Commentary on Participation in Preventive Interventions

Abstract

In this commentary on the special issue, Preventive Parenting Interventions: Advancing Conceptualizations and Enhancing Reach, operationalization of participation, who engages in prevention interventions, and common themes from the studies are discussed. The papers in the special issue illustrate the importance of studying factors that increase participation in prevention and point out the need for additional research to understand these factors. These papers highlight the diverse conceptualizations of participation as well as a need to move toward standardization of methods to assess related constructs. Research is needed to elucidate the potential of enhanced participation and engagement in interventions to meaningfully impact intervention outcomes and ultimately improve the population-level benefit attributable to prevention efforts. Prevention scientists should attend to factors influencing participation in prevention as early in the intervention research process as possible in order to increase the likelihood that the target population will utilize evidence-based prevention interventions in real-world settings, under real-world conditions.

Predictors of uptake and retention in an intervention to improve social reactions to disclosures of sexual assault and partner abuse

“…Also, 69.1% of the sample had dated or been in a romantic relationship in the past year (n = 572). In regard to income level 4 , 58.8% (n = 287) of students reported that their parents/guardians earned over $75,00 per year, 69.4% (n = 394) that their parents/guardians, at least in part, paid for their tuition, and 65.0% (n = 368) that their parents/guardians paid, at least in part, for their room, board, and other living expenses.…”

“…However, recruitment and retention for SA and PA prevention and intervention initiatives remain major challenges in this field 1,2 as in prevention science more widely. 3 Because recruitment is a key issue facing both researchers and practitioners, researchers have begun to examine a broad range of factors associated with participation, 4 including whether or not a potential participant attends an intervention. This initial attendance is also known as intervention uptake.…”

Preventive Parenting Interventions: Advancing Conceptualizations of Participation and Enhancing Reach

“…Although most of these studies were conducted during the effectiveness phase, learning what barriers deter participation or what modalities (e.g., online versus home visiting) work best for whom during an effectiveness study has implications for understanding who will adopt an intervention and, in this way, can optimize the population-level impact of EBIs when they scale-up. This is consistent with the TSci Impact framework (Spoth et al 2013) and NIDA's conceptualization of the full spectrum of prevention science(e.g., Sims and Crump 2018) , which highlight that studies at all phases of the prevention intervention research cycle, from program development and design through dissemination, can address research questions that inform the usability and sustainability of EBIs.…”

Sociodemographic and Psychosocial Predictors of VIP Attendance in Smart Beginnings Through 6 Months: Effectively Targeting At-Risk Mothers in Early Visits

“…Nonetheless, because findings replicated across multiple model specifications, including across racial and ethnic groups that have previously had lower engagement (O'Brien et al 2012), we believe them to be the best estimate of predictors of parent attendance in VIP through the first 6 months in the current effort. Further, this study examined only attendance, which while important (Reyno and McGrath 2006), is one of several dimensions of participation in interventions (Sims and Crump 2018). Future studies should include additional aspects of participation like parent feedback and interventionist perceptions to create a fuller picture of engagement, as these are likely important predictors of participation (Ingoldsby 2010).…”

“…For early childhood interventions to be maximally effective for population impact and reduce school readiness gaps, however, initial engagement of parents and their continued attendance and participation is critical (Baker et al 2011;Reyno and McGrath 2006). Following recent suggestions for terminology (Sims and Crump 2018), we define initial engagement as the activities related to beginning an intervention, including enrollment and making a commitment to attend an initial session; attendance or retention as taking part in intervention sessions; and participation as taking part in a broader set of program activities. Studies have indicated that each step-from enrollment to attendance to participation-can affect intervention outcomes (Berkel et al 2018).…”