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Social Interface Model: Theorizing Ecological Post-Delivery Processes for Intervention Effects

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Abstract

Successful prevention programs depend on a complex interplay among aspects of the intervention, the participant, the specific intervention setting, and the broader set of contexts with which a participant interacts. There is a need to theorize what happens as participants bring intervention ideas and behaviors into other life-contexts, and theory has not yet specified how social interactions about interventions may influence outcomes. To address this gap, we use an ecological perspective to develop the social interface model. This paper presents the key components of the model and its potential to aid the design and implementation of prevention interventions. The model is predicated on the idea that intervention message effectiveness depends not only on message aspects but also on the participants’ adoption and adaptation of the message vis-à-vis their social ecology. The model depicts processes by which intervention messages are received and enacted by participants through social processes occurring within and between relevant microsystems. Mesosystem interfaces (negligible interface, transference, co-dependence, and interdependence) can facilitate or detract from intervention effects. The social interface model advances prevention science by theorizing that practitioners can create better quality interventions by planning for what occurs after interventions are delivered.

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Acknowledgements

Portions of this paper were presented at the 2017 meeting of the European Society for Prevention Research. We thank conference attendees and anonymous reviewers for their constructive feedback.

Funding

Portions of this work were supported by Cardiff University through an incoming visiting fellowship scheme awarded to Jeremy Segrott to cover travel and subsistence for Jonathan Pettigrew to visit Cardiff and collaborate on this project. The work was undertaken with the support of The Centre for the Development and Evaluation of Complex Interventions for Public Health Improvement (DECIPHer), a UKCRC Public Health Research Centre of Excellence. Joint funding (MR/KO232331/1) from the British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, Economic and Social Research Council, Medical Research Council, the Welsh Government and the Wellcome Trust, under the auspices of the UK Clinical Research Collaboration, is gratefully acknowledged.

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Correspondence to Jonathan Pettigrew.

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Pettigrew, J., Segrott, J., Ray, C.D. et al. Social Interface Model: Theorizing Ecological Post-Delivery Processes for Intervention Effects. Prev Sci 19, 987–996 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-017-0857-2

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