Prevention Programs for Rural African American Families

University Of Georgia (Uga), Athens GA

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goal of the research for which funding is requested in this Developing Center Grant application is to improve the implementation and delivery of family-centered preventive interventions for African Americans living in rural Georgia. The public health goal is to prevent the development of behavioral and emotional disorders, substance use, academic failure, and high-risk sexual behavior among African American youths by promoting their development of academic competence, social competence, and self-regulation. To meet these aims, multi-disciplinary teams of scientific collaborators will bring their conceptual, methodological, and data analytic expertise to the delivery of prevention services to rural African American families. A research and training partnership will be formed between the University of Georgia and Fort Valley State University, a historically Black college in rural Georgia. Scholars from these institutions will conduct an effectiveness trial to test a model for the diffusion of family-centered preventive interventions to rural African American communities. Other initiatives will promote research in the utilization, implementation, and effectiveness of family-centered prevention programs for rural African Americans by (a) refining a new theory of dosage for preventive interventions, developing new measures of dosage, and pilot testing those measures; (b) developing measures of the geographic, structural, and social characteristics of rural communities that facilitate or constrain the interventions' implementation and efficacy; (c) identifying barriers that prevent rural African American families from participating in the preventive interventions, along with developing strategies to reduce those barriers; and (d) developing more sophisticated multivariate models of change for analyzing preventive intervention data.