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Public health programs succeed and survive if organizations and coalitions address 6 key areas. (1) Innovation to develop the evidence base for action; (2) a technical package of a limited number of high-priority, evidence-based interventions that together will have a major impact; (3) effective performance management, especially through rigorous, real-time monitoring, evaluation, and program improvement; (4) partnerships and coalitions with public- and private-sector organizations; (5) communication of accurate and timely information to the health care community, decision makers, and the public to effect behavior change and engage civil society; and (6) political commitment to obtain resources and support for effective action. Programs including smallpox eradication, tuberculosis control, tobacco control, polio eradication, and others have made progress by addressing these 6 areas.

Background In October 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended the RTS,S/AS01 E (RTS,S) malaria vaccine for the prevention of Plasmodium falciparum malaria in children living in endemic areas informed by evidence from the subnational pilot introduction and evaluation in Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi as part of the WHO-coordinated Malaria Vaccine Implementation Programme (MVIP). With the global vaccine supply boosted by the pre-qualification of a second malaria vaccine, R21/Matrix-M (R21), in October 2023, many endemic countries (20 as of April 2025) have introduced malaria vaccines into their national childhood immunization and malaria control programmes. More endemic countries are expected to introduce or scale up malaria vaccines in 2025 and beyond. This paper summarizes key operational lessons from the pilot countries to facilitate the introduction and scale-up of malaria vaccination in other countries. Methods Pilot areas were identified, in part, based on local malaria epidemiology. RTS,S was initially introduced in randomly selected areas, while other areas served as comparators until the four-dose schedule vaccine was scaled up following the WHO recommendation in 2021. In Ghana and Kenya, the vaccine was administered at ages 6, 7, 9, and 24 months (Ghana switched to administer the fourth dose at age 18 months in 2023), and Malawi chose a schedule of 5, 6, 7, and 22 months. Results Vaccination coverage improved over time, reaching about 80% for the first dose and around 75% for the third dose by 2023 in the initial pilot areas. Implementation challenges included an inadequate understanding of age eligibility among healthcare workers during the early phase of introduction, low fourth dose coverage (with a median coverage of 46% in 2023 across the three countries), and disruptions to service delivery caused by disease outbreaks and other natural disasters. Health stakeholders and caregivers attested to the positive impact of introducing the malaria vaccine, including a reduction in malaria hospitalizations and the strengthening of the National Immunization Programme (NIP) through routine immunization refresher training and supportive supervision. Conclusions The pilot highlighted lessons for malaria vaccine introduction: (1) clearly outlined roles and responsibilities of key stakeholders including NIP and National Malaria Programme (NMP); (2) appropriate approach to vaccine introduction launch, communication, and demand generation to enhance vaccine uptake; (3) flexibility with dose scheduling to optimize coverage; and (4) updated data collection tools for accurate documentation, and data quality.

Whether high adherence to programs is necessary to achieve program outcomes is an area of great debate. The objectives of this study were to determine the frequency, type, and rationale of adaptations made in the implementation of an evidence-based program and to determine program outcomes for intervention program participants, as compared to comparison participants, by the level of adaptations. A total of 1608 participants in 45 classrooms participated. Percent adaptations was calculated by classroom. Thematic qualitative analysis was used to categorize types and rationales for adaptations. Program outcomes by level of adaptations were determined using logistic regression analyses and mean differences. Propensity score matching methods were used to create comparability between adaptation subgroup participants and comparison participants. Adaptations ranged from 2 to 97% across classrooms, with mean adaptations of 63%. Thematic analysis revealed that the adaptations made were related to delivery of content, rather than to the content itself and in response to participant needs and setting constraints. Program outcomes did not appear to be reduced for the high-adaptation subgroup. Understanding both rationale (intent) and type of adaptation made is crucial to understanding the complexity of adaptations. These finding support the argument for allowing facilitators some flexibility and autonomy to adapt the delivery of prescribed content to participant needs and setting constraints.

Background The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends the use of malaria vaccines for the prevention of Plasmodium falciparum malaria in moderate to high transmission areas, administered in a 4-dose schedule in children from 5 months of age. The vaccine is a ground-breaking new tool to add to the existing package of recommended malaria interventions to reduce malaria morbidity and mortality. Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi were the first countries to introduce the RTS,S/AS01 E (RTS,S) malaria vaccine into their childhood immunization programmes in 2019 as part of a pilot programme called the Malaria Vaccine Implementation Programme (MVIP). Methods The WHO’s post-introduction evaluation (PIE) methodology was adapted to evaluate malaria vaccine implementation in each of the three pilot countries at least a year after the vaccine’s introduction. Semi-structured questionnaires were used to interview immunization staff at national, sub-national, and health facility levels, supplemented with systematic observations of vaccination sessions and vaccine storage sites. At the health facility, a sample of caregivers of eligible children was also interviewed. Sites were purposively selected to include a range of past immunization coverage and varied demographics among the populations served. Results All three countries successfully introduced the malaria vaccine during the MVIP. Reported malaria vaccine median coverage at least 2 years after the start of the pilot ranged from 69–91% for dose 1, 62–82% for dose 2, to 58–81% for dose 3 by 24–30 months from the start of the pilot. Coverage for dose 4 was lower as fewer children were eligible during the PIE reporting timeframe. Best practices identified during the PIEs included: early involvement of subnational stakeholders; advance updating and distribution of recording and reporting tools to include malaria vaccine; pre-assessment of cold chain capacity and scale-up; investment of time and resources in health worker trainings and refreshers; involvement of community health workers; robust defaulter tracing mechanisms; ensuring community “dialogue” with continuity of advocacy, communication, and social mobilization activities after initial introduction; regular onsite supervisory visits before, during and after introduction; and use of social media for messaging. Conclusions Malaria vaccine is an important intervention as part of a comprehensive malaria control strategy. Conducting a PIE is useful to identify best practices and lessons learned. New vaccination contacts take time to establish and achieve high coverage as communities become aware of and understand when, why, and how to access the malaria vaccine. The malaria vaccine was successfully introduced as part of the routine childhood immunization programme with strong intersectoral collaboration and planning, involving both immunization and malaria stakeholders, comprehensive training, and social mobilization efforts pre- and post-introduction.

Schools devote considerable attention in identifying and implementing evidence-based prevention programmes to enhance student development and functioning. A major challenge faced is with organising the theory, research and practice of the implementation and dissemination process. This poses even greater challenges to schools because these are complex systems and rarely implement programmes singly to meet the varied needs of their students. Beyond establishing efficacy, there is little documentation about how these programmes have been adapted for diverse student populations. We utilised the Prevention System Support component of Wandersman et al.’s (Am J Community Psychol 41:171–181, 2008) Interactive Systems Framework for Dissemination and Implementation to systematically elicit key general and programme-specific capacity builders that promote the implementation of school prevention programmes in Singapore schools. SWOT analysis completed by 308 school programme leaders yielded five organisational-level general capacity builders and two programme-specific factors related to teacher training and technical support. Fewer opportunities and threats present as challenges to strengthening school capacity to deliver programmes effectively. Implications arising from the analysis were discussed.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to leverage the perspectives of School Resource Officers (SROs) to develop improvement strategies aimed toward effective and efficient school-based policing. This study offers recommendations to improve SRO programs, with the goal of streamlining the path toward safer schools. Design/methodology/approach The present study was guided by two overarching research questions that aim to leverage the perspectives of SROs. The first question aimed to identify SROs’ perceived barriers to successful school-based policing, while the second question explores their perspectives in hopes of developing solutions for improved school safety. This study used secondary qualitative data to explore the perspectives of SROs (n=456) via an opened-ended section of a statewide survey of SROs conducted by the North Carolina Center for Safer Schools. Conventional content analysis was the approach used to explore the data. Findings SROs identified the need for improved quality of and access to training, additional resources allocations and improved program implementation on the part of both policing agencies and school districts. Practical implications The authors recommend standardizing the manner in which SRO programs are implemented. In addition, partnerships should be developed between school districts and policing agencies to use school-based behavioral specialists to support SRO programs. Finally, the authors recommend further study of school-based policing as a concept in the academic community. Originality/value Little is known about the experiences and needs of SROs themselves. The present studies address this gap in the literature, leveraging their perspectives to streamline a path toward safer schools.

Schools, like other service sectors, are confronted with an implementation gap, with the slow adoption and uneven implementation of evidence-based practices (EBP) as part of routine service delivery, undermining efforts to promote better youth behavioral health outcomes. Implementation researchers have undertaken systematic efforts to publish taxonomies of implementation strategies (i.e., methods or techniques that are used to facilitate the uptake, use, and sustainment of EBP), such as the Expert Recommendations for Implementing Change (ERIC) Project. The 73-strategy ERIC compilation was developed in the context of healthcare and largely informed by research and practice experts who operate in that service sector. Thus, the comprehensibility, contextual appropriateness, and utility of the existing compilation to other service sectors, such as the educational setting, remain unknown. The purpose of this study was to initiate the School Implementation Strategies, Translating ERIC Resources (SISTER) Project to iteratively adapt the ERIC compilation to the educational sector. The results of a seven-step adaptation process resulted in 75 school-adapted strategies. Surface-level changes were made to the majority of the original ERIC strategies (52 out of 73), while five of the strategies required deeper modifications for adaptation to the school context. Six strategies were deleted and seven new strategies were added based on existing school-based research. The implications of this study’s findings for prevention scientists engaged in implementation research (e.g., creating a common nomenclature for implementation strategies) and limitations are discussed.

This systematic review describes a set of practices that have evidence of positive effects with autistic children and youth. This is the third iteration of a review of the intervention literature (Odom et al. in J Autism Dev Disorders 40(4):425–436, 2010a; Prevent School Fail 54(4):275–282, 2010b; Wong et al. in https://autismpdc.fpg.unc.edu/sites/autismpdc.fpg.unc.edu/files/imce/documents/2014-EBP-Report.pdf ; J Autism Dev Disorders 45(7):1951–1966, 2015), extending coverage to articles published between 1990 and 2017. A search initially yielded 31,779 articles, and the subsequent screening and evaluation process found 567 studies to include. Combined with the previous review, 972 articles were synthesized, from which the authors found 28 focused intervention practices that met the criteria for evidence-based practice (EBP). Former EBPs were recategorized and some manualized interventions were distinguished as meeting EBP criteria. The authors discuss implications for current practices and future research.

The beliefs that learners hold are a key variable in language learning, and from a socio-cultural perspective, learner beliefs are connected to the context in which learning takes place. This study, which forms part of a more extensive project on beliefs about English as a foreign language (EFL), explores the views of a group of students and instructors at the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC) regarding content learning in English. The beliefs of 373 students and instructors were measured by means of a questionnaire and interview. Despite indicating a generally positive predisposition towards EMI programmes, the responses varied based on the academic field of the course content, students’ previous language-learning experience and the type of English instruction used in teaching. In addition, the data revealed a series of issues concerning the implementation of EMI programmes at the USC. This study is the first of its type to be conducted at this institution and one of the few in Galicia. Findings from the study underscore the context-specific nature of beliefs in general while also drawing the USC, together with other Spanish and foreign academic institutions, into a broader assessment and discussion of EMI programmes. Las creencias del estudiantado son una variable importante en el proceso de aprendizaje de un idioma, y desde un enfoque sociocultural, guardan una estrecha relación con el contexto donde se aprende. Como parte de un proyecto más extenso acerca de las creencias sobre el Inglés como Lengua Extranjera (ILE), en este estudio se exploraron las ideas preconcebidas de un grupo de estudiantes y profesores de la Universidade de Santiago de Compostela (USC) sobre el aprendizaje de contenidos en inglés. Para ello se recopiló información de 373 participantes mediante un cuestionario y una entrevista. Los datos indican que, a pesar de que los participantes mostraron una predisposición favorable hacia los programas EMI, el área académica del alumnado, su experiencia previa en el aprendizaje de idiomas, y el tipo de instrucción en inglés del profesorado marcaron algunas diferencias. Además, se identificaron una serie de cuestiones relacionadas con la implementación de estos programas en la USC. Al ser el primero de su tipo que se realiza en esta institución y uno de los pocos en Galicia, este estudio refuerza el carácter contextual de las creencias y ubica a la USC, junto a otras universidades españolas e internacionales, en la evaluación de los programas EMI.

Professional development programs are based on different theories of how students learn and different theories of how teachers learn. Reviewers often sort programs according to design features such as program duration, intensity, or the use of specific techniques such as coaches or online lessons, but these categories do not illuminate the programs' underlying purpose or premises about teaching and teacher learning. This review sorts programs according to their underlying theories of action, which include (a) a main idea that teachers should learn and (b) a strategy for helping teachers enact that idea within their own ongoing systems of practice. Using rigorous research design standards, the review identifies 28 studies. Because studies differ in multiple ways, the review presents program effects graphically rather than statistically. Visual patterns suggest that many popular design features are not associated with program effectiveness. Furthermore, different main ideas are not differentially effective. However, the pedagogies used to facilitate enactment differ in their effectiveness. Finally, the review addresses the question of research design for studies of professional development and suggests that some widely favored research designs might adversely affect study outcomes.