Applying comprehensive quality programming and empowerment evaluation to reduce implementation barriers

Empowerment Evaluation (EE) and Comprehensive Quality Programming (CQP) are presented as tools for reducing the barriers of insufficient ownership and insufficient capacity. EE and CQP emphasize the mutual influences of resea rch-directed and community-directed approaches to prevention, in contrast t o approaches to implementation that rely more heavily on the unidirectional transfer of technology from researchers to communities. We illustrate the use of EE and CQP in their consultation with practitioners and community st akeholders as a means of introducing research methodology and prevention sc ience in a manner that is consistent with local values and beliefs (thereby increasing community ownership), and facilitates the mobilization of schoo l and community resources (thereby increasing capacity).