Developing and commercialising an online training course to accredit therapists to deliver the ADVANCE digitally-supported perpetrator intervention for men who misuse substances

Background Prevalence of intimate partner abuse (IPA) perpetration by men in substance misuse treatment is high, yet there is a lack of perpetrator programmes for these men.

We developed the 16-week ADVANCE group manualised intervention to reduce IPA by men receiving substance misuse treatment. ADVANCE was adapted for digitally-supported delivery (ADVANCE-D) during COVID-19.

Findings from both delivery modes demonstrated reductions in IPA and substance use when delivered by trained substance misuse workers. Rationale Demand for ADVANCE-D has been confirmed in substance misuse and criminal justice settings.

The 2021 Domestic Abuse Act allows courts to mandate IPA perpetrators to behaviour change programmes, providing an opportunity to implement ADVANCE-D. We currently train therapists in-person to deliver ADVANCE-D, but as demand increases, we will not have capacity.

Aims To scale-up the delivery and implementation of ADVANCE-D, we will develop and commercialise sustainable online training to accredit therapists to deliver ADVANCE-D.

Development work/timelines Support is available from 01/10/2022-30/09/2023 via King s Intellectual Property and Licensing Team, the Entrepreneurship Institute, Digital Learning, leadership training and expert mentors (including a growth consultant, designer, technologist, investor, and 2 coaches) as part of a King Innovator awarded to the CI to accelerate the development and implementation.

Develop marketing, social media and implementation/knowledge mobilisation strategies (months 1-2) We will work with the growth consultant to develop marketing, social media and implementation strategies to identify and understand the needs of our target audience.

We will consult substance misuse, probation and criminal justice services and therapists and services already delivering ADVANCE-D. The NHS Knowledge Mobilisation Framework will be used to mobilise knowledge to ensure an effective route-to-market.

Adaptation and design of in-person training materials for online delivery and accreditation (months 1-6) We will conduct reviews, feedback and content review, and develop a learning plan to repurpose the current learning materials for online self-directed learning, designed and developed based on best practice instructional design and development for online learning experiences and meeting learning outcomes.

The existing 3-day face to face training course will be adapted to approximately 21 hours of self-directed learning comprising 14 structured modules and 3 hours of individual reading.

The modules will include video demonstrations, interactive practice exercises and quizzes and a competency-based accreditation process to evidence learning. The modules will accessible via a Virtual Learning Environment.

Commercialisation of training (months 4-7) We will develop a business plan with King s Intellectual Property and Licensing Team and King s Translational Research Office to commercialise the online accredited training programme, likely to be through licensing with the potential to consider spin-out formation.

This will generate revenue to fund a sustainable training model to enable more therapists to be trained to deliver ADVANCE-D to meet the increased demand from scaling up.

A commercialisation and revenue sharing agreement will be developed, taking into account any relative inventive and non-inventive contributions of all parties.

Dissemination/Knowledge mobilisation (month 8) We will use the NHS Knowledge Mobilisation Framework to develop and mobilise knowledge. The implementation strategy will be delivered to ensure targeted dissemination and an effective route-to-market.