Building Schools' Readiness to Implement a Comprehensive Approach to School Safety.

Research consistently finds that a comprehensive approach to school safety, which integrates the best scientific evidence and solid implementation strategies, offers the greatest potential for preventing youth violence and promoting mental and behavioral health. However, schools and communities encounter enormous challenges in articulating, synthesizing, and implementing all the complex aspects of a comprehensive approach to school safety. This paper aims to bridge the gap between scientific evidence and the application of that evidence in schools and communities by defining the key components of a comprehensive approach to school safety and describing how schools can assess their readiness to implement a comprehensive approach. We use readiness and implementation data from the Safe Communities Safe Schools project to illustrate these challenges and solutions. Our findings suggest that (1) readiness assessment can be combined with feasibility meetings to inform school selection for implementation of a comprehensive approach to school safety and (2) intentionally addressing readiness barriers as part of a comprehensive approach may lead to improvements in readiness (motivation and capacity) to effectively implement a comprehensive approach to school safety.

Evidence-based programs registry: blueprints for Healthy Youth Development.

There is a growing demand for evidence-based programs to promote healthy youth development, but this growth has been accompanied by confusion related to varying definitions of evidence-based and mixed messages regarding which programs can claim this designation. The registries that identify evidence-based programs, while intended to help users sift through the findings and claims regarding programs, has oftentimes led to more confusion with their differing standards and program ratings. The advantages of using evidence-based programs and the importance of adopting a high standard of evidence, especially when taking programs to scale,are described. One evidence-based registry is highlighted--Blueprints for Healthy Youth Development hosted at the University of Colorado Boulder. Unlike any previous initiative of its kind, Blueprints established unmatched standards for identifying evidence-based programs and has acted in a way similar to the FDA--evaluating evidence, data and research to determine which programs meet their high standard of proven efficacy.

Blueprints for Europe: Promoting evidence-based programmes in children's services / Blueprints para Europa: Promoviendo programas basados en la evidencia en los servicios de atención a la infancia

This article describes the Blueprints database of evidence-based programmes (EBPs) and its potential application in children's services in European countries. It outlines relevant aspects of the European context, including a tendency to be skeptical about programmes imported from the US, and the need for a pan-European source of information about EBPs across multiple outcome areas. It then describes the standards of evidence used by Blueprints, which cover intervention specificity, evaluation quality, intervention impact, and dissemination readiness. The criteria for determining that a programme is 'Model' and 'Promising' are outlined. The article then summarizes the process by which the standards were developed and some of the issues that were harder to resolve. It also sketches the process by which a programme reaches the Blueprints database, and provides three examples of programmes approved by Blueprints and implemented in Europe: a home-visiting programme for mothers of infants; a parent skills training programme; and a therapeutic intervention for families of chronic offenders. A brief indication is also given of how the wider pool of programmes reviewed fare against the standards of evidence. Finally, the article summarizes future directions for the work, with a particular emphasis on how Blueprints might become widely used in Europe (AU)

En el artículo se describe la base de datos de Blueprints de programas basados en la evidencia (PBE's) y su aplicación potencial en servicios de atención a la infancia en los países europeos. Se abordan los aspectos relevantes del contexto europeo, y se señala una cierta tendencia al escepticismo ante programas importados de los EEUU, así como la necesidad de una fuente de información paneuropea sobre PBE's en todas las áreas de resultados. A continuación, se describen los criterios de evidencia empleados en los Blueprints, tales como la especificidad de la intervención, la calidad de la evaluación, el impacto de la intervención y la disponibilidad del sistema. Se examinan los criterios que se siguen para que un programa sea considerado como 'Modelo' y 'Prometedor'. A continuación, se resume el proceso mediante el que se desarrollaron los criterios y algunos de los aspectos de más difícil resolución. También se describen las líneas generales del proceso de incorporación de un programa a la base de datos de Blueprints, y proporciona tres ejemplos de programas aprobados por los Blueprints e implementados en Europa: un programa de visitas a domicilio a las madres de menores, un programa de entrenamiento de habilidades parentales, y una intervención terapéutica en familias de delincuentes reincidentes. También se indica brevemente que la mayor parte de programas revisados no cumple con los criterios de evidencia. Finalmente, el artículo resume las orientaciones futuras de trabajo en este campo, con especial énfasis en las distintas estrategias para extender el uso de Blueprints por toda Europa (AU)

Safe2Tell® : an anonymous, 24/7 reporting system for preventing school violence.

There is widespread agreement that many school shootings could be prevented if authorities were informed that a student was planning or preparing to carry out an attack. A universal problem is that young people are highly reluctant to report on their peers. This code of silence represents a major barrier to prevention efforts. In response to the Columbine shooting, the state of Colorado established the Safe2Tell® anonymous, 24/7 reporting system for receiving and forwarding threats of violence, bullying, and other concerns. This article describes how the program has grown to the point that it now receives more than 100 calls per month. A series of case examples illustrates its success in responding to threatening situations, including twenty-eight potential school attacks.

Issues in disseminating and replicating effective prevention programs.

The new frontier for prevention research involves building a scientific knowledge base on how to disseminate and implement effective prevention programs with fidelity. Toward this end, a brief overview of findings from the Blueprints for Violence Prevention-Replication Initiative is presented, identifying factors that enhance or impede a successful implementation of these programs. Findings are organized around five implementation tasks: site selection, training, technical assistance, fidelity, and sustainability. Overall, careful attention to each of these tasks, together with an independent monitoring of fidelity, produced a successful implementation with high fidelity and sustainability. A discussion of how these findings inform the present local adaptation-fidelity debate follows.