Strategies to Avoid Replication Failure With Evidence-Based Prevention Interventions: Case Examples From the Strengthening Families Program
Abstract
Research has found disturbing long-term effects of poor parenting on children’s behavioral health including addiction, delinquency, depression/anxiety, and poorer health as adults. Poor parenting practices thus contribute substantially to the health crisis in America. However, skilled, nurturing parents, or caretakers can help youth avoid these developmental problems. A number of family and parenting evidence-based interventions (EBIs) that teach parenting skills are now available for dissemination. Unfortunately, replications of EBIs do not always produce the original positive results. Organizations that seek to use family EBIs to improve parenting and family skills need to avoid practices that create replication failure. We examine several possible factors that contribute to replication failure using examples from five replications of the EBI “Iowa Strengthening Families Program for ages 10–14.” We then share six strategies conducive to avoid replication failures including (1) choosing the right program and implementation strategy for the population, (2) administering the right “dosage,” (3) choosing and properly training implementers, (4) maintaining program integrity and adherence, (5) ensuring cultural sensitivity, and (6) ensuring accurate and complete reporting of evaluation results. These guidelines can advance prevention science to meet the demands of a growing public health agenda.
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Modifications that remove key elements of an intervention, or fail to align with population needs, may be less effective.
“However, modifications that remove key elements of an intervention, or fail to align with population needs, may be less effective [7, 11–14].”
From The FRAME: an expanded framework for reporting adaptations and modifications to evidence-based interventions (2019) · cites this paper as [13]
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Wiltsey Stirman, S., Baumann, A. A., & Miller, C. J. (2019) · Implementation Science · doi:10.1186/s13012-019-0898-y · Cited by 1,329 · see citing works
- Authors
- Kumpfer, K. L., Scheier, L. M., & Brown, J.
- Affiliations
- Strengthening Families Program, LLC, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
- Lars Research Institute (US)
- Strengthening Families Program, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
- Corresponding author
- Kumpfer, Karol L.
- Venue
- Evaluation & the Health Professions
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2018-05-02
- Volume
- 43
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 75-89
- ISSN
- 0163-2787 (ISSN-L)
- 1552-3918
- OpenAlex
- W2800429320
- Cited by
- 41
- References
- 12
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 1
- FWCI
- 7.28
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Evaluation & the Health Professions (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Health Policy Implementation Science
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Management Science and Operations Research › Evaluation and Performance Assessment
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Keywords
- replication failure, Strengthening Families Program, parenting support, family intervention, intervention dissemination, program dosage, program integrity, cultural sensitivity, evaluation reporting, child behavioral health
- MeSH terms
- Humans, Parents, Program Evaluation, Cultural Competency, Evidence-Based Practice
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