ABSTRACT
This SBIR Phase I project uses formative evaluation strategies to develop, test, refine, and evaluate an
alpha prototype of the 10-session, evidence-based Strengthening Families Program 7-17 and SFP Home-Use
DVD as a web-assisted platform. The Specific Aim of the new “SFP Online!” program is to increase family
accessibility and engagement by transitioning from costly group-based, facilitator-led, parenting and family
skills training to low cost web-delivery. SFP draws heavily on theories that integrate family dynamics
(monitoring, bonding, and communication), parenting skills, youth drug etiology (risk and protective factors),
and social learning. Substantial empirical evidence from 14 RCTs with diverse families and locations shows
that SFP works with large program effect sizes to reduce behavioral health risks and substance abuse. Phase I
will determine whether the adapted online version can reproduce outcomes of the facilitator-led family group
version with minimal loss of fidelity, efficacy, and vitality. Five integrated formative evaluation strategies
involving 380 participants including ten focus groups with potential end users (100 parents and 100 youth) from
SFP providers nationwide will explore adaptations, usability, feasibility and barriers to use. Consumer
preference surveys tapping both recent SFP DVD users and agency service providers will explore factors that
may mitigate or enhance delivery of SFP Online. This approach based on input from both parents and youth
and providers will ensure that SFP Online is culturally and developmentally appropriate. We will also rely on
key informant interviews with 50 family service providers and community stakeholders to address barriers to
implementation and the eventual integration of SFP Online into existing prevention and treatment strategies.
We will include interviews with prevention scientists and e-learning experts to review the architectural plan and
ensure fidelity to current prevention and technology initiatives. These consumer surveys will inform a product
specification plan supporting a “wireframe technology” to make SFP Online a viable web-assisted program. To
create the alpha prototype in Phase I SFP LLC will collaborate with 3C Institute, a leading software
development company with extensive expertise building interactive multimedia technology for behavioral health
interventions. 3C Institute will employ its proprietary Dynamic e-Learning Platform (DeLP), a customizable
technology that integrates the latest in artificial intelligence and machine learning. LARS Research Institute, a
leading behavioral technology transfer company will assist in the evaluation of the program’s adherence to the
standards of evidence. We will also draw on extensive community support based on 30 years of administering
SFP products to family service agencies nationwide and other CBOs that emphasize parent training, and drug
and child maltreatment prevention. The proposed formative evaluation strategies and collaboration with ten
national prevention and e-learning experts should ensure timely and successful completion of the Phase I
research activities and produce an effortless transition to the Phase II build-and-test stage.