IMPROVING EFFICIENCY AND EFFECTIVENESS IN TRAINING OF COMMUNITY-BASED FACILITATORS FOR A BEHAVIORAL HEALTH INTERVENTION

Purpose: Training facilitators to implement behavioral health interventions poses challenges for developers. Many programs rely on multi-day, face-to-face staff training and train-the-trainer sessions, which may not be cost-effective, scalable, or sustainable for many prevention interventions. This...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of adolescent health 2020-02, Vol.66 (2S), p.S107
Main Authors: Murray, Pamela J, Ashcraft, Amie M, Berta, Anna Maria, Lanyon, Mandy B, Downs, Julie
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent girls
Behavioral psychology
Clinical trials
Community health care
Community organizations
Community-based programs
Cost analysis
Dissemination
Distance learning
Feedback
Fidelity
Flexibility
Implementation
Individualized instruction
Intervention
Medical personnel
Morality
Nutrition
Problem solving
Public health
Responsiveness
Sexual health
Teams
Technology
Training needs
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Purpose: Training facilitators to implement behavioral health interventions poses challenges for developers. Many programs rely on multi-day, face-to-face staff training and train-the-trainer sessions, which may not be cost-effective, scalable, or sustainable for many prevention interventions. This presentation will describe the challenges and opportunities experienced by our team as we developed and implemented training for geographically dispersed communitybased facilitators. Methods: We developed and refined novel facilitator training methods for health educators in a randomized controlled trial evaluating a sexual health intervention, Your Move, against a nutrition control intervention, Eat Smart, with female adolescents at community organizations in six states. The purpose of the training was (1) to familiarize facilitators with the program content, (2) to ensure fidelity to the program model, (3) to demonstrate the technical equipment used for program delivery, and (4) to prepare facilitators for problem-solving and troubleshooting as needed. Following standard practice, we initially offered a multi-day, face-to-face training with verbatim demonstration of all content. However, the high staff turnover we experienced, which we learned was not unusual in these settings, created excessive demand for continual trainings. Cost and logistical issues for the research team, feedback from our implementation partners, and feedback from the facilitators themselves led us to identify and implement efficiencies in training, relying more on gist-based methods, which we tested through iterative changes responding to facilitator training needs within the constraints of our staff and budget. Results: Our systematically responsive efforts to provide high-quality, engaging facilitator training within typical field constraints highlighted the following training strategies: (1) identifying aspects of training that could be done remotely; (2) leveraging existing online training modules where available; (3) shifting from verbatim content to gist-based learning and feedback through experience, and (4) moving toward individualized instruction and self-guided resources on technical equipment and troubleshooting. Conclusions: Facilitator training for behavioral health interventions has evolved very little over the years. Distance learning techniques have long been in place, but appear to be under-utilized in this setting. Leveraging the acceptance of technology in our communit
ISSN:1054-139X
1879-1972