Protocol for a hybrid type 3 cluster randomized trial of a technical assistance system supporting coalitions and evidence-based drug prevention programs

Background Over 5000 community anti-drug coalitions operating in the USA serve as a cornerstone of federal drug prevention. These coalitions, however, have demonstrated effectiveness in preventing substance use only when they use technical assistance (TA) and implement evidence-based programs (EBPs). The absence of TA and EBP implementation by coalitions is a key research-to-practice gap. The Coalition Check-Up TA system is designed to fill this gap by supporting community coalition implementation of EBPs. Existing TA models for evidence-based coalition approaches are resource intensive and coalition model specific. The Coalition Check-Up is a lower cost strategy that works with a variety of types of coalitions to support sustainable implementation of EBPs. This study protocol describes a hybrid type 3 effectiveness-implementation trial applying Wandersman’s Interactive Systems Framework to test the effects of the Coalition Check-Up on coalition EBP implementation capacity and outcomes. The Interactive Systems Framework outlines how the prevention support system—especially TA—bolsters EBP dissemination and implementation. Methods Using a cluster randomized controlled design, this trial will test the overall effectiveness of the Coalition Check-Up, including how it contributes to EBP implementation and prevention of youth substance use. The first aim is to estimate the impact of the Coalition Check-Up on coalitions’ capacity to do their work. We will recruit 68 anti-drug coalitions for random assignment to the Coalition Check-Up or “TA as usual” condition. We will evaluate whether the Coalition Check-Up improves coalition capacity using measures of coalition member responses about team processes, coalition network composition, and collaborative structure. Our second aim is to estimate the impact of the Coalition Check-Up on implementation of EBPs, and our third aim is to estimate the impact of the Coalition Check-Up on youth substance use. Discussion This project will clarify how the Coalition Check-Up, a scalable approach to TA due to its low cost, affects coalition capacity to support EBP implementation. Analyses also provide insight into causal pathways from the prevention support system to the prevention delivery system outlined by the Interactive Systems Framework. Results will build the evidence-base for how to support community coalitions’ sustainable implementation of evidence-based prevention programs and policies. Trial registration Clinicaltrials.gov registration number NCT04592120. Registered on October 19, 2020.

AN EXPLORATORY STUDY ON THE RESEARCH TENDENCY OF SCHOOL COUNSELORS IN SOUTH KOREA

This study aimed to examine a research tendency through Master's and Doctoral dissertation in South Korea related to school counselors. In this study, school counselors were used in terms that included full-time and contractual counselors. School counselors are teachers who specialize in understanding students' daily psychological counseling, problem behavior and maladaptive counseling and establishing a prevention support system of fundamental reason of problem behavior for students. This is because their tasks required in school are similar. They were deployed to unit schools after Wee Project implemented in 2007 to ensure that students and all students experiencing poor learning and school maladaptation for having a happy school life. This study aimed to lay the foundation for improving and developing policies for improving the welfare and professionalism of school counselors, focusing on the subject of the degree thesis related to school counselors. This study conducted an exploratory study based on the year of publication and topics of the dissertation based on key words extracted from the data. The dissertations were published from 2010 to 2021 and were collected through Riss, a domestic database website in South Korea. This study focused on the frequency of emergence and Word Cloud which shows research tendency based on the year of publication analyzed by the frequency of emergency, title of the dissertation, and key words in abstract of the dissertation extracted from a file in MS Excel from the domestic database homepage. The analysis results of this study are as follows. First, the role and awareness of professional counseling teachers and Wee classes are required. Second, research was conducted to develop the capabilities of school counselors teachers working in the Wee class.it will serve as a foundation for improving professionalism, leading to the protection of ethics as a counselor working in the Wee class and ensuring the rights and welfare of counselors. In order to improve counseling capabilities, supervision and a certain amount of counseling practice are required in the process of training school counselors.

Development of Disaster Prevention Support System for Irrigation Pond (DPSIP)

In recent years, many cases of secondary disasters have occurred owing to failures of irrigation ponds after large disasters such as the Great East Japan Earthquake, Northern Kyushu Heavy Rain, and the Heavy Rain Event of July 2018. At the National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO), we have developed the Disaster Prevention Support System for Irrigation Ponds (hereinafter referred to as the DPSIP), which is aimed at sharing disaster information relating to irrigation ponds in times of major disaster. In this paper, we present the specifications of the DPSIP and the applicability of the system is also explained by applying the system to actual disasters and by conducting a verification test.