„When cooperation with the university is not possible in ensuring the scientific basis of preventive intervention, how can the practical and academic common ground be created? It is possible to buy in expert assessment as a service, but it is difficult, everyone is busy, etc. … After all, public universities should contribute back to society … What is their responsibility?”

This question was asked by the local level prevention expert and illustrates the expectation to think about intervention evaluation with higher education institutions, but perception that it is difficult at the moment. Majority of the prevention research originates currently from a handful of high-income countries; there are only some feasibility and effectiveness studies completed in Estonia. In addition, researchers, implementers, developers and decision-makers understand prevention research differently: for funders the effectiveness study might mean evaluating satisfaction with the intervention, for implementers it can mean observation and relying on intuition while the scientist usually thinks about the randomized controlled trial.

Prevention science focuses on the development of effective interventions that reduce risk factors and enhance protective factors to improve the health and wellbeing of people in different settings. In this workshop we will discuss the blind spots in prevention science and pull on the thinking hats of different stakeholders to understand their perspectives. We will discuss how to bring more prevention research into Estonian scientific landscape and inspire researchers to study feasibility, efficacy and effectiveness of preventive interventions implemented in Estonia.