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. 2018 Nov;19(8):1008-1018.
doi: 10.1007/s11121-018-0937-y.

Designed Cultural Adaptation and Delivery Quality in Rural Substance Use Prevention: an Effectiveness Trial for the Keepin' it REAL Curriculum

Michael L Hecht  1 , YoungJu Shin  2 , Jonathan Pettigrew  2 , Michelle Miller-Day  3   4 , Janice L Krieger  5   6   7
Affiliations

Designed Cultural Adaptation and Delivery Quality in Rural Substance Use Prevention: an Effectiveness Trial for the Keepin' it REAL Curriculum

Michael L Hecht et al. Prev Sci. 2018 Nov.

Abstract

This study examined how cultural adaptation and delivery quality of the school-based intervention keepin' it REAL (kiR) influenced adolescent substance use. The goal of the study was to compare the effectiveness of the multi-cultural, urban (non-adapted) kiR intervention, a re-grounded (adapted) rural version of the kiR intervention and control condition in a new, rural setting. A total of 39 middle schools in rural communities of two states in the USA were randomly assigned to one of three conditions (i.e., control, non-adapted urban kiR, and adapted rural kiR). Data included adolescent self-reported lifetime substance use and observers' ratings of delivery quality from video recordings of lessons. Ratings of delivery quality were used to create four comparison groups (i.e., low/high delivery quality in non-adapted/urban kiR condition and low/high quality in adapted/rural kiR condition). Controlling for substance use in the 7th grade, findings compared 9th graders' (N = 2781) lifetime alcohol, cigarette, marijuana, and chewing tobacco use. Mixed model analyses revealed that rural youth receiving the culturally adapted/rural curriculum reported significantly less cigarette use than rural youth in the control condition regardless of delivery quality. In the non-adapted/urban condition, youth receiving high delivery quality delivery reported less marijuana use than those receiving low delivery quality condition. However, substance use outcomes of youth receiving high and low delivery quality in the non-adapted intervention did not differ significantly from those the control group. Findings support the effectiveness of the culturally adapted/rural keepin' it REAL curriculum for rural youth.

Keywords: Adolescents; Cultural adaptation; Implementation quality; School-based intervention; Substance use.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest The authors declare a potential financial conflict of interest. Hecht and Miller-Day are co-founders of REAL Prevention, LLC—a business dedicated to training, research, and dissemination of keepin’ it REAL and other allied health promotion programs—and hold intellectual property rights to the keepin’ it REAL curriculum. Pettigrew is a part-time consultant with REAL Prevention but was not remunerated for involvement with this project.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Consort Flow Diagram for Rural keepin’ it REAL RCT. Note: one school from the non-adapted condition declined to participate in the wave 3 survey (2011) but participated in wave 4
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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