Strengthening the Implementation of Responsible Fatherhood Programs (SIRF)

OMB # 0970-0356

Expiration Date: 6/30/2021

Instrument 3: SIRF Follow-up Meeting with Program Staff Protocol

Strengthening the Implementation of Responsible Fatherhood Programs (SIRF)

Semi-Structured Follow-up Protocol with Program Staff

Thank you for taking time to meet with the SIRF study team. My name is _______________, and I’m a researcher with MDRC/MEF/Insight Policy Research. As a reminder, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has contracted with MDRC and its partners, MEF Associates and Insight Policy Research, to conduct SIRF. It will utilize rapid learning methods, or iterative cycles of learning to identify implementation roadblocks, design and test solutions, interpret findings, and make adaptations to practice and measurement.

This meeting and similar meetings with other fatherhood programs have two main purposes. The first is for the SIRF team to learn from programs about the challenges that fatherhood programs face with program implementation. This could include, but is not limited to, challenges recruiting fathers, enrolling them in services, engaging them in initial services, or retaining them as participants in ongoing services. We are also interested in learning about successful or innovative strategies your program has employed to solve these challenges.

Please know that meeting with us is completely voluntary, and you can choose not to answer any question you don’t want to answer, or to leave the discussion entirely without any penalty. The discussion will last approximately 2 hours. If you complete only part of our conversation, we may use the information we collected from you before that point to better understand the program.  

 

Anything that you share in the interview will be kept private and will not be used to evaluate you in any way.  

 

I’ll be taking some notes in order to keep track of what we discussed here today.  

 

They’ll be stored securely.  They will not be shared with anyone outside of the SIRF team.

 

An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. The OMB # for this information collection is 0970-0356 and the expiration date is 6/30/2021.

Do you have any questions before we get started? 

  

About the Staff

1. What is your role at [insert program name]?

2. Have you held other roles at [insert program name]? If so, what were your previous positions?

3. What are your main responsibilities in your current role?

4. How long have you been in this position?

About Program Participants

1. What is your experience engaging with program participants?

2. What are the main barriers that clients face? (e.g. housing, transportation, substance abuse, etc.)

3. Are there common characteristics of participants that benefit most from the program? If so, what are they?

4. Are there common characteristics of participants who do not benefit from the program? If so, what are they?

Recruitment

1. Can you describe the process to recruit participants? Does the program use targeted recruitment practices?

2. Are there dedicated staff to recruit participants?

3. What is your role in recruitment?

4. How do participants usually respond to recruitment practices?

5. What are reasons participants may not respond to recruitment efforts?

6. Can you describe the biggest recruitment challenges your program faces?

7. How has [insert program name] changed its recruitment practices to improve recruitment?

1. What has worked?

2. What hasn’t worked?

8. Do you have any ideas to improve recruitment?

Service Delivery

1. Can you describe the services offered to fathers? How are services provided?

2. What is your role in service delivery?

3. How do participants respond to services?

4. What are reasons participants may not respond to service delivery practices?

5. Can you describe the biggest implementation challenges your program faces?

6. How has service delivery changed at [insert program name]?

1. What has worked?

2. What hasn’t worked?

7. Do you have any ideas to improve service delivery?

Engagement and Retention

1. How does [insert program name] engage participants? If so, can you describe the process and practices?

2. What other approaches does [insert program name] use to retain participants?

3. What is your role in engaging or retaining participants?

4. How do participants usually respond to engagement or retention strategies?

5. What are reasons participants may not respond to engagement or retention efforts?

6. Can you describe the biggest challenges your program faces to engage or retain fathers in services?

7. How has [insert program name] changed its engagement or retention practices?

1. What has worked?

2. What hasn’t worked?

8. Do you have any ideas to improve engagement or retention?

Overall Challenges and Innovative Ideas

1. What other implementation or process challenges do you think we should learn about?

2. What challenges has [insert program name] faced related to the COVID-19 pandemic? How has [insert program name] responded to these challenges?

3. What other ways to you think [insert program name] could improve?

Capacity for Participating in Diagnosis and Learning Cycles

1. How does your program use data to manage the program?

2. How are the data stored?

3. What methods does [insert program name] use to monitor service delivery?

4. What methods does [insert program name] use to monitor program participation?

5. What methods does [insert program name] use to monitor retention?

6. What methods does [insert program name] use to monitor recruitment?

7. How does [insert program name] monitor changes in their program?

8. What specific program changes or data does [insert program name] monitor?

NOTE: The Paperwork Reduction Act Statement: This collection of information is voluntary and will be used to gather preliminary information about the fatherhood field and explore with fatherhood programs the research questions that are of interest and the design options that are feasible. Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 120 minutes per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and reviewing the collection of information. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden to Katie Pahigiannis; Katie.Pahigiannis@acf.hhs.gov, and Kriti Jain; Kriti.Jain@acf.hhs.gov; Attn: OMB-PRA (0970-0356).