Role of research-practice-policy partnerships in optimizing prevention science and the use of research evidence: The Efficacy Evaluation of the Program Elos in Brazilian Schools

This abstract was presented at the 2018 Society for Prevention Research Annual Meeting which was held May 29 – June 1, 2018 in Washington, DC, US.

Daniela Ribeiro Schneider Federal University of Santa Catarina; 

Zila M. Sanchez Universidade Federal de São Paulo; Erikson Kaszubowski Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina; Fabíola Langaro Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina; Joselaine Cruz Universidade Federal de São Paulo; Douglas Garcia Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina; Leandro Oltramari Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina

School prevention programs have an important function in the field of health, seeking change risks and strengthen protective factors. The Brazilian Ministry of Health has consolidated between 2013 and 2016, in partnership with federal Universities, a project of implementation of evidence based drug use prevention programs. The Elos, one of the programs chose, resulted from the cultural adaptation of the children's mental health prevention program Good Behavior Game, implemented in public Brazilian schools, aiming to reduce aggressive and disruptive behavior of the students. In order to evaluate the implementation of the program we used a mixed-methods study design in 2016, being a controlled trial, with a quasi-experimental design, and a qualitative study, based on the content analysis of interviews and focus groups with the participants. 40 teachers and 16 coaches, of 16 public schools of two Brazilian cities received training and their students behavior were assessed before and six months after the program implementation. Other 40 classes, chosen in the same schools and series, composed the comparison group. 2319 students in the first moment, and 1731 in the second were evaluated in the two-time points by teachers observation using the TOCA instrument in your adapted version for Brazil. Cronbach's alpha was used to the internal consistencies. Average comparisons of scores were assessed using the Student t test for independent samples. Generalized Estimation Equations (GEE) were used to check the effect of the program in each analyzed behavior (dependent variable). Positive results were achieved with decreased aggression (Δ= -3,05, sd= 1,06; p = 0,004) and disruptiveness in boys (Δ= -3,71; sd = 1,16; p = 0,001). For the girls there were no significant differences between groups and time. Qualitative results indicate that teachers who implemented Elosperceived behavioral changes in students with increased peer collaboration and engagement in classroom tasks. They also reported positive changes in their own pedagogical practices, indicating high acceptability of the program. The results were similar to others obtained by GBG in North American schools and indicate the importance of evidence-based public policies as a way to qualify the intersetorial actions among health and education in Brazil.