R3-Impact Partners Topic Guide
Introduction. We are from the research firm [Abt Associates/Child Trends] and we are conducting the [STUDY NAME] evaluation. The study is overseen by the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE), in collaboration with the Children’s Bureau, in the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). As part of the evaluation, we are conducting an implementation study to learn how counties implementing [PMP or START] are approaching their work.
As part of this study, we are talking with community agencies and organizations to learn more about how [PMP/START] is being delivered in your community. During our conversation, we will ask questions to understand more about your community, your agency / organization, and how [PMP/START] is being implemented in your community, including partners involved in implementing the program, factors influencing implementation of [PMP/START], and your thoughts about how well the program is working.
Before beginning our discussion, we want to thank you for agreeing to talk with us today. We know you are busy and we appreciate the valuable time you are spending with us today. The interview will take about 60 minutes. Your participation is voluntary, and there are no penalties for choosing not to take part in the interview. You can refuse to answer any questions or stop the interview at any time. Our aim is to learn from your insights and experience. There are no right or wrong answers. Your answers will be kept private to the extent permitted by law. The information you provide will not be shared with other staff at your agency or organization. Your name will not be listed in any published reports, and comments will not be attributed to you. Instead, your answers will be combined with answers provided by other people in your same role that we interview across the country for this study. However, because of the relatively small number of agencies/organizations participating in the study, there is a possibility that a response could be correctly attributed to you. Your data will only be used for research purposes. The legal authority for this project is 42 U.S.C. § 1310a and Public Law 115-271. For System of Records Notice (SORN) information, please see the SORN number 09-80-0361, “OPRE Research and Evaluation Project Records.
We would like to record this discussion with a digital recorder so we can listen to it later when we write up our notes to make sure we captured everything accurately. No one besides our research team and the transcription vendor will listen to the recording. If you want to say anything that you don’t want recorded, please let us know and we will be glad to pause the recorder. Do you have any objections to being part of this interview or to us recording our discussion?
This collection of information is voluntary and will be used to understand programs that provide peer mentoring for parents involved in the child welfare system. Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 60 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. The OMB number and expiration date for this collection are OMB #: XXXX, Exp: XXXX. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden to Kimberly Francis (Abt Associates); kimberly_francis@abtassoc.com.
Do you have any questions before we begin?
[Interviewers: this guide is for use with key collaborative partners such as treatment providers, mental health providers, and housing agencies]
Respondent Information
Name, title, organization/affiliation, length of involvement with the organization and with the program
Overall role/job responsibilities
Local Context (CFIR Domain: Outer Setting)
Local political, economic, and geographic conditions
Barriers to family stability
Transportation to/from neighborhoods where families live
To areas where jobs are available
To schools
Housing affordability and availability
Availability of jobs suitable for people in recovery
Availability of employers providing support to people in recovery/“Recovery-Oriented Workplaces”
Policy context, such as occupational licensing restrictions
Families most / least affected by these barriers
Programs / resources in the community to remove barriers
Recent local policy or community efforts to remove these barriers, such as fair chance hiring
Facilitators of family stability
Social supports
Community sense of collective efficacy
Differential access to facilitators
Local substance use disorder conditions
Trends in substance use, including types of substances, in areas served by program (e.g., arrests, hospitalizations, overdose, etc.) [pre-populate from secondary sources, SAMSHSA, CDC prior to visit]
Treatment and recovery service landscape, including availability and accessibility of the ASAM levels of care and particularly culturally specific services.
Policy shifts in recent years on substance use issues, such as decriminalization of certain substances, increased use of telemedicine, increased MOUD access (e.g. through buprenorphine waivers).
Effects of decriminalization on organizational approach around abstinence and harm reduction
Implications for child welfare or criminal justice involvement due to now-legal drug possession/use
Prior grants and initiatives to address high rates of SUD, overall and for CW-involved parents specifically
History of inter-agency efforts to address high rates of SUD, overall and for CW-involved parents specifically
Agency Background (CFIR Domain: Outer Setting)
[Pre-populate from agency website and confirm on site if needed]:
Organization’s major sources of funding
Organization’s total number of paid staff, including number of staff and percent FTE
Degree to which racial/ethnic composition of staff mirrors community demographics
Utilization of peer mentors
Annual number of clients served overall
Relevant programs and services offered by organization/agency, including other peer support services.
Partnerships within the community
Relationship with culturally specific organizations (treatment, mental health, other)
Associations with other peer recovery programs
Types of clients served or targeted, including prior experience serving CW-involved parents with substance use concerns.
Identification of priority populations
Treatment of co-occurring disorders/dual diagnosis
Barriers to CW-involved parents engaging in and completing program
Families most / least affected by these barriers
Strategies for equitable access to services
Facilitators of CW-involved parents engaging in and completing program
Organization’s approach to promoting racial equity
Racial equity goals and strategies for measuring progress toward them
Specific racial equity strategies, such as staff training and hiring, use of data, etc.
Program Background (CFIR Domains: Process of Implementation, Individuals)
How agency first heard about START/PMP
Role as a partner in START/PMP
Process for collaboration
Existence of formal partnership agreements (MOA/MOU)
Reasons for interest in partnering with START/PMP
Capacity for partnering with START/PMP, including sufficiency of partner staff and resources for partnership
How START/PMP aligns with broader partner organizational goals, including around recovery and racial equity
Leadership support for partnership with START/PMP
Concerns about START/PMP and how these concerns have been addressed
Concerns about serving CW-involved parents
Concerns about working with mentors
Concerns about working with specific communities
Other concerns
Operational Challenges and Successes
Ways the partnership has exceeded or fallen short of its goals
Challenges the partnership has encountered and how they were overcome
Areas for improvement; plans for changes and modifications
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| Author | Carrie Furrer |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2023-08-18 |