Source: UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA submitted to
PROSPER FLORIDA 2.0: EXPANDING AND SCALING UP THE PREVENTION OF YOUTH OPIOID USE
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
ACTIVE
Funding Source
OTHER GRANTS
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1031402
Grant No.
2023-46100-41039
Cumulative Award Amt.
$349,507.00
Proposal No.
2023-04818
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Sep 1, 2023
Project End Date
Aug 31, 2026
Grant Year
2023
Program Code
[LX]- Rural Health & Safety Education
Project Director
Forthun, L. F.
Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
G022 MCCARTY HALL
GAINESVILLE,FL 32611
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
The purpose of this project is to expand and scale up PROSPER (PROmoting School-community-university Partnerships to Enhance Resilience) in the state of Florida. PROSPER is a partnership-based approach to evidence-based intervention delivery specifically designed for the Cooperative Extension System (CES). PROSPER uses a tiered partnership system that links university-based prevention researchers with two established systems within the state--the CES and the public school system, to sustainably deliver evidence-based interventions to youth and their families. PROSPER is currently being implemented in two rural counties, and this project extends PROSPER into two neighboring rural counties, creating a "PROSPER hub" in Florida to serve as a model for other counties and as a PROSPER training and mentoring hub for CES educators and agents. In addition, this project seeks to enhance readiness for partnership building and the implementation of EBIs within Florida CES. The goal is to catalyze the state's CES to accommodate partnership-based behavioral health efforts and the unique role that Extension provides. Implementation will occur over three years and focus on CES and organizational readiness (year 1), professional and workforce development (year 2), and acceptance and adoption of the partnership-based behavioral health model throughout Florida CES (year 3). A blend of qualitative and quantitative assessments and formative and summative forms of evaluation will be used to document and assess the progress, quality, and effectiveness of the different activities of this project. The results of this project will be disseminated to national academic audiences, state Extension audiences, and local communities.
Animal Health Component
100%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
100%
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
8026020307060%
6086099307040%
Knowledge Area
608 - Community Resource Planning and Development; 802 - Human Development and Family Well-Being;

Subject Of Investigation
6020 - The family and its members; 6099 - People and communities, general/other;

Field Of Science
3070 - Psychology;
Goals / Objectives
The aim of PROSPER Florida 2.0 is to expand the PROSPER delivery system into two additional rural counties, creating a rural "hub" for PROSPER leadership and mentoring in Florida and laying the foundation for scaling up statewide. Goal 1: Create and sustain additional local collaborative teams. The objectives are to:Obj 1. Build the capacity of two new local PROSPER teams by mobilizing, organizing, and training county-level PROSPER teams composed of a county cooperative extension team leader, local school personnel, professionals, parents, and youth with an interest in addressing substance use, including opioids.Obj 2. Improve community awareness of local team initiatives via outreach, social media, and other community activities.Obj 3. Increase capacity of local teams to deliver evidence-based interventions (EBI) in schools and communities.Obj 4: Develop and implement a PROSPER sustainability plan for each new team.Goal 2 Deliver high-quality evidence-based prevention programming to rural youth and their families. The objectives are to:Obj 1. Deliver one school- and one family-based prevention program with content related to opioid misuse in each new rural county. The selected programs are the Botvin Life Skills Training school-based program and the Strengthening Families Program: For Parents and Youth 10-14 community-based program.Obj 2. Fundraise and solicit local resources to support evidence-based program implementation and sustainability.Obj 3. Conduct both a process and outcome evaluation (e.g., monitoring implementation, measuring outcomes/impacts) using a prospective mixed method evaluation design.Goal 3: Develop the readiness of the Florida Cooperative Extension System (CES) to scale-up PROSPER in rural counties across the state. The objectives are to:Obj 1. Increase knowledge of Florida CES leaders on the efficacy of partnership-based behavioral health models for effective implementation of EBIs.Obj 2. Increase the capacity of Florida CES for EBI implementation and dissemination through statewide in-service trainings (e.g., train-the-trainer) and mentoring.Obj 3. Develop and implement a statewide PROSPER sustainability plan focused on promoting a culture of behavioral health within Florida CES, improving professional development, and cultivating new avenues for financial/resource development.
Project Methods
PROSPER Florida 2.0 seeks to expand and build readiness for scaling up efforts across the state. Readiness will be achievedby increasing exposure to the PROSPER partnership model and increasing the capacity of Florida CES to implement and disseminate evidence-based interventions (EBIs). This would include activities to promote shared values and common language around PYD, community capacity building, and EBIs. In addition, this project seeks toexpand local PROSPER partnerships into two additional neighboring rural counties, creating a "PROSPER hub" in Florida to serve as a model for other counties and as a PROSPER training and mentoring center. This will support Florida CES to accommodate partnership-based behavioral health efforts and the unique role that Extension provides.Year 1: Many of the activities, outputs, and outcomes proposed for the first year of implementation focus on the goal of readiness and organizational development, educating Florida CES in partnership-based models of behavioral health and EBIs, and mobilizing and training state and local PROSPER team members. The PROSPER Network Organization (PNO) at the Iowa State University Partnerships for Prevention in Science Institute is contracted to train, coach, monitor, and evaluate PROSPER teams and team members. In addition to these contracted services, the PNO will provide a PROSPER Network Coach (PNC) to meet bimonthly with the TAP to discuss local needs and concerns and facilitate fidelity with the PROSPER.While the PNO and PNC will facilitate the training and development of teams and team members in year 1, the SMT, TAP, and PT leaders will meet monthly to organize, plan, and evaluate the project's ongoing activities. Activities supporting the objectives for year 1 include presentations and meetings with CES leadership, priority work groups, and CES educators across the state to promote partnership-based behavioral health models and the effectiveness of EBIs. Activities will also include developing local team vision and mission statements, prevention program planning, developing and implementing community awareness activities, recruiting and training program instructors, and selecting EBI sites.Year 2: The second year of the project will focus on sustaining progress achieved in year 1 through advocating for Florida CES's commitment to behavioral health-focused EBIs, and the successful implementation and evaluation of EBIs in PROSPER communities. This will include delivering the selected prevention programs in each school with fidelity, continuing the capacity-building activities within the local county teams, and developing and implementing a systematic evaluation strategy. Contracted PNO activities will continue to include ongoing coaching, monitoring, and assessment of PROSPER partnership fidelity but also include support, monitoring, and reporting of EBI implementation.Year 3: The third year of the project will move from the pre-adoption phase to the adoption phase of the capacity-building framework for behavioral health extension. The focus in Florida CES will be on providing professional development opportunities for CES educators and community leaders to become trained trainers in EBI programs that can be implemented across the state. Year 3 should also see the emergence of the Rural PROSPER Florida Hub as the center of innovation in CES partnership-based behavioral health and EBI expertise and training across the state. PROSPER Florida's onboarding and mentoring system will be established, and EBI trainers will be available for in-service training across the state. At the same time, the local PROSPER communities will deliver the selected family-based EBIs in the community, continue the capacity-building activities within the local county teams, and develop and implement a systematic evaluation strategy. Contracted PNO activities will continue to include ongoing coaching, monitoring, and assessment of PROSPER partnership fidelity but also include support, monitoring, and reporting of prevention program implementation through the PROSPER Implementation Tracker System.?EvaluationProposed outcomes for the project include both knowledge and behavioral change. For the Florida CES system, outcomes include more positive perceptions and increased commitment to adopting partnership-based behavioral systems and EBI activities within CES. PNO training, activities, and coaching will improve expertise in team development, program implementation and evaluation, and sustainability planning. Behavioral outcomes will be shown in positive team functioning, positive social network outcomes such as increased funding, donations, and other resources, and increased community awareness of PROSPER team efforts. For participants in the EBIs, the outcomes will include behavioral change in both youth and their parents. For youth, increased anti-drug knowledge and attitudes, improved life skills knowledge and use, improved relationship skills and attitudes, and improved decision-making and communication. For parents, the behavior outcomes involve enhanced family relationships and parenting skills, including parent-child communication and supervision. These short-term gains are expected to lead to medium-term outcomes of reducing or delaying youth's substance use initiation and improving overall family functioning. Finally, it is anticipated that reduced substance use and aggression, coupled with improved peer and family relationships, will reduce drug offenses, promote health and well-being, and reduce stress and absenteeism at work.Project evaluation activities include a blend of qualitative and quantitative assessments and formative and summative forms of evaluation. This will be achieved by tracking the inputs, implementation, outputs and outcomes outlined in the logic model and their contribution to the two overarching program goals. One of the primary goals of this project is to sustain well-functioning state and local teams. A formative approach to assessment will provide ongoing monitoring and feedback to ensure that the teams are progressing along PROSPER's multi-phased developmental process. The PNO will conduct the formative evaluation under the consulting agreement, which includes an ongoing progress and performance monitoring process designed to maintain fidelity to the PROSPER delivery system and the associated EBIs at the local level. Embedded in the assessment and monitoring system are two interrelated evaluation activities: (1) PROSPER Implementation Reports and Surveys and (2) PROSPER Prevention Program Implementation Monitoring.A summative evaluation will assess whether the EBIs achieve the desired outcomes. The developers of each of the EPIs provide valid and reliable questionnaires that can be used to determine short-term program outcomes, including anti-drug attitudes and life skills, parenting skills, and overall family functioning. These questionnaires will be tailored to the participants in Florida. Using a prospective design, survey data will be collected from program participants before and after program participation to assess changes in knowledge and behavior. Baseline data will be collected the school year before implementation to provide a baseline and comparison.Florida CES readiness will be assessed annually with a Florida CES Leadership Survey that will include questions assessing perceptions of, and commitment to, partnership-based behavioral health initiatives in Extension and the implementation of EBIs. Organizational readiness will be assessed using the Readiness Thinking Tool, designed to assess motivation, innovation-specific capacity, and general capacity for readiness.

Progress 09/01/23 to 08/31/24

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience in this reporting period included the PROSPER team leaders, professionals, and advocates who joined the county prevention teams (called local PROSPER teams) in each county, county Extension agents from across the state, and local community residents. For local PROSPER teams, the goal of the project's first year was to train the PROSPER team leaders to implement the PROSPER delivery systems in each county. PROSPER team leader trainings were conducted by prevention specialists from the PROSPER Network. PROSPER team leaders also began recruiting members for the local PROSPER teams. Membership in each county team included the PROSPER Team Leader (4-H agent), a 4-H program assistant, a local health department liaison, and a school district liaison. Other members include professionals from regional substance use prevention coalitions, community advocates, faith-based leaders, and parents. For county Extension agents, a presentation on PROSPER and the Botvin Life Skills Training (BLST) program was conducted at an annual state Extension conference to introduce PROSPER to Florida Extension. Participants included both 4-H and family and consumer science Extension agents interested in youth prevention programs. Community residents were the target audience for awareness-building activities conducted by the PROSPER team leaders in their local communities. PROSPER awareness-building activities included tabling and presentations at events such as 4-H/Family Consumer Science Advisory Board Meeting, School District Health Fair, and Parent Open House nights at local schools. Changes/Problems:All four of the rural project counties weresignificantly affected by several hurricanes during and just after the reporting period. The cleanup and restoration efforts will require ongoing commitment; however, the local PROSPER teams remaindedicated and resilient in the face of this adversity. No significant delays in implementation have occurred. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?There have been several opportunities for professional development and ongoing learning. SMT and local PROSPER team members participated in training sessions provided by the PROSPER Network at ISU. These sessions focused on the effective implementation of the PROSPER delivery system and included the following topics: PROSPER Orientation, Ground Rules and Team Member Orientation, PROSPER Prevention Programs, Resource Generation, and Resource Tracking. In addition, new PROSPER team leaders and members completed the BLST instructor training, which is necessary for implementing, facilitating, and ensuring fidelity to the program. Seven members from the new local PROSPER teams and one member from the SMT were trained to facilitate BLST. This training lasted approximately six hours and was conducted online to certify instructors and fidelity observers who would deliver the programming to 6th graders in the middle schools. Furthermore, the PROSPER team leaders, program assistants, and new SMT members completed the University of Florida training required for Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval, including the Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) training. The PROSPER delivery system also requires regular team meetings to promote collaboration and coordination and monitor progress. State-level meetings have occurred roughly once every other month, totaling six times. PROSPER team leader meetings with the Technical Assistance Provider (TAP) have occurred generally twice a month, with a few canceled due to inclement weather. Finally, local PROSPER team meetings have occurred three times in each new county. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The next steps for the local PROSPER teams involve continuing their awareness-building efforts and attracting support for the PROSPER partnership model in Florida. New printed materials will be developed to facilitate this, and an approved website will be created. Additionally, continued training will be provided in the second year. A multi-day training session for the Strengthening Families Program for Parents and Youth 10-14 (SFP) is scheduled for Spring 2025. The PROSPER Florida State Management Team plans to extend this opportunity to local PROSPER teams as well as to additional Extension agents in Florida who are interested. This training will enhance our team's skills and provide an excellent opportunity to collaborate and network with the broader Cooperative Extension System (CES) in Florida. Specifically, there are two major objectives the teams will focus on in year two: 1.4: In Year Two, along with implementing the two evidence-based interventions, a key focus will be sustainability planning. The local PROSPER teams will meet and, with assistance from their Technical Assistance Providers and members of the State Management Team, will develop a sustainability plan. Additionally, they will receive training on sustainability planning from the PROSPER Network at ISU. 2.3: During the implementation of the BLST program in Fall 2024 and SFP in Spring 2025, local fidelity observations and outcome evaluations will be conducted and analyzed by the State Management Team and PROSPER evaluator. Results will be broadly shared with the local PROSPER teams and the Florida CES.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Impact Statement: The aim of PROSPER (PROmoting School-community-university Partnerships to Enhance Resilience) Florida 2.0 is to maintain and expand the multi-tiered PROSPER support system in the state of Florida. The multi-tiered system includes University of Florida/Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) state Extension and prevention specialists who collaborate and support rural local PROSPER teams led by county Extension agents. This community-based approach is designed specifically for use in the Cooperative Extension System (CES). The project builds upon two existing local PROSPER teams whose leaders now serve as mentors to two new counties. It is anticipated that the four counties will form a resource hub in Florida designed to assist rural communities in combating the opioid epidemic and preparing youth for a constantly changing world. In the first year of the PROSPER Florida 2.0 initiative, several key accomplishments were made that significantly contributed to the project's success. These accomplishments enhanced the engagement of local leaders and stakeholders, provided training for local PROSPER leaders, and increased community awareness of PROSPER Florida's goals and initiatives. Accomplishments by goal and objective 1.1: Year one marks the development phase of the PROSPER delivery system, with one of the primary aims being the development of a sustainable and committed local PROSPER team in the two new counties. PROSPER team leaders sought to recruit three liaisons from several important community institutions: school, health, and mental health. To engage these key stakeholders, members of the State Management Team (SMT) traveled to the two new counties to facilitate the introduction of the PROSPER program and to aid in recruiting local PROSPER team members, explaining how they can play an important role in the team. At the end of these meetings, participants expressed their desire to participate. Both counties hired program assistants to help organize and facilitate local efforts. The PROSPER team leader and program assistants completed all required training to be employed by the University and participate in research. Furthermore, each county's PROSPER team leader and program assistants participated in the PROSPER orientation and training provided by the PROSPER Network out of Iowa State University (ISU). Finally, the local PROSPER teams have begun discussions about their unique missions and visions, which align with the overarching goals of PROSPER in Florida. Further support for this has been provided through the PROSPER Network at ISU, which has provided valuable resources for team meetings, such as presentation slides, handouts, and guidance on developing unique mission and vision statements for each county. All these resources are available to the entire PROSPER Florida team through a Microsoft Teams group. 1.2: With guidance from PROSPER team leaders, the SMT created multiple awareness-building materials for dissemination at events. These included a tri-fold brochure, a one-page informational flyer, county-specific flyers highlighting social media pages, and event display posters. These materials have been used to increase community awareness of the problems we are working to prevent, such as substance misuse, while promoting positive behaviors like family connectedness, personal self-management skills, and healthy communication. Each county has actively promoted PROSPER at multiple tabling events, including health fairs and parent open houses. The PROSPER team leader in Hamilton County has been especially successful in promoting PROSPER programming, attending five events, and talking to over 400 community members about PROSPER in Florida. 1.3: To enhance the capacity of local PROSPER teams to implement evidence-based interventions (EBI) in schools and communities, seven local PROSPER team members and one member from the SMT have been trained to facilitate the BLST program, a classroom-based EBI. The trained local PROSPER team members include county Extension agents, program assistants, school staff, and health department personnel. 1.4: Nothing to report in year one. 2.1: The local PROSPER teams in the two new counties have developed a plan to implement the selected school-based EBI, Botvin Life Skills Training (BLST), in all 6th-grade classrooms within the local school districts. This initiative will begin in August of the 2024-25 school year and run through December 2024. For the first year of implementation, the program will be led by local PROSPER team leaders and program assistants who have completed the necessary training to deliver the program effectively and with fidelity. Planning for the second EBI, Strengthening Families for Parents and Youth 10-14 (SFP), remains in the early stages of development and will be fully planned and implemented in year two. 2.2: The local PROSPER teams have started discussing strategies for soliciting community support to implement the two selected evidence-based interventions (EBIs) for schools and families. The public school districts in each county have approved the implementation of the BLST program in all 6th-grade classrooms, along with the program evaluation protocol. Preliminary discussions have started regarding the needs of the SFP program, which will be implemented in year two, with one county school district offering to provide transportation to encourage family participation. 2.3: An evaluation plan has been developed for implementing BLST in each county and has received approval from the university IRB. The evaluation procedures will be implemented, including process and outcome data collection, in year two. 3.1: To increase awareness of the PROSPER project within the Florida Cooperative Extension System (CES), the SMT has established a collaborative relationship with the new Associate Dean for Extension Families, Youth, and Communities at the university. The associate dean is knowledgeable about partnership-based behavioral health models in CES and strongly supports the PROSPER project. A strategy is being developed to promote PROSPER among other CES leaders throughout the state. 3.2: To enhance Florida's CES's capacity to implement partnership-based behavioral health models, PROSPER team members presented the findings from the initial PROSPER project evaluation to approximately 10 CES educators during the state Extension professionals meeting. Additionally, mentors from the original PROSPER projects collaborated closely with the PROSPER team leaders from two new counties, sharing best practices and lessons learned in real-time as these new leaders developed their local PROSPER teams, plans, and programs. This support has proven invaluable, as the mentors' extensive knowledge was accessible to the entire team while they strategized for implementation. The mentors also continued their PROSPER efforts in their own communities, further enabling youth and families to benefit from the implementation of EBIs. 3.3: Nothing to report in year one.

Publications