Discussion Guide for Program Directors

Discussion Guide for Program Directors

• Tell me about yourself.

• Role at organization

• Educational background, career path

• Interest in social services/government work

• Interest in healthy marriage, family strengthening

• Tell me why your organization is delivering healthy marriage services.

• Overall mission and goals of organization; role of healthy marriage

  • How the organization and its leadership see healthy marriage promotion aligning with their overall mission and goals

  • How these ideas are communicated to staff

  • Level of staff reception or buy-in

• Problems healthy marriage education and related services will address

• Problems healthy marriage education and related services will not address/beyond scope of program

• Why your target audience will want healthy marriage education and related services (e.g., how the program will help them)

• How your organization will recruit participants

• Tell me about your healthy marriage project team.

• Total number of staff and their roles

• How you made staffing decisions (e.g., numbers, education/training, personalities, bilingual, cultural sensitivity/competency, life experiences, various roles and responsibilities)

• How you decided the mixture of paid (full/part-time), volunteer and mentoring staff

• How you recruited and hired staff

• Training provided; professional development offered

• Total staff numbers and jobs

• Selection, training, and management of service delivery partners

• Tell me what it takes to operate the healthy marriage program.

• Financial support (Federal, matching and other)

• Building facilities, transportation, participant reimbursements, child care, food, incentives

• Management information system or other data collection system

• Tell me about your healthy marriage program

• Curriculum/a used (your own or commercial)

  • How you found/selected a commercial one or how you created your own

  • What you like/dislike about the curriculum

  • If more than one, how they are used (e.g., different ones for different populations, different classroom formats, one as main, second in post-class groups)

  • Any adaptations made – why and how

  • How curriculum addresses the needs of Hispanics, and of your target population specifically

  • Languages curriculum are available in, and taught in

• Role, if any, the program has in facilitating participants’ understanding of differences in cultural norms regarding marriage and marital relationships between countries of origin and the U.S.

• Other services provided and how provided (on site, through referral to partner)

• Tell me about your clients.

• Population as described in the grant proposal (target population) (age, race, sex, relationship characteristics, socio-economic status, Hispanic, country of ancestry, length of time in the U.S., language preference, parenting children)

• Characteristics of participants enrolled/served, and whether different from population anticipated

• Tell me about the process to recruit and enroll participants.

• Recruitment activities (where, by whom, messages/materials used, delivery)

• Number recruited over designated time period (e.g., per month); success of different strategies

• How interested participants contact organization (phone call, email, complete a flyer, show up)

• Intake processes (when, what information, with whom)

• Domestic violence (DV) screening (when, how, steps undertaken if DV disclosed)

• Determination of other service needs; referrals made to other social services; services provided on site (e.g., case management)

• How participants are assigned to classes/mentors/other healthy marriage services

• Parts of the process available in Spanish

• Tell me about the actual healthy marriage education services.

• How often classes are held, number of participants per class, structure of class, total hours to class time over what period of time (e.g., weekly)

• Heterogeneity or homogeneity of participants (i.e., mix of Hispanics and non-Hispanics, new and more established immigrants)

• Main components of the program (classroom teaching, mentor couple discussions, service learning, financial education, support group)

• How healthy marriage programming is tailored to your target audience (and how the concept of healthy marriage is adapted for your participants)

• Adaptations made over time in response to participant characteristics or needs

• What is done for participants that drop out, or have to miss a class

• Tell me about completing your program.

• Number of hours needed to “complete” and to “graduate” – how hours are measured

• Completion and graduation rates, average dosage

• How rates differ (by participant characteristics, by curricula, by format, by facilitator, before and after any major changes)

• Dropout rates

• How information is collected/obtained

• How information is used (e.g., program refinement)

• Tell me about some of the outcomes for participants of the program.

• Outcomes measured and how (customer satisfaction, knowledge, attitude, opinion and behavioral intention change, subsequent changes such as behavior)

• Who collects data

• What the data finds about participant outcomes

• What your impressions suggest

• How outcomes differ by participant characteristics, curricula, format, facilitator, etc.

• How this data is used (e.g., program refinement)

• Tell me about your program evaluation.

• How evaluator was selected

• Communication with the evaluator

• Ongoing use of evaluation data to refine program

• Tell me about some of the longer-term outcomes or goals of the program.

• What changes you would like to see in the participants, your staff, yourself, your organization and your community

• What goals are reasonable for your program to achieve and which are beyond your program’s control

• What societal goals the healthy marriage program might address

• Tell me what you think a “successful” healthy marriage program looks like.

• Success for your organization, the program and the program staff

• Success for various service delivery aspects (grant writing, program creation, recruitment, retention, classroom, other services, evaluation, program refinement, sustainability)

• Anything else you’d like to tell me or think I should know

Wave 2 Questions

• Tell me what’s changed since our last conversation.

• Community changes, agency/organization changes, program changes, staffing changes, grant/federal rule changes, changes that specifically affect Hispanics

• Interim evaluation findings, anecdotal information

• Successes and challenges thus far and how program built on successes or addressed challenges

• Extent to which program implemented and operating as envisioned; what changes made and why

• Tell me how program operations have gone.

• Recruitment levels; participation rates, characteristics of participants (whether expected and any adaptations made)

• How close recruitment and service numbers matched target numbers and reasons for any mismatch

• Changes made based on data collected/analyzed by in-house staff or by evaluator (e.g., enrollment rates, completion rates, customer satisfaction)

• Preliminary thoughts on how the program is affecting the community

• Suggestions you have for a healthy marriage programs that are just starting out, particularly those serving a similar target population (e.g., Hispanics, married couples, youth).

• Vision for the evolution of their program, as well as other marriage programs serving Hispanic populations

• Development or maturation of program curricula over time

• How programs can serve Hispanic populations most effectively