Dr. Marina Piazza is the International Technology Transfer Center Director of Peru and has significant research, consulting, and clinical experience in the development and implementation of alcohol, drugs, and mental health prevention, intervention, and promotion programs at the local and national level. In the past twenty years at the School of Public Health and Administration of the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, she has established leadership creating and directing the Alcohol, Substance Use and Mental Health Research Unit. During the last years she has participated in the World Mental Health Study, the GENACIS study, and the International Alcohol Research Study. She have leaded implementation research programs, as the WHO IPiER Improving Program Implementation through Embedded Research initiative, the Scale-up of Prevention and Management of Alcohol Use Disorders in Latin America SCALA European Union's Horizon 2020 funding among other studies.
Abstract
Assessing Needs to Design Context-Specific Technology Transfer: The ITTC Network Approach
The International Technology Transfer Center (ITTC) Network for drug demand reduction develops and strengthens the workforce, organizations, and systems that provide substance use prevention, treatment, and recovery services. ITTCs employ an array of technology transfer strategies, grounded in implementation science and harmonized by an International Coordinating Office, to achieve goals. One critical ITTC strategy is a comprehensive needs assessment that consists of four phases: describe the current drug use situation in a country or region, map where substance use services are provided, identify gaps in services, and detail training and consultation needs. Within this common approach to needs assessment, each ITTC must make decisions about how to conduct the needs assessment in a way that is relevant to the context of that country. In this oral presentation, a panel of ITTC directors from four to five countries will explain their approach to needs assessment, why they took a specific approach, what information they gathered, and how that information is being used to design strategies that will advance evidence-based interventions and policies in their country. Common themes that have been uncovered across all ITTC needs assessments will be featured.