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Monitoring Fidelity to an Evidence-Based Treatment: Practitioner Perspectives

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Abstract

Despite the push to implement evidence-based treatment (EBT) in child and youth mental health service settings, few studies have focused on the optimal processes for adopting and sustaining EBTs in these contexts. There is even less evidence regarding practitioner perspectives on the optimal processes for sustaining fidelity to EBTs in practice, despite unequivocal evidence linking the importance of practitioner fidelity to intervention outcomes. Following the principles of inductive qualitative inquiry, this study examined practitioner perspectives of fidelity monitoring processes within the context of implementing motivational interviewing (MI) in four community-based child and youth mental health organizations. MI is a widely disseminated EBT that supports behavior change among adolescents and adults living with psychological, alcohol, and substance use challenges. Practitioners (n = 22) completed semi-structured, qualitative focus groups that elicited their perceptions of the processes and supports provided to support fidelity to MI practice throughout the implementation project. Conventional content analysis revealed a number of important contextual, practitioner, and client factors that have the potential to support or deter the embedding of fidelity processes on the front lines. In addition, practitioners spoke of the importance of using a brief, straightforward fidelity-checking tool to support practitioner learning and practice in relation to MI. Findings have implications for supporting sustained practitioner fidelity to EBTs in settings where MI may constitute one of many possible treatments offered by practitioners in community-based mental health services. Findings also have implications for sustaining practitioner fidelity to EBTs more broadly.

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Acknowledgements

This project was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Grant # TMF-88575 to Dr. Melanie Barwick. The funding agency was not involved in the design of the study, collection, analysis, and interpretation of data and in writing the manuscript. We gratefully acknowledge funding for this work from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (Grant # TMF-88575 to Dr. Melanie Barwick). We thank staff at all four community child and youth behavioral health organizations for their participation. We acknowledge the contribution of our research collaborators on the larger study: Peter Chaban (SickKids), Rhonda Martinussen (OISE, U Toronto), Rosemary Tannock (SickKids, U Toronto), Bruce Ferguson (SickKids, U Toronto). We are thankful to the four MINT trainers: Carolynne Cooper, Wayne Skinner, Tim Godden, and Stephanie Cohen, and our expert MITI coder in US, Dr. Denise Ernst. Thanks to Julia Peters (eHealth Ontario) and Lisa Hawke (CAMH) for contributions on the research team early on.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Offord Centre for Child Studies, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neuroscience, McMaster University, MIP Suite 201A, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON, L8S 4K1, Canada

    Melissa Kimber

  2. Child and Youth Mental Health Research Unit, Department of Psychiatry, Peter Gilgan Centre for Research and Learning, The Hospital for Sick Children, 686 Bay Street, Toronto, ON, M5G 0A4, Canada

    Raluca Barac & Melanie Barwick

  3. Department of Psychology, York University, Behavioral Science Building Room 101, 4700 Keele St, Toronto, ON, M3J 1P3, Canada

    Raluca Barac

  4. Child Health Evaluative Sciences, Research Institute, Peter Gilgan Centre for Research and Learning, The Hospital for Sick Children, 686 Bay Street, Toronto, ON, M5G 0A4, Canada

    Melanie Barwick

  5. Department of Psychiatry and Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Health Sciences Building, 6th Floor, 155 College Street, Toronto, ON, M5T 3M7, Canada

    Melanie Barwick

Authors
  1. Melissa Kimber
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  2. Raluca Barac
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  3. Melanie Barwick
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Contributions

MB conceived the study and wrote the funding proposal as principal investigator. She oversaw the research team, data collection and analysis, collected focus group data, and contributed to the manuscript. MK took the lead on the fidelity work, coding, data analysis and wrote the main draft of this paper. RB was the main coder, provided methods support as project coordinator.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Melissa Kimber.

Ethics declarations

Ethics Approval and Consent to Participate

The research protocol was approved by the Hospital for Sick Children’s Research Ethics Board and the review committees of the four participating community mental health organizations. All participants gave their consent to participate in the study and to participate in the study and to have the therapy sessions audio-recorded.

Consent for Publication

Consent to publish was obtained from all participants, and, in the case of children, from their parent or legal guardian. Data were analyzed and reported in an aggregate form; selective quotations from qualitative data sources are anonymized.

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Kimber, M., Barac, R. & Barwick, M. Monitoring Fidelity to an Evidence-Based Treatment: Practitioner Perspectives. Clin Soc Work J 47, 207–221 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10615-017-0639-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10615-017-0639-0

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