Developing evidence-based interventions for deployment into school settings: A case example highlighting key issues of efficacy and effectiveness

This paper describes the development of an after-school program for middle-school students that simultaneously addressed issues of efficacy and effectiveness in an effort to create an evidence-based intervention (EBI) that can be implemented in school settings. The topics highlighted in this case example are intended to address the growing concern that over-focusing on efficacy in well-controlled, grant-funded studies has resulted in a generation of EBI that are not acceptable, feasible, or sustainable in the majority of applied settings. Our case example focuses on six key issues highlighted in the published research literature: sustainability, recruitment, methodological design, flexibility, training, and meaningful outcomes. We briefly summarize each of these issues and relate them to our experiences conducting a successful pilot study. A summary of the pilot study results is also presented to lend support for the utilization of the EBI model of dissemination described in this paper.