The Society for Prevention Research provides training opportunities in prevention science during pre-conference workshops scheduled for Tuesday, May 30, 2017. All workshops require registration.
Pre-Conference (PC) Workshops
- PC Workshop I, 8:30 am – 5:15 pm, Modern Mediation Analysis (learn more)
- PC Workshop II, 8:30 am – 4:00 pm, Prevention in Pediatric Primary Care: Strategies for Expanding the Reach of Family-focused Prevention Programs to Achieve Broad Public Health Impact (learn more)
- PC Workshop III, CANCELLED, 8:30 am – 5:00 pm, The Nuts and Bolts of Group Randomized Trials (learn more)
- PC Workshop IV, CANCELLED, 8:30 am – 5:00 pm, Better Quasi-Experimental Design and Analysis (learn more)
- PC Workshop V, 8:30 am – 5:00 pm, Introduction to the multiphase optimization strategy (MOST) for building more effective, efficient, economical, and scalable behavioral and biobehavioral interventions (learn more)
- PC Workshop VI, 12:00 pm – 6:00 pm, NIH Grantspersonship: Opportunities to fund research and training (learn more)
International Networking Forum
International Task Force Meet and Greet
Date: Tuesday, May 30, 2017
Time: 12:30 pm – 1:00 pm
International Networking Forum
Date: Tuesday, May 30, 2017
Time: 1:00 pm – 4:30 pm
The International Networking Forum is designed to bring together colleagues who are working in the international arena on prevention science research, programs, and policies. This is an interactive forum and it is not a workshop nor a didactic session; rather it is an effort to foster international collaboration in pursuit of promoting prevention science world-wide. Participation is key to the forum. The forum is sponsored by the International Task Force and each year, projects are addressed that will further the underlying goal of supporting and networking colleagues who work in the international arena.
Evening Poster Session I, Technology Demonstrations and Opening Reception
Date: Tuesday, May 30, 2017
Time: 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm
NIDA International Poster Session and Reception
Date: Tuesday, May 30, 2017
Time: 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm
The International Program and Division of Epidemiology, Services and Prevention Research (DESPR) of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) will host the 10th Annual NIDA International SPR Poster Session. The poster session will take place in conjunction with the SPR Tuesday Evening Poster Session and Opening Reception. Posters will highlight drug and/or alcohol use prevention research, including research on drug/alcohol-related HIV/AIDS prevention. The research presentations will have been conducted in international settings by international researchers, domestic researchers, or bi-national teams.
Pre-Conference Workshop I
Date: Tuesday, May 30, 2017
Time: 8:30 am – 5:15 pm
Modern Mediation Analysis
Organizer and Presenter: David P. MacKinnon, PhD, Arizona State University
Presenters: Holly P. O’Rourke, PhD, Matthew J. Valente, MA, Gina L. Mazza, Oscar Gonzalez, MA, Arizona State University
Description:
The goal of the workshop is to describe statistical, methodological, and conceptual aspects of mediation analysis. The one-day workshop consists of four parts. Part 1, covers definitions, history, and applications for the mediation model. The purpose of this section is to provide an overview of the research questions the mediation model can answer. Examples from mediation analysis in prevention and treatment research are described. In Part II, the conceptual model described in Part I is quantified in the estimation of mediation in single and multiple mediator models. Estimation of mediation effects including assumptions, statistical tests, confidence intervals, and effect size are covered. The methods described in this section serve as the foundation for more advanced methods in Part III consisting of mediation in path analysis, longitudinal mediation models, and mediation in the context of moderation. In Part IV, general practical and theoretical issues in the investigation of mediation are discussed including methods to adjust for confounders, causal inference, additional approaches to identifying mediating variables, and future directions.
Pre-Conference Workshop II
Date: Tuesday, May 30, 2017
Time: 8:30 am – 4:00 pm
Prevention in Pediatric Primary Care: Strategies for Expanding the Reach of Family-focused Prevention Programs to Achieve Broad Public Health Impact
Organizers and Presenters:
J. David Hawkins, PhD and Margaret Kuklinski, PhD, Social Development Research Group, School of Social work, University of Washington, and Guillermo “Willy” Prado, PhD, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami
Description:
This full-day workshop is intended to build capacity within prevention science to generate evidence demonstrating the efficacy and effectiveness of embedding parent-focused prevention within pediatric primary care settings and to affect policy supporting this approach. This action-focused workshop has four key learning objectives:
(1) To introduce participants to the opportunities and challenges related to primary care as a home for evidence-based family-focused prevention programs,
(2) To foster understanding of the major policy levers available to support sustainable funding for family-focused prevention in primary care as well as the current focus of related advocacy efforts,
(3) To build awareness of effective approaches for translating prevention interventions to the primary care setting, and
(4) To allow participants time to apply new knowledge in breakout sessions that will further their own plans for (a) advancing policy and advocacy, (b) building the evidence base, and (c) developing their network of professionals engaged in this work.
Pre-Conference Workshop III – CANCELLED
Date: Tuesday, May 30, 2017
Time: 8:30 am – 5:00 pm
The Nuts and Bolts of Group Randomized Trials
Organizer: Jocelyn Lee, PhD, NIH, Office of Disease Prevention
Presenter: David Murray, PhD, NIH, Office of Disease Prevention
Description:
The purpose of this workshop is to provide attendees with the skills and knowledge needed to develop and analyze data produced from a Group Randomized Trial. Group-Randomized Trials (GRTs) are the gold standard in public health and medicine when the investigator wants to evaluate an intervention that operates at a group level, manipulates the physical or social environment, or cannot be delivered to individuals without risk of contamination. The goals of the workshop are to provide attendees with training on the technical issues and statistical analyses distinctive to Group Randomized trial design and analysis. By the end of the workshop, attendees should have the tools and skills needed to describe the strengths, weaknesses, and appropriate uses of randomized clinical trials (RCTs), group-randomized trials (GRTs), and Individually randomized group treatment trials (IRGTs); discuss the strengths and weaknesses of design and analytic alternatives available for these trials; critique published trials that used these designs; and perform sample size calculations for these designs.
Pre-Conference Workshop IV- CANCELLED
Date: Tuesday, May 30, 2017
Time: 8:30 am – 5:00 pm
Better Quasi-Experimental Design and Analysis
Organizer and Presenter: Thomas D. Cook, PhD, Northwestern University and Mathematica Policy Research, Inc
Description:
The purpose of this workshop is to introduce attendees to those quasi-experimental practices that “very often” produce results that are “close” to those from randomized clinical trials with the same content and population as the quasi-experiments. By close we understand within at least .10 standard deviations of the RCT result that serves as the most valid estimate of the true causal relationship. The specific quasi-experimental designs considered are basic regression-discontinuity, comparative regression-discontinuity, interrupted time-series (including single case designs), comparative interrupted time-series, and various combinations of quasi-experimental design features that include ‘local” non-equivalent comparison groups, use of a single pretest measure of the study outcome, use of a “rich” set of other covariates, and explications of the selection process that is then used to guide the choice of covariates. The differences due to the use of different data analysis procedures will also be addressed, including ordinary least squares and propensity scores. Surprisingly for some, analytic differences play a much smaller role than design differences.
Pre-Conference Workshop V
Date: Tuesday, May 30, 2017
Time: 8:30 am – 5:00 pm
Introduction to the multiphase optimization strategy (MOST) for building more effective, efficient, economical, and scalable behavioral and biobehavioral interventions
Organizers and Presenters: Linda M. Collins, PhD and Kari C. Kugler, PhD, The Methodology Center, The Pennsylvania State University
Description:
The majority of behavioral and biobehavioral interventions in use today have been evaluated as a treatment package using a two-arm randomized controlled trial (RCT). This approach is an excellent way to determine whether an intervention is effective. However, the treatment package approach is less helpful in providing empirical information that can be used to optimize the intervention to achieve improved effectiveness and efficiency while maintaining a desired level of economy, and/or scalability. In this workshop an innovative methodological framework for optimizing behavioral interventions, the multiphase optimization strategy (MOST), will be presented. MOST is based on ideas inspired by engineering methods, which stress careful management of research resources and ongoing improvement of products. MOST is a comprehensive strategy that includes three phases: preparation, optimization, and evaluation. MOST can be used to build a new intervention or to improve an existing intervention. Using MOST it is possible to engineer an intervention targeting a particular effect size, level of cost-effectiveness, or any other criterion.
This workshop will provide an introduction to MOST. Ongoing intervention development studies using the MOST approach will be used as illustrative examples. A substantial amount of time will be devoted to experimental design, which is an important tool in MOST. In particular, factorial experiments and fractional factorial experiments will be discussed. Time will be set aside for a couple of small group activities and open discussion of how the concepts presented can be applied in the research of workshop attendees.
Pre-Conference Workshop VI
Date: Tuesday, May 30, 2017
Time: 12:00 am – 6:00 pm
NIH Grantspersonship: Opportunities to fund research and training
Organizer: Erica L. Spotts, PhD, Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research, NIH
Presenter: William Elwood, PhD, Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research, NIH
Description:
This preconference workshop will provide participants with information and advice to write competitive applications for National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding. The format will include didactic presentations, guidance on summary statement interpretation, and small group mentoring sessions. NIH scientists and review officers will describe current funding opportunities, grant mechanisms, policies, procedures, and steps in the grant submission process. Current and past NIH-based fellows will share experiences on how their fellowships influenced their respective career trajectories.
There will be ample time to answer questions regarding programmatic and review issues related to the NIH funding process. In addition, experiential and small-group activities will deepen participants’ knowledge of the grant writing process and provide individually-tailored feedback. Presenters will describe the roles and interactions among various study section participants, including the NIH review officer, review group chair, and assigned reviewers.
Participants who’d like tailored advice for their projects-in-development should bring at least five paper copies of a one- to two-page synopsis of the research aims, hypotheses, and methods. Participants interested in fellowship opportunities should bring a similar number of vitae/biosketches. NIH staff and senior investigators will provide participants with detailed feedback and advice.