Maintenance effects of an evidence-based prevention innovation for aggressive children living in culturally diverse urban neighborhoods: The early risers effectiveness study

The present study assessed the ability of the Early Risers' Skills for Success Program to maintain program effects 1 year post intervention. Participants were 327 kindergarten and first-grade children who screened positive for aggressive behavior and who were randomized to program and control conditions. Program children participated in 2 continuous years of active intervention followed by 1 year of no formal intervention activities. Following the active intervention phase, program children, compared to controls, showed significant gains in school adjustment and social competence but not in academic achievement (August, Lee, Bloomquist, Realmuto, & Hektner, 2003). At the 1-year follow up, program effects were not maintained using intent-to-intervene analyses. Level-of-dosage analyses, however, revealed significant relationships between children's level of participation and measures of their social competence, externalizing problems, and academic achievement. We discuss discrepancy in findings by type of analyses within the context of transporting well-controlled efficacy trials to effectiveness trials in real-world settings.