Qualitative Reports of How and When Therapists Adapt Children's Evidence-Based Practices during Community Implementation

Provider Adherence to Modular Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Children and Adolescents

This study explored predictors of community-based providers' adherence to MATCH, a modular cognitive behavioral therapy for children and adolescents. Provider-reported adherence to MATCH was measured using three increasingly strict criteria: (1) session content (whether the session covered MATCH content consistent with the client's target problem), (2) session content and sequencing (whether the session covered MATCH content in the expected sequence for the client's target problem), and (3) session content, sequencing, and participant (whether the session covered MATCH content in the expected sequence and with the expected participant(s) for the client's target problem). Session, client, provider, and organizational predictors of adherence to MATCH were assessed using multilevel modeling. Results revealed that nearly all providers delivered MATCH content that corresponded to the target problem, but only one-third of providers delivered MATCH content in the expected sequence and with the expected participant for the client's target problem. This difference underscores the need for nuanced adherence measurement to capture important implementation information that broad operationalizations of adherence miss. Regardless of the criteria used providers were most adherent to MATCH during sessions when clients presented with interfering comorbid mental health symptoms. This suggests that the design of MATCH, which offers flexibility and structured guidance to address comorbid mental health problems, may allow providers to personalize treatment to address interfering comorbidity symptoms while remaining adherent to evidence-based practices. Additional guidance for providers on managing other types of session interference (e.g., unexpected events) may improve treatment integrity in community settings.

Examining provider decisions around the delivery and adaptation of a parent-mediated intervention within an Early Intervention system

LAY ABSTRACT

Parent-mediated interventions are an evidence-based practice for autism in which providers support caregivers in learning and applying strategies that support their child's development. Research has begun to study whether parent-mediated interventions can be effectively delivered in Part C Early Intervention systems. This research has been promising; however, it has been difficult to determine how Early Intervention providers deliver and adapt parent-mediated interventions to meet the needs of the families they serve. Examining how parent-mediated interventions are delivered and adapted may help us understand whether parent-mediated interventions are a good fit in these systems. The current study examined the delivery of an evidence-based parent-mediated intervention, Project ImPACT, when delivered by providers within an Early Intervention system. Results from 24 Early Intervention providers demonstrated that, on average, providers delivered Project ImPACT with higher quality during their time in training and consultation. However, there was also variability in how providers delivered Project ImPACT, with some delivering the program inconsistently, some increasing their quality throughout consultation, and others having consistently high-quality delivery. In addition, qualitative data demonstrated that a variety of events arose within Project ImPACT sessions that drove providers to adapt the program. Results suggest the importance of carefully examining how and why providers deliver evidence-based interventions within Early Intervention systems.

Supporting Emotionally Exhausted Community Mental Health Therapists in Appropriately Adapting EBPs for Children and Adolescents

Evidence-based practices (EBPs) are often adapted during community implementation to improve EBP fit for clients and the service context. Augmenting EBPs with additional dosing and content may improve fit. However, reducing EBP content can reduce EBP effectiveness. Using multilevel regression models, this study examined whether supportive program climate and program-furnished EBP-specific implementation strategies (e.g., materials, ongoing training, in-house experts) are associated with augmenting and reducing adaptations, and whether therapist emotional exhaustion moderated these associations. Data were collected from surveys completed by 439 therapists from 102 programs 9 years after a system-driven EBP implementation initiative. Supportive program climate was associated with more augmenting adaptations. Emotional exhaustion was a significant moderator. When organizations used more EBP-specific implementation strategies, more emotionally exhausted therapists reduced EBPs less and less emotionally exhausted therapists augmented EBPs more. Findings provide guidance on how organizations can support appropriate EBP adaptations in spite of therapist emotional exhaustion.

Assessing ad-hoc adaptations' alignment with therapeutic goals: a qualitative study of lay counselor-delivered family therapy in Eldoret, Kenya

BACKGROUND

A key question in implementation science is how to balance adaptation and fidelity in translating interventions to new settings. There is growing consensus regarding the importance of planned adaptations to deliver interventions in contextually sensitive ways. However, less research has examined ad-hoc adaptations, or those that occur spontaneously in the course of intervention delivery. A key question is whether ad-hoc adaptations ultimately contribute to or detract from intervention goals. This study aimed to (a) identify ad-hoc adaptations made during delivery of a family therapy intervention and (b) assess whether they promoted or interrupted intervention goals.

METHODS

Tuko Pamoja (Swahili: "We are Together") is an evidence-informed family therapy intervention aiming to improve family dynamics and mental health in Kenya. Tuko Pamoja employs a task-shifting model, delivered by lay counselors who are afforded a degree of flexibility in presenting content and in practices they use in sessions. We used transcripts of therapy sessions with 14 families to examine ad-hoc adaptations used by counselors. We first identified and characterized ad-hoc adaptations through a team-based code development, coding, and code description process. Then, we evaluated to what extent ad-hoc adaptations promoted the principles and strategies of the intervention ("TP-promoting"), disrupted them ("TP-interrupting"), or neither ("TP-neutral"). To do this, we first established inter-coder agreement on application of these categories with verification by the intervention developer. Then, coders categorized ad-hoc adaptation text segments as TP-promoting, TP-interrupting, or TP-neutral.

RESULTS

Ad-hoc adaptations were frequent and included (in decreasing order): incorporation of religious content, exemplars/role models, community dynamics and resources, self-disclosure, and metaphors/proverbs. Ad-hoc adaptations were largely TP-promoting (49%) or neutral (39%), but practices were TP-interrupting 12% of the time. TP-interrupting practices most often occurred within religious content and exemplars/role models, which were also the most common practices overall.

CONCLUSION

Extra attention is needed during planned adaptation, training, and supervision to promote intervention-aligned use of common ad-hoc adaptation practices. Discussing them in trainings can provide guidance for lay providers on how best to incorporate ad-hoc adaptations during delivery. Future research should evaluate whether well-aligned ad-hoc adaptations improve therapeutic outcomes.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

Pilot trial registered at clinicaltrials.gov (C0058).

Adapting to Unprecedented Times: Community Clinician Modifications to Parent-Child Interaction Therapy during COVID-19

Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) is an evidence-based practice that effectively prevents and treats child disruptive behaviors and child physical maltreatment and reduces parenting stress. PCIT was adapted for telehealth delivery, internet-delivered PCIT (iPCIT), before the COVID-19 pandemic but was not widely implemented until the rapid transition to telehealth during stay-at-home orders. To understand how clinicians adapted PCIT during COVID-19, we followed up on a previous study investigating community clinician adaptations of PCIT pre-COVID-19 using the Lau et al. (2017) Augmenting and Reducing Framework. Clinicians (N = 179) who responded to the follow-up survey and reported delivering PCIT remotely completed a quantitative measure of adaptations at both time points (Fall 2019; Summer 2020) to assess how adaptations to PCIT changed following lockdown measures. Clinicians (n = 135) also provided qualitative descriptions of adaptations made early in the COVID-19 pandemic. Clinicians in the full sample were 74.3% Non-Hispanic White and 14% Latinx. Most clinicians had a master's degree (66.5%), were licensed (80.4%), and were PCIT-certified (70.4%). Paired samples t-tests showed that clinicians reported similar levels of augmenting t(179) = -0.09, p=.926) and reducing adaptations t(179) = -0.77, p=.442) at both time points. Unlike quantitative findings, qualitative findings indicated that clinicians described engaging in many types of adaptations in response to the pandemic. Clinicians discussed engaging in augmenting adaptations by extending treatment length and integrating other practices into treatment. Clinicians also discussed engaging in reducing adaptations. Implications and future directions will be discussed.

Adolescents' experiences of psychotherapy following child sexual abuse

The aim of this study was to explore adolescents' experiences of psychotherapy following sexual abuse, complementing those studies that focus on outcomes and measurement of symptom change across the course of therapy and building on recent studies that focus on the process of psychotherapy for young people who have experienced sexual abuse, from their perspective. Recent reviews have highlighted the need for tailored approaches to therapy. Research is needed that focuses on young people's experiences of therapy to help develop such tailored approaches. In this study, 16 young people aged 15-18 years who were attending specialist sexual violence therapeutic services were interviewed. Using thematic analysis, six themes were identified as reflecting their experiences of therapy following sexual abuse. Young people spoke of not wanting to attend; the importance of choice and not feeling pressured in both initially attending and in how the therapy unfolded; how helpful it was to talk; the centrality of the relationship with their therapist; the benefit of attending a specialist service; how helpful it was when the therapist explained things; and finally, the coping skills they learned in the therapeutic work. A key learning from the study is the importance of respecting young people's autonomy following such violations of trust and psychological integrity. The study highlights how engagement in therapy may be experienced as a re-enactment of an experience that was forced on the young person. Further qualitative research exploring this phenomenon could guide therapists on how to minimise such re-enactments in therapeutic work.

How Do Treatment Protocols Affect the Use of Engagement Practices in Youth Mental Health Services?

PURPOSE

Treatment engagement poses challenges for youth mental health providers. With the expansion of evidence-based treatments (EBTs), providers face complex decisions regarding how to engage youth and families using available information sources. This study investigated how EBT protocols are associated with the selection and delivery of engagement practices.

METHOD

Twenty engagement practices were coded in a sample of digital recordings of early treatment sessions (N = 193) from the Child STEPs in California study, a randomized trial testing modular treatment and community-implemented treatment for youth mental health problems. Data were collected on which protocols mental health providers reportedly used to guide their sessions and the protocols in which they had received training. We examined which information sources (i.e., the guiding protocol, other protocols in training history, unspecified source) were associated with observed engagement practices.

RESULTS

In sessions guided by a protocol, most observed engagement practices were accounted for by the guiding protocol (p < .001), rather than protocols in training history or unspecified sources (p < .001). In sessions not guided by a protocol, most observed practices were accounted for by training history (p < .001). Practice frequency and extensiveness was generally greater when a protocol guided the session.

CONCLUSIONS

Inclusion in protocols is associated with the selection and delivery of engagement practices, but this strategy might be insufficient for supporting the use of the full range of engagement practices supported by evidence. Supports are needed that leverage the engagement evidence base to ensure that selected practices empirically fit the engagement needs of youth and families.

How Flexible are Treatments for Youth Internalizing Disorders? Examining Modification Guidelines Included across Supported Treatments

OBJECTIVE

Treatment protocols for youth-internalizing disorders have been developed, however these protocols have yielded mixed findings in routine care settings. Despite increased recognition of the importance of flexibility when delivering evidence-based treatments (EBTs), little is known about the extent to which protocols offer guidance to providers in flexible EBT implementation. The current study examined the extent to which supported EBTs for youth internalizing disorders explicitly incorporate guidance for treatment modification.

METHODS

Supported treatment protocols for youth internalizing disorders were identified (N = 44), from which 4,021 modification guidelines were extracted and coded using a structured coding system to classify modification strategies (i.e., the forms that recommended modifications take), and associated tailoring factors (i.e., the rationale for which modifications are recommended).

RESULTS

Across all EBTs, modification guidelines were quite common, with the average protocol including almost 91 text passages providing guidance for modification. The majority of modification guidelines functionally increase session or treatment length by recommending the addition or repetition of material, whereas less than 5% of modification guidelines provided strategies for condensing or streamlining care. Strikingly, less than 2% of modification guidelines in EBT protocols address patient cultural factors, and rarely address provider or setting issues that can challenge standard implementation.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings highlight critical gaps in the available guidance to modify EBTs for youth internalizing disorders, and suggest EBT protocols may not be optimally poised to flexibly address the broad diversity of children and adolescents across varied settings in need of mental health care.

Therapist adaptations to evidence-based practices and associations with implementation outcomes in child therapy sessions

OBJECTIVE

Community therapists inevitably adapt evidence-based practices (EBPs) to meet the needs of their clients and practice settings. Yet, the implications of spontaneous, therapist-driven adaptations for EBP implementation outcomes are not well understood. We used a sequential QUAN → qual mixed-methods design to examine how different types of therapist-described adaptations were associated with observer-rated extensiveness of therapist delivery of EBP content and technique strategies at the session level.

METHOD

Data were drawn from an observational study of a system-driven implementation of multiple EBPs into public children's mental health services. Community therapists (n = 103) described adaptations they made in 680 sessions with 273 clients (50.92% female, 49.08% male, M_age = 9.72 years, 70.70% Hispanic/Latinx). Coders classified therapist-described adaptations into five types: (a) Modifying Presentation, (b) Integrating, (c) Extending, (d) Reducing, and (e) Generalizing. Independent observers rated the extensiveness of EBP strategy delivery from session recordings using the EBP Concordant Care Assessment (ECCA) Observational Coding System.

RESULTS

Quantitative analyses using multilevel regression revealed that Modifying Presentation adaptations were associated with higher extensiveness of EBP technique delivery, whereas Extending adaptations were associated with lower extensiveness of EBP content and technique delivery. Qualitative analysis of adaptation descriptions identified explanations for the quantitative findings.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings suggest that Modifying Presentation adaptations, associated with higher extensiveness, involved creative use of activities and materials, language modification, and personalization of EBP content to meet clients' diverse needs, whereas Extending adaptations, associated with lower extensiveness, involved slowing EBP pacing in response to client challenges. Implications for provider training are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Trauma services for youth victims of sexual abuse- does one size fit all? A qualitative study among service providers in Ontario, Canada

BACKGROUND

Despite a range of interventions available to treat mental health symptoms experienced by youth with a history of child sexual abuse (CSA), limited empirical work has examined practitioner delivery of these interventions in real-world practice.

OBJECTIVE

This paper aimed to qualitatively explore the delivery of trauma-based interventions in community settings in Ontario, Canada.

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTINGS

Using qualitative description, a purposeful sample of service providers (N = 51; 92 % female) were recruited from nine community-based organizations located in Southern Ontario, Canada providing psychotherapeutic trauma-based interventions to youth with a history of child sexual abuse.

METHODS

Semi-structured one-on-one (n = 17), joint (n = 3) and focus group (n = 5) interviews elicited provider descriptions of their strategies and approaches for addressing trauma-related symptoms in this population. Data were interpreted using conventional content analyses.

RESULTS

Eclectic delivery of interventions and multifactorial decision-making processes were identified as core elements of treatment planning and intervention delivery among providers. Eclectic treatment was described to involve the consideration of four core elements (provider judgement; youth voice; youth characteristics; and clinical team discussion) of intervention and three key principles (meeting youth needs; providing client-centered care; addressing safety and stability).

CONCLUSIONS

Research capable of characterizing the efficacy of client-centered, eclectic approaches to treat symptoms experienced by youth with a history of CSA is needed.

How community therapists describe adapting evidence-based practices in sessions for youth: Augmenting to improve fit and reach

The study sought to (a) characterize the types and frequency of session-level adaptations made to multiple evidence-based practices (EBPs) and (b) identify therapist-, client-, and session-level predictors of adaptations. Within the community implementation of multiple EBPs, 103 community mental health therapists reported on 731 therapy sessions for 280 clients. Therapists indicated whether they adapted EBPs in specific sessions and described adaptations in open-ended responses. Responses were coded using the Augmenting and Reducing adaptations framework. Therapists reported making adaptations in 59% of sessions. Augmenting adaptations were reported more frequently than Reducing adaptations. Multilevel logistic regression analyses revealed that greater therapist openness to EBPs, younger child age, and presenting problems was associated with Augmenting adaptations. Child presenting problem of externalizing problems predicted fewer Reducing adaptations compared with internalizing problems. This study extends the growing research examining adaptations within the context of the system-driven implementation of multiple EBPs by applying the Augmenting and Reducing adaptation framework to the session-level.

Leveraging implementation science to reduce inequities in Children's mental health care: highlights from a multidisciplinary international colloquium

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Access to evidence-based mental health care for children is an international priority. However, there are significant challenges to advancing this public health priority in an efficient and equitable manner. The purpose of this international colloquium was to convene a multidisciplinary group of health researchers to build an agenda for addressing disparities in mental health care access and treatment for children and families through collaboration among scholars from the United States and Europe engaged in innovative implementation science and mental health services research.

KEY HIGHLIGHTS

Guided by the Exploration, Preparation, Implementation, and Sustainment (EPIS) Framework, presentations related to inner, outer, and bridging context factors that impact the accessibility and quality of mental health evidence-based practices (EBPs) for children and families. Three common topics emerged from the presentations and discussions from colloquium participants, which included: 1) the impact of inner and outer context factors that limit accessibility to EBPs across countries, 2) strategies to adapt EBPs to improve their fit in different settings, 3) the potential for implementation science to address emerging clinical and public health concerns.

IMPLICATIONS

The common topics discussed underscored that disparities in access to evidence-based mental health care are prevalent across countries. Opportunities for cross-country and cross-discipline learnings and collaborations can help drive solutions to address these inequities, which relate to the availability of a trained and culturally appropriate workforce, insurance reimbursement policies, and designing interventions and implementation strategies to support sustained use of evidence-based practices.

Modification to a systematically braided parent-support curriculum: Results from a feasibility pilot

OBJECTIVES

There are a variety of parent-support programs designed to improve parenting and, thereby,the safety and well-being of children. Providers trained in multiple programs are likely to select components of interventions they feel will meet the needs of the families they serve leaving out aspects they deem unnecessary orredundant. In so doing, the fidelity of the evidence-based program is at risk. A potential solution is systematic braiding in which evidence-based programs are combined such that the fidelity to each original model and its implementation are maintained.

METHODS

Drawing on qualitative feedback from a prior iteration, this paper discusses results of a feasibility and acceptability pilot of a modified version of the systematically braided Parents as Teachers and SafeCare at Home (PATSCH) curriculum This modification removed a provider-perceived "redundant" portion from the original PATSCH curriculum. A pre-post design (N=18) was used to evaluate the efficacy of the modified curriculum.

RESULTS

Significant improvements were seen in trained parent behaviors surrounding home safety and child health. There was also improvement in self-reported parenting behaviors, the portion of the braided curriculum removed, suggesting that the PAT curriculum adequately teaches these skills. Providers and parents were highly satisfied with themodified curriculum.

CONCLUSIONS

If a curriculum is modified to reflect provider and parent preferences, then the potential for delivery without fidelity is minimized.