Translating evidence-based HIV/STD prevention interventions and research findings into applicable HIV prevention practice has become an important challenge for the fields of community psychology and public health due to evidence-based interventions and evidence-based practice being given higher priority and endorsement by federal, state, and local health department funders. The Interactive Systems Framework (ISF) for Dissemination and Implementation and the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention (DHAP) Research-to-Practice model both address this challenge. The DHAP model and the ISF are each presented with a brief history and an introduction of their features from synthesis of research findings through translation into intervention materials to implementation by prevention providers. This paper describes why the ISF and the DHAP model were developed and the similarities and differences between them. Specific examples of the use of the models to translate research to practice and the subsequent implications for support of each model are provided. The paper concludes that the ISF and the DHAP model are truly complementary with some unique differences, while both contribute substantially to addressing the gap between identifying effective programs and ensuring their widespread adoption in the field.

Social work practice has long focused on the connections between an individual and the social environment that affect the individual's social functioning. The Rape Prevention and Education (RPE) Program's theory model, Creating Safer Communities: The Rape Prevention and Education Model of Community Change, provides family social workers with a framework for examining and changing the individual and social factors that lead to sexual violence. This model connects two societal change theories, community readiness and diffusion of innovations, with three individual level theories, theory of reasoned action, theory of planned behavior and the health belief model, for the purpose of ending sexual violence. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) created this theory model to promote the use of theory-based prevention strategies among RPE Program grantees. In this article the authors (1) describe the theoretical underpinnings of the RPE theory model; (2) explore how one RPE grantee, supported with funding from the EMPOWER Program, used the RPE theory model to create a state sexual violence prevention plan; and (3) discuss how family social workers can utilize the model to promote sexual violence prevention within their own states and communities.

Over the past three decades, the effect of intimate partner violence (IPV) and sexual violence (SV) on indivduals and families has become better understood by practitioners, researchers, and society as a whole. Myths that once promoted societal complacency, such as the myth that victims of IPV provoke their perpetrator or that SV is mainly committed by strangers, are increasingly challenged by laws, civil and criminal court systems, and social service systems.

Coalitions are often the means through which communities plan and coordinate services for individuals and address larger environmental issues associated with social problems. Since 2003, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has supported local coordinated community response coalitions (CCRs) in 14 states to prevent intimate partner violence (IPV) through its Domestic Violence Prevention Enhancements and Leadership Through Alliances (DELTA) Program. Utilizing quantitative and qualitative evaluation data from 2003 and 2006 from DELTA-funded CCRs (N = 59), this article reports on improvements in internal CCR capacity and external supports that can affect the ability of CCRs to prevent IPV. Data are examined through the Interactive Systems Framework for Dissemination and Implementation (ISF) to convey how CCR internal capacity and external supports contribute to the substantial infrastructure needed to effectively address IPV. Family social workers will gain an understanding of the capacities needed by CCRs to prevent IPV, the multiple organizations and systems that support the work of these CCRs, and how they themselves can work to strengthen the capacities of local coalitions that address IPV.

Although community ownership has been described as critical to the long-term effectiveness of local coalitions, a lack of consensus exists regarding what community ownership is and what exactly is being owned. This exploratory study examined community ownership of coalitions that address domestic violence from the perspective of community members who initiated and operated these coalitions. Qualitative data collection methods included interviews, observations, and archival review of coalition records. Findings expand current conceptualizations of what community ownership is and how it develops. Results may inform future research regarding how community ownership affects the effectiveness of a coalition's programs and how researchers and government agencies partner with coalitions to address health problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved) (journal abstract).