School Based Intervention Working Group Call
Wednesday, June 15, 2005
1-2 PM
Attendees:
Susan Ko - UCLA
Ann Kirkwood (co-lead) - Idaho center
Josh Mandel – NYU
Nicole Morin - NYU
Rochelle Hanson - Charleston site
Shannon ? - Postdoc fellow from Charleston site
Adriana Molina - CII
Darrell Stolle – Montana
Erin Moroset (?) - Montana
Stephanie?
Cheryl ? from ucla
Susan Mccraw ? - Center for Child and Family Health (North Carolina)
Ally Burr-Harris – subcommittee 3 – UMSL – St. Louis
Judy Holland
Josh began by stating that Ann sent out the draft Educator Questionnaire. He is appreciative of the responses received. Josh noted that during today’s conference call he’d like the group to talk about the questionnaire and make any edits necessary.
Ann noted that her understanding of editing the questionnaire consisted of taking it to school stakeholders for feedback and then bringing answers back to the working group. Following that, materials/brochures would be created and a focus group would be held for more feedback.
Susan suggested that the focus groups be held prior to material making to get perspective on what would be helpful.
Josh asked if anyone had ideas and responses varied. One person suggested focus groups be held before and after material making to get feedback on what’s helpful. Josh added that given the time of year, it will be difficult to do focus groups in the next few months so perhaps it’s best to take a shot at creating the materials first, then running focus groups in the fall.
The year round school sites at the Children’s Institute in LA and the schools in Durham offered to complete the educator questionnaire over the summer. Darrell noted that he and his team are training in august and may be able to administer the questionnaires then. Both sites voiced that responses may be biased, nonetheless helpful.
Cheryl asked if someone could provide her with a one liner summarizing the questionnaire. Ann updated that the purpose of the questionnaire is to learn from various school stakeholders about school environment, types of trauma most prevalent, etc., draft a brochure with helpful information for school personnel, and conduct formal focus groups to evaluate the brochure and its effectiveness across schools.
The group discussed the structure of the survey. Josh and Ann did not get any feedback from the group about this. Someone (?) noted that she spoke with Marleen who suggested that the survey ask open ended questions as opposed to the close ended multiple choice questions. Someone noted that they thought to incorporate this into their asking style and when administering the questionnaire ask that
The group also discussed survey goals, such as how many surveys the group would like to collect per area, and what kind of info the group would like to collect during focus groups? Since we’re in the summer months it might be worth focusing on content and then seeing who can reach people.
Judy Holland shared some of her survey and focus group experience from the children of war project. She noted that she did school surveys during focus groups and found that her team got the best info from using the two combined.
Ann noted that focus groups will not be viable in Idaho b/c the schools are so spread out, but she can administer and talk them through questionnaire on the phone. Someone also noted that it is possible to have dual approach, i.e., administer the questionnaire over the phone or in person during a focus group. Josh agreed that this was a good idea.
Ally in St. Louis asked about next steps. She wondered if the group would train schools after the materials were developed materials. Josh noted that this was his vision.
Regarding the creation of materials, someone noted that they already have a training questionnaire that they will email to everyone? There was discussion about modifying and adopting the already existing materials that each site has created for their own school districts instead of starting from scratch. Susan noted that it is worth taking a step back to collect the materials the group already has and evaluate how to adapt them to different school systems.
Darrell also liked this idea. In addition he suggested we make use of professional development literature that exists on teachers. He volunteered to do a quick lit review on how to best present information to educational specialists and how to facilitate long term change in influencing attitudes and progress.
Susan agreed to be the repository for materials that already exist and asked that anyone with materials send them to her. The idea of developing an intranet to post the materials was also voiced.
Ann came up with the following three action steps for the group.
1. Collect and distribute existing materials to Susan
2. Darrell to put together a lit review of Educ. Practices and mail to Susan.
3. Continue slow work on survey document perhaps with the idea that it b/c available to schools as an assessment product
The group set a tentative date for the next meeting: July 20th, 1-2. Email Ann or Josh if there is a conflict.