An evidence-based intervention for antisocial teenagers which offers therapy for the whole family is coming to the end of the first year of a first UK trial.

The need to adapt proven programs to local conditions worries developers and evaluators, but inside the Functional Family Therapy Inc. they take a rosier view, treating adjustment to local conditions as a valuable investment in future international relationships.

Controversy surrounding the contentious claims made for the success of a US drug prevention program provides a rough guide to the pitfalls likely to trouble the designers of any high-profile, social advertising campaign – particularly if they decide to evaluate their own performance.

An editorial in the UK journal Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry reviews the uncertain progress of the evidence-based practitioner and considers the case for encouraging her or him to make a new, more mindful start with a clean sheet.

A teenage pregnancy prevention program’s failure to repeat its successful New York performance in the UK may vindicate a decision to challenge the assumption that whatever works over there will work over here. But it can also be read as an indictment of the frailties of evaluation methods that settle for less than a randomized controlled trial.

A first randomized controlled trial of an online intervention to help young people to cope with the stresses and strains of romantic relationships suggests that the pain often needs to get worse before it gets better.

The randomized controlled trial may provide the benchmark for all dependable program evaluation, but there are circumstances in which trials are very difficult to construct and ethically impossible to condone. Michael Power reviews some of the evidence.

Excess stress experienced at a very early age may predispose children to permanently exaggerated responses, worsening the impact of any later misfortune. It all points to the need for early intervention to help them cope, say researchers at the University of Denver.

Eating together and singing together are important ingredients of a proven program designed to help families become more sociable, adaptable and responsive to their children's changing needs.

Evidence that programs designed to galvanize community spirit can reduce the risk of antisocial behavior developing in infancy is improving – at least enough to strengthen the case for more “collective efficacy” research.

Is ten years in the US Defense department good training for a career persuading government to divert more funds into rigorous evaluation and to support the widespread implementation of programs that will enhance young people’s prospects. Jon Baron’s experience suggests so.

Prevention scientists will readily agree that consistent repetition of results is the cornerstone of successful evaluation, but too many developers still bridle at the thought of independent replication. “It's a hard sell,” explains Brian Flay, chair of the US Society for Prevention Research standard-setters.

Efficacy trials may show that they will work in ideal conditions, but programs that are over-complicated, inadequately documented or plain dull are not fit for the real world… The US Society for Prevention Research laments the lack of scientific interest in dissemination.

Something more compelling than a mere association between cause and effect, reliance on more than one trial, a complete declaration of positive and negative results – US Society for Prevention Research efficacy standards may sound eminently reasonable but they raise the bar higher than many program evaluators can easily reach.

Prevention science teaches the importance of consistent analytical method. So, if you were to compare eight databases of effective violence prevention programs, you’d expect to find the same names appearing in roughly the same short order. Well, wouldn’t you?

There is plenty of evidence that prevention initiatives which try to influence the entire school environment can be very effective. However, with such complex programs, success is at the mercy of so many more factors, says new research from Pennsylvania.

Cub scouts, youth clubs, church groups, football teams - parents have long believed that sending their children to do organized activities was harmless fun, or that it might even do them some good. However, new research from the US suggests it’s not quite so simple.

New research from the University of Utah suggests that the way teenagers respond to the influence of their friends may depend on their ethnic background. Shouldn’t prevention efforts be taking these subtle nuances into account?

The recent trial in Hawaii of a social and character development curriculum - that has been in action in schools across the globe for nearly a quarter of a century - finally provides solid evidence that it helps children keep clear of sex, drugs and violence.

His most abiding legacy will be the 3,000 plus Sure Start children’s centers that serve disadvantaged children across the UK each day. Naomi Eisenstadt, Director of the UK Social Exclusion Unit, and Prevention Action’s executive editor Michael Little, pay tribute to Norman Glass, the former director of the National Centre for Social Research, who died last month.

Although many lessons have been learnt in terms of responding to the immediate threat of another high school shooting, ways to prevent this ever happening have been left by the wayside, despite compelling evidence.

“It’s the difference between understanding evidence based practices and evidence-based programs. Both are important, but we don't yet know how the two fit together.” Professor Del Elliott looks forward to a synthesis of Blueprints-style “benchmarking” of initiatives and the improving meta-analysis of prevention strategies.

Despite a growing number of violence prevention programs that have been proven to work, the majority of schools in the US continue to invest in ineffective programs or oppressive security measures. Speaking in Birmingham, UK - the site of a $60m investment in evidence-based interventions for children - prevention expert Del Elliott reflects on the challenges faced by policy makers who go against the grain.