuss the role of implications for advancing racially equitable public policy.

To request the powerpoint slides from this presentation, please email psmg@northwestern.edu

Advancing Research on Sustainability within Implementation Science

Rachel Shelton, ScD, MPH
Columbia University

ABSTRACT:
This webinar will focus on opportunities within implementation science to advance research on sustainability. Sustainability relates to the continued delivery of program components for the sustained achievement of desirable program goals and health outcomes.