The candidate in this K23 application proposes to launch a programmatic line of research that integrates the science of training and prevention science. She will attain the skills and experience necessary to establish 'best practices'for the design and delivery of prevention-oriented training programs in community-based settings, based upon what has been developed in highly controlled settings. There is a well-recognized gap between experimentally derived research demonstrating the efficacy of novel prevention programs, and a later inability to 'transport'or 'export'these effectively to community- based settings. This gap is explained, in part, by a failure in training practices and transfer processes. It now is vitally important to develop and evaluate standardized training for maximal intervention success in 'real world'settings where services are needed urgently - program success never will surpass skill levels of community-based implementation agents (lAs). The candidate's interests are specifically focused on developing models, methods, and measures for enhancing training for community-based lAs who are charged with carrying forth a variety of interventions for youth. The candidate's education plan provides: a) multi-disciplinary study and collaborative learning in models of adult learning, training, and transfer processes, and, b) explicit instruction and supervised learning in study design and methods associated with prevention trials, observational assessment, and analytic strategies. The research will occur in the context of two NIMH-funded trials using distinct preventive interventions targeting youth - Promoting Resilient Children Initiative, a school-based prevention program in Rochester, NY, and QPR (Question, Persuade, Refer) a """"""""gatekeeper"""""""" suicide prevention program underway in Cobb County, GA. The research plan proposes a series of fully integrated research projects on the development of implementer knowledge, attitudes and skills to implement manualized interventions with adherence and competence. The studies are guided by a heuristic model of training and transfer. Study 1 will develop reliable, efficient, observational rating scales of community implementer adherence and competence, which is a necessary requisite to study the proximate effects of variations in training practices. Study 2 will examine IA adherence and competence, separately and in combination, as predictors of children's outcomes in the PRCI intervention. Study 3 manipulates a training design factor (active learning) and tests the impact on implementer learning outcomes. Results of these studies will guide future research, which is to conduct trials that vary training factors and to evaluate the interacting effects of implementer knowledge, attitudes, adherence and competence in program implementation on predetermined target outcomes, particularly during dissemination.
