Implementer-initiated adaptation of evidence-based interventions: kids remember the blue wig.

Adaptation of evidence-based interventions by implementers is widespread. Although frequently viewed as departures from fidelity, adaptations may be positive in impact and consistent with fidelity. Research typically catalogs adaptations but rarely includes the implementers' perspectives on adaptation. We report data on individuals implementing an evidence-based teen dating violence prevention curriculum. Key informant interviews (n = 20) and an online focus group (n = 10) addressed reasons for adaptations, adaptation processes and kinds of adaptations. All implementers described making adaptations, which they considered necessary to achieving intended outcomes. Adaptations were tailored to needs of individual students or learning opportunities presented by current events, fine-tuned over repeated applications and shared with colleagues. Adaptations modified both content and delivery and included both planned and in-the-moment changes. Implementers made adaptations to increase student engagement, and to fit students' learning needs, learning style, social maturity and culture. Student engagement served as an indicator that adaptation might be needed and provided feedback about the immediate effects of the adaptation. These findings underscore the value of fidelity assessments that measure participant response, intervention-specific guidance to implementers and evaluation of the impact of adaptations on participant response and intervention outcomes.

The relationship between the quantity of alcohol consumed and the severity of sexual assaults committed by college men.

Researchers have suggested that intoxicated perpetrators may act more violently than other perpetrators, although empirical findings have been mixed. Past research has focused on whether or not alcohol was consumed, rather than the quantity consumed, and this may explain these inconsistent findings. The authors hypothesized that the quantity of alcohol consumed would have a curvilinear relationship to the severity of the assault. Data were collected from 113 college men who reported that they had committed a sexual assault since the age of 14. The quantity of alcohol that perpetrators consumed during the assault was linearly related to how much aggression they used and was curvilinearly related to the type of sexual assault committed. The quantity of alcohol that victims consumed during the assault was linearly related to the type of sexual assault committed. Strategies for improving assessment of alcohol consumption in sexual assault research are discussed.