The Impact of Training Interventions on Organizational Readiness to Support Innovations in Juvenile Justice Offices

Abstract

Clinical trials on technology transfer models are rare, even with the interest in advancing the uptake of evidence-based practices in social service agencies. This article presents the results from a trial examining different transfer strategies to assist juvenile justice caseworkers in using screening, assessment, and case planning practices to address mental health and substance use needs. Study findings examine factors that promote organizational readiness. A clinical trial was conducted examining the impact of three post-training strategies: an external coach to build the social network of the justice office (build social climate), an external coach to educate staff (build skills and knowledge), and a control condition consisting of traditional management directives (directives to staff of agency priorities). All groups were exposed to a 1day refresher course in motivational interviewing. The social network and skill building groups also attended an intensive 3-day training followed by three on-site booster sessions over a 12month period of time. Twelve juvenile justice offices (with their 231 juvenile justice staff) were assigned to one of three conditions. The study examined the impact of different transfer conditions on organizational readiness to implement the innovation of screening, assessment, and referral strategies. External coaching targeting the social climate of the justice office to support innovations improved organizational readiness to change, regardless of office size. Coaching that targeted either the social climate or staff knowledge and skills both improved organizational readiness for change compared to management directives, but social climate coaching resulted in greater improvements in receptivity to change. No individual level features of case workers (e.g., age, gender, years of experience) significantly predicted organizational readiness to change. Unexpectedly, the skill and knowledge building approach did not perform any better than management directives only (no post training) efforts. Organizational readiness has been found to be an important factor supporting agencies' adoption of evidence-based practices. Techniques devoted to attending to the social climate are critical to increasing organizational readiness. External coach facilitators can accomplish this through modest means (three post training booster sessions) that build internal expertise and resiliency in support of the change. This is a low cost method of preparing a low resourced environment such as juvenile justice agencies to use evidence-based practices.