What Is Intervention? What Is Intervention? How Do They Work Together?

What is intervention? What is evaluation? How do they work together?

Applied social psychologists carry a unique responsibility in that their vision of the world’s problems must be viewed through a lens of change. When an applied social psychologist sees a problem the question that arises is this a human behavior problem. Once that is determined they look to “how people think about, feel about, relate to, and influence one another” (Schneider, Gruman, & Coutts, 2012). Applied social psychology is science based so that in order to address the problem the approach must be methodical and be able to proving causality. To initiate the sequence there must “observation, theory development, deduction (hypothesis development), and hypothesis testing”

An applied social psychologist wants to take this knowledge and apply it in the real world to advance positive change in behaviors (PSU WC, L 3, p.1). Their goal is to develop an intervention strategy that can bring about positive social change. Developing an intervention strategy is intended to create a social change in a specific area. Interventions should be designed to be changing attitudes, behaviors, and norms (Steg and Rothengatter, 2008). There are two types of intervention, personal and programmatic. “Personal interventions are those that people carry out in the course of their daily lives, when they use their knowledge …to improve their own circumstances…”(Schneider et al., 2012). Evidence of this can be seen in government, school, business, environmental, and organizational policies. Affirmative action, pollution reduction, support for challenged students, sex education, Title 9, and work productivity are just a few examples of the impact that applied social psychology has had. For an intervention to be successful it must also follow a prescribed sequence. To implement an intervention goals and objectives must be clear and there must be buy in from the stakeholders. But an intervention is without legitimacy unless it is

The dental school free clinic was reporting an increased number of elementary age school children that were showing tooth decay and the need for fillings. Knowing their target audience by location and school the dental school proposed an intervention that could address the goal of improving dental health care for this group of children. Working with a graduate student in applied social psychology the problem was reviewed and a goal of improving children’s dental health was decided. This goal of improving children’s dental health was supported by the dental school, local school administration, and parents. The stakeholders allowed access to the children during school time and after school time. The objectives included teaching children how and when to brush their teeth, oral health, and developing good habits. Dental students, and dental hygiene students created fun activities to teach the children about oral health. Additional support came from pharmaceutical companies that provided free brushes, toothpastes, and props used for the presentations. The interventions were held once a year in the location of the student (school or after school). It was short, interactive, and educational. The evaluations that were used were three fold – the presenters were asked to evaluate the presentation to insure it was followed as it was designed, parents and teachers were asked to