Abstract
Experiments test ‘new’ ideas about interventions that might produce better outcomes. Re-entry requires that the intervention should be offered at the transition point (from prison to community) and in the community. In general, the experiment requires the researchers to differentiate the ‘new’ approach from usual practice. The answer lies in the design and measures of the experiment. It is important to make sure that the intervention will be designed and implemented in such a manner that makes it operationally different from traditional services. Each experiment must include measures to determine the content and dosage of the new intervention as well as the traditional practice. This special edition is devoted to examining how these issues are handled in four different experiments, as well as comments from members of a Data Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) on the efforts to monitor studies. Together, the articles point to the need to measure the fidelity and adherence of new innovations.
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References
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Acknowledgment
This study was funded under a cooperative agreement from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIH/NIDA) to George Mason University (Grant U01 DA016213-01, Action Research to Advance Drug Treatment in the CJS). The funding for this cooperative agreement was supplemented by the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, Bureau of Justice Assistance, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Dr. Friedmann also receives support from the Department of Veterans Affairs Health Services Research & Development Service. The authors gratefully acknowledge the collaborative contributions by federal staff from NIDA, members of the Coordinating Center (George Mason University), and the nine Research Center grantees of the NIH/NIDA CJ-DATS Cooperative). The contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of NIH/NIDA, other participants in CJ-DATS or the Department of Veterans Affairs. This edition is possible due to the assistance of Rochelle Schnurr (managing editor) and David Weisburd. Both provided support and assistance in the review process, including working with us on ensuring that each article had sufficient reviews. We would also like to thank the anonymous reviewers, which helped us select the articles to include in this special edition.
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Taxman, F.S., Friedmann, P.D. Fidelity and adherence at the transition point: Theoretically driven experiments. J Exp Criminol 5, 219–226 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11292-009-9078-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11292-009-9078-4