A mixed-methods study to understand the impact of practitioner and organizational factors on fidelity of a child maltreatment prevention intervention in community-based settings.

Abstract

This mixed-methods study sought to understand the impact of practitioner and organizational factors on fidelity of a child maltreatment prevention intervention in community-based settings. The study first asked case planners about their perceptions of practitioner and organizational factors related to fidelity through an online survey. This survey was connected to case-level fidelity scores to understand the relationship between perceptions and fidelity. The qualitative phase of this study involved further exploration with nine case planner interviews and two separate focus groups with supervisors and agency leadership. The results of this study suggest that supervision is a key contributor to a practitioner's ability to implement a maltreatment prevention intervention. Both methods of the study suggest that various aspects of supervision, including supervisors' perseverance, proactiveness, knowledge, availability, and skill reinforcement are important components of enhancing a practitioner's ability to learn and use the intervention. Additional components that influence the implementation for future research emerged from the qualitative phase related to system expectations and policies, individual practitioner attributes, and characteristics of the intervention.