This study evaluated the relationship between level of program implementation and change in adolescent drug use behavior in the Midwestern Prevention Project (MPP), a school- and community-based program for drug abuse prevention. Trained teachers implemented the pro gram with transition year students. Implementation was measured by teacher self-report and validated by research staff reports. Adolescent drug use was measured by student self-report; an expired air measure of smoking was used to increase the accuracy of self-reported drug use. Regression analyses were used to evaluate adherence; exposure, or amount of implementation; and reinvention. Results showed that all schools assigned to the program condition adhered to the research by implementing the program. Exposure had a significant effect on minimizing the increase in drug use from baseline to one year. Exposure also had a larger magnitude of intervention effect than experimental group assignment. Reinvention did not affect drug use. Results are discussed in terms of research assumptions about quality of program implementation, and possible school-level predictors of implementation.

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This study was a longitudinal, naturalistic comparison of treatment completion and reoffense rates for two groups of offenders convicted of domestic violence (DV): Seventy-five men attending Spanish-language classes and 75 men attending English-language classes. Participant-specific background and psychosocial information, as well as alcohol and drug use, were assessed for influencing program success and DV reoffense. Overall, men who completed DV classes were less likely to reoffend than those who did not. Men in the Spanish-language group had better outcomes than men in the English-language group. In addition, substance use, timing of probation violations, employment, court re-referrals to DV classes, and previous DV convictions all had an impact on rate of class completion and/or reoffense. Psychosocial variables did not appear to influence outcomes.

Methodological issues evaluating quality of implementation of drug use prevention programs are reviewed: definition (adherence, exposure, reinvention), measurement (self-report, other's report, behavioral observation), and parameters of influence (person, situation, environment). When implementation is defined as the interaction of person, situation, and environment, the "true" drug use prevention program effect is established as the average of effect generated from experimental assignment and program implementation. Differences between researcher and programmer standards of implementation quality are interpreted in terms of an efficacyleffectiveness continuum.