Using intervention mapping to develop “me & you: Building healthy relationships,” a healthy relationship intervention for early middle school Students

Intervention mapping (IM) is a stepped intervention development process that incorporates evidence from empirical and theoretical research and community input to develop health promotion programs. Developed by Bartholomew Eldredge et al. (2016. Planning health promotion programs: An intervention mapping approach (4th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass), IM consists of six steps: (1) construct a logic model of the problem, (2) state program outcomes and objectives, (3) design program, (4) produce program, (5) prepare program implementation plan, and (6) evaluation plan. IM has been used extensively to develop health promotion interventions in a variety of areas, including cancer screening, uptake of influenza vaccination, and HIV, sexually transmitted infection (STI), and teen pregnancy prevention (Garba & Gadanya, 2017. PLoS ONE, 12, e0174438). This chapter serves a case study to illustrate how this systematic intervention development process, which uses an ecological framework, was used to develop “Me & You: Building Healthy Relationships,” a new healthy relationship program for early adolescent youth that includes youth, parent, and school components.