Qualitative Process Evaluation of Rural Schools: Uptake of Change Processes and Contextual Factors Influencing Implement
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Qualitative Process Evaluation of Rural Schools: Uptake of Change Processes and Contextual Factors Influencing Implementation Within a Primary Prevention Program for Youth Jamie Yoder 1 & Anne Williford 1 Natalie Kennedy 1
&
Lilyana Ortega 2 & Dorothy L. Espelage 3 & Scott LoMurray 4 & Daniel Ruiz 1 &
# Society for Prevention Research 2020
Abstract Sexual violence (SV), homophobic name-calling, and bullying commonly occur in school settings. As such, comprehensive school-based violence prevention strategies are needed. Recent calls in prevention science argue that investigations of preventive interventions must move beyond simply testing if programs work; rather, they must also examine how interventions work. The purpose of this study was to explore the differential uptake of salient change mechanisms of a school-based primary prevention program, Sources of Strength (Sources) in rural schools, and examine contextual factors that may influence implementation outcomes in rural contexts. As a supplement to a randomized controlled trial of Sources in 20 high schools in Colorado, the present project utilized a rigorous qualitative design to conduct staff focus groups and student interviews within four schools (two intervention and two waitlist schools) that participated in the RCT. Results suggest variability in uptake of Sources key processes (expansion of networks to build connections, school-wide activities, and staff support) in intervention schools. While these were indicated as non-formalized processes in waitlist schools, there was also variability in these reports. Furthermore, results revealed specific contextual factors including cultural norms, degree of rurality, and school-level buy-in/investment that impacted implementation outcomes for intervention and waitlist schools (e.g., pre-implementation readiness). Implications are discussed around alignment of a school’s policies, procedures, and values with the preventative intervention in effort to support strong implementation. Keywords Violence prevention programming . High school–aged youth . Qualitative process evaluation
Sexual violence/harassment, homophobic name-calling, and bullying that commonly occur in school settings (Espelage et al. 2012) are linked to myriad adverse outcomes including poor academic achievement (Card and Hodges 2008), negative school climate (Wang and Degol 2016), and even suicide-specific risks (e.g., depression,
* Anne Williford [email protected] 1
School of Social Work, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA
2
Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA
3
School of Education, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
4
Sources of Strength, Lakewood, CO, USA
hopelessness, and suicidal ideation and attempts; Rooney et al. 2019). Consequently, comprehensive school-based prevention programs are needed that target indicated correlates for youth violence. Prevention science argues that intervention studies must move beyond
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