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In an effort to bridge the research-science gap, Dr. Melissa DeRosier founded 3-C Institute for Social Development (3-C ISD) in 2001. Since its inception, 3-C ISD has received grant funding from NIH to develop and test a wide variety of interventions, including social skills programs for children, adolescents, and parents; behavioral interventions for diverse youth; and classroom interventions to improve school climate. At 3-C ISD, real-world implementation support is integrated into curriculum development from the beginning to ensure that programs are usable, easy to implement, and engaging. Curricula are rigorously tested for efficacy and effectiveness as well as product fit within the service setting. Finalized intervention products are then delivered to schools and providers through SELmedia, Inc., 3-C ISD's commercialization partner. |
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In the early 1990s, Dr. DeRosier began her academic career working with schools, researching children's peer relationships and their impact on academic, behavioral, and emotional adjustment. Over the course of several years, she developed and tested her first social skills intervention, S.S.GRIN (Social Skills Group Intervention). It became increasingly clear to Dr. DeRosier that evidence-based programs (EBPs) were seldom used outside of research studies and that heavily marketed, commercially packaged programs with no basis in science were more likely to make their way into everyday practice. The fact that EBPs are rarely commercialized means that school staff are not likely to know an EBP is available much less how to access it. In addition, while they are not often research-based, commercially packaged programs tend to be more visually appealing, user friendly, and easy to implement compared to manuals and protocols generated for research purposes. Therefore, in her development of S.S.GRIN, Dr. DeRosier purposefully integrated both science and input from service providers to create an EBP that is not only effective for improving children's social functioning, but also easily usable and feasible within school and community settings. The success of this strategy is reflected in the finding that 75% of school counselors who were trained in S.S.GRIN during the mid-1990s reported that they were still using the program with students in their schools in 2005. |
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3-C ISD successfully moves intervention products from development to testing to commercialization. In addition to S.S.GRIN, intervention products created by 3-C ISD include LifeStories for Kids, Emotional Literacy in the Classroom, and Cultural Heritage Stories for Kids. Schools and community mental health centers across the United States and abroad are currently using 3-C ISD's products with thousands of children. Responses by providers have been very positive, with high levels of implementation and sustainability of the interventions. Reviews by parents and children have also been extremely positive and our products have won multiple awards. |
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Over the course of 3-C ISD's history, use of
technology has become increasingly integral to its products and services. In
addition to including multimedia and web-based components in all of our
interventions, 3-C ISD has become a leader in online training and dissemination
in the fields of mental health and social behavioral sciences. Through multiple
NIH-funded projects, 3-C ISD has constructed effective online training formats
and web-based tools. Interlink Training Dissemination Services offers an
innovative technology infrastructure and suite of tools that have been proven
effective for achieving training goals and are specifically designed to meet
the needs of research scientists and clinical professionals. 4researchers is a
free resource offering practical information from well-respected experts about
conducting research. 4researchers also offers engaging and informative continuing
education (CE) courses.
Increasingly, 3-C ISD has employed its web-based technology expertise in the service of its overarching mission to foster EBP use in everyday practice. Online professional trainings have been developed for 3-C ISD's commercialized interventions, which are being successfully delivered to teachers and counselors. 3-C ISD, with support from NIMH, is developing and testing an innovative web-center specifically designed to deliver an online version of its Parent Guide to S.S.GRIN intervention directly to parents via the Internet. Through grant funding from NIH, 3-C ISD is also developing and testing a suite of web-based implementation tools and services that extend beyond preintervention training to include ongoing training, support, resources, and accountability tools. This web-based implementation toolkit, called Centervention, can be broadly applied to any EBP in support of quality implementation and sustainability within school or community services settings. |
