Commentary on Scaling-up Evidence-based Interventions in US Public Systems to Prevent Behavioral Health Problems

Abstract

As evidence-based interventions (EBIs) to prevent mental, emotional, and behavioral health problems continue to become available, approaches for implementation in systems and settings, at scale, are needed. The article, Scaling-up Evidence-based Interventions in U.S. Public Systems to Prevent Behavioral Health Problems: Challenges and Opportunities (Fagan et al., 2019) examines five large, complex public systems (behavioral health, child welfare, education, juvenile justice, and public health) that have adopted and implemented EBIs in various ways and presents common factors that support scale-up in these systems. This commentary builds on the authors’ strategic approach to offer a few additional considerations – issues of sustainability, ways of thinking about knowledge creation, and use of systems science/modeling approaches – to address scale-up in public systems. Moreover, the focus on public systems provides an opportunity to consider how the implementation and sustainment of EBIs might more directly address social determinants of health that are relevant across policy areas and public systems.

Normalization of Prevention Principles and Practices to Reduce Substance Use Disorders Through an Integrated Dissemination and Implementation Framework

“…There has been a growing literature that integrates the implementation of evidence-based prevention programming into existing policies that address behavioral health issues (Fagan et al, 2019;Sims et al, 2019). Indeed the State of Ohio has supported the Pax Good Behavior Game (https://www.goodbehaviorgame.org/pax-good-behavior-game) and the State of Colorado supports Communities That Care (https://www.chi-colorado.org/prevention/ctc/).…”