The Impact of Adaptation on Successful Implementation Abstract During the period encompassed by the 1980s and 1990s, the focus on drug abuse prevention research was to identify components of intervention that could be demonstrated to be efficacious in deterring the onset of alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, inhalants, and other forms of drug use. During this period, the question asked evolved from """"""""Can prevention work?"""""""" to become """"""""What can make programs more efficacious through how programs are designed?"""""""" With the advent of the US Department of Education's Principles of Effectiveness and the establishment of SAMHSA's National Registry of Effective Programs and Practices (NREPP) and a corresponding shift in policy that promoted funding for evidence-based programs in schools and community groups, there has been a noticeable shift away from research to demonstrate efficacy. The goal of the proposed research is to understand how implementers adapt All Stars, a research-based program that has been adopted by more than 250 schools and community service agencies in 48 states, the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico. The overall goal of this research is to answer three questions in sequence: (1) to what extent and why do All Stars'implementers modify the program as written? (2) How do modifications affect targeted mediators and outcome variables? (3) Does an intervention designed to promote positive modifications improve outcomes? The current project will address questions (1) and (2) in preparation for a subsequent grant application that will be devoted to addressing question (3). Two sub-studies will be conducted. The goal of Sub-Study 1 is to define how and why implementers modify All Stars when it is implemented. Both planned and unplanned modifications will be examined by reviewing videotapes collected from a previous research project as well as by conducting surveys, observations, and interviews with prospective implementers. Adaptations will be documented and the rationale for these modifications explored. Sub-Study 1 will result in the development of data collection tools that will be used in Sub-Study 2. The goal of Sub-Study 2 will be to collect extensive data about adaptation from a large number of dissemination sites} clients already using All Stars } to determine the degree to which various types of adaptations either augment, have a neutral effect, or diminish the effectiveness of the program in terms of changing mediating variables targeted by the program and adolescents'drug use. Results will be used in a follow-up study in which strategies for developing programming to promote positive adaptation and to meet implementers'needs will be developed and tested in a randomized control trial. Project Narrative Drug use, including the use of alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, inhalants, and illicit drugs continues to be a problem throughout the nation. Numerous research-based prevention programs are now disseminated throughout the country. This project will examine how schools and community service agencies that have adopted one drug use prevention program, All Stars, implement the program to students, how and why they make adaptations to the program, and what effect making adaptations has on successfully achieving the program's goals.
