Discussion guide: individual and small-group interviews (Instrument 1)

INSTRUMENT 1

YARH-2 INTERVIEW DISCUSSION GUIDE

The Implementation Grants to Develop a Model Intervention for Youth/Young Adults with Child Welfare Involvement at Risk of Homelessness (YARH) process study will use the discussion guide that follows this cover page to guide individual interviews conducted during the site visits.

The YARH-2 process study will include one site visit to each grantee. During the site visit, we will interview (1) key program administrators, (2) frontline staff, and (3) partner organizations contributing to implementation. Interviews will be conducted either one-on-one or in small groups, depending on staffing structure, roles, and the number of people in a role.

We will use this instrument after reviewing the Consent Statement and gaining consent (see Attachment C).

Here, we list the topics we will cover. The list of topics is organized around the eight key areas of research presented in Supporting Statement Part A.

Topics for discussion

The particular questions will be developed for each grantee and respondent to reflect what is already known about the grantee and the respondent’s role on the implementation team. We have presented the topics organized by research question described in Supporting Statement Part A.

Warm-up

How is [name of program] going? (Probe on positive and negative aspects of the program.)

Role

How would you describe your role in the program? (Follow up on how long the interviewee has been in the role and involved in the program.)

Experiences with the program

Now, I have some questions about your experiences with [the program], with regard to what you are doing to incorporate the program into the child welfare system to make the program a success.

For each program component (including identification, recruitment, and assessment of each program component), probe on:

• Changes to the process/component during implementation

• Perceived challenges with the process/component and how challenges were addressed

• Perceptions of what has been helpful with the process/component

• Perceptions of staff/partner reactions to the process/component

• Perceptions of youth reactions to the process/component

Youth identification, recruitment, and assessment

• Please walk me through how you are identifying, recruiting, and assessing youth in population 1.

• Please walk me through how you are identifying, recruiting, and assessing young adults in population 2.

• Please walk me through how you are identifying, recruiting, and assessing youth in population 3.

Service delivery model

Ask the following questions for each program component.

• How is [program component] going?

• How was [program component] initially introduced to staff/partners?

• Has [program component] been rolled out as planned? Why or why not?

• Do you see benefits to [program component]?

• Can you give examples of how [program component] is resulting in changes in how youth receive services or changes to the child welfare system?

Implementation activities

Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcomes (PICO)

• Please walk me through how you refined your articulation of PICO elements. (Probe on each element: Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome.)

• How has articulating the PICO elements helped you implement the program? (Probe on each element.)

• What has been challenging about articulating the PICO elements? (Probe on each element.)

Rapid-Cycle/Usability testing

• Please walk me through what you did for usability testing during program implementation.

• How has usability testing helped you implement the program?

• What has been challenging about usability testing?

Formative evaluation

• Please walk me through what you have done to formatively evaluate your program.

• How has formative evaluation helped you implement the program?

• What has been challenging about formative evaluation of your program?

Rigorous summative evaluation

• Please walk me through what you have done to prepare for rigorous summative evaluation of your program.

• What has helped you prepare for a rigorous summative evaluation?

• What challenges have you faced in preparing for a rigorous summative evaluation?

• How did PICO, usability testing, and formative evaluation support this effort?