EVALUATING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF BOUNCE BACK IN SCHOOLS

During the first year of Bounce Back implementation in CPS, CCR, Loyola University Chicago, and CPS leadership collaborated to assess feedback from clinicians implementing the program. Using grounded theory to design focus group questions based on established implementation frameworks, two focus groups were conducted with Bounce Back providers serving diverse elementary students. The study examined universal challenges and strengths of implementation across schools. In addition, the study sought to identify key differences between schools that implemented Bounce Back with greater success, as defined by fidelity, clinician satisfaction, number of youth served, and intervention outcomes, than others. Another goal of the study was to identify key contextual supports that improve the implementation of Bounce Back in diverse school districts.

Co-PIs:  Dr. Tali Raviv (Lurie Children’s CCR); Dr. Cate Santiago (Loyola University Chicago)
Collaborators:  Chicago Public Schools (District Leadership and School-based Social Workers and Psychologists), Community Based Mental Health Organizations, including Mt. Sinai, Youth Guidance, and UCAN (Community-based mental health providers placed in schools and their supervisors)                          
CCR Staff:  Colleen Cicchetti, PhD; Claire Coyne, PhD; Sybil Baker, LCSW

Approach/Methodology: This was a mixed-methods evaluation of school implementation of an evidence-based intervention.  Focus groups were audio-recorded and transcribed by trained research assistants. The transcripts were imported into ATLAS, a qualitative software program designed to facilitate thematic coding, and subsequently reviewed by the research team in detail. Using a grounded theoretical framework (Corbin & Strauss, 1990), a coding matrix was developed based on Domitrovich’s ecological model of implementation (2008) and Aarons’s (2011) active implementation phase along with review of transcripts.  Quantitative data, including fidelity of implementation and student reduction in mental health symptoms, were also collected and analyzed.  

This study concluded in June 2017.

Funded by the American Psychological Foundation