Browsing by Subject "Implementation Science"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    Implementing Social Emotional Learning: The Need for a Broadened Leadership Role
    (2024-05) Baskin, Kayleen
    School leaders work tirelessly to ensure a high-quality education for all, and many have implemented a social emotional learning (SEL) structure to support both the academic growth and emotional needs of students. While recent studies show the evidence-based practice of SEL positively impacts students’ academic growth, developmental relationships, and sense of belonging in schools, the school leader’s attention to the implementation process itself contributes to why school systems often fail to see desired results. The purpose of this study was to investigate the process and leadership qualities that leaders utilize when implementing SEL in a school. The study used a qualitative interview case study to investigate leadership decision making, practices, and experiences with implementation. Data were collected from multiple principals across the state of Minnesota in urban, suburban, and rural settings. Each of the school leaders shared their experiences in social emotional learning implementation, and their case studies were analyzed for themes in response to their roles as educational leaders. Findings from the study revealed a lack of convergence in leaders’ knowledge of research and implementation practices in SEL programming. The first finding reveals the lack of preparation of the school system and school district accountability as leaders initiate SEL implementation processes. Secondly, the study reveals the necessity for district and building leaders to know all elements of the implementation process. The final finding is in the area of culturally responsive school leadership; there is a need to align leaders’ knowledge of culturally responsive education with district and building action in this area. Overall, the findings suggest broader perspectives and roles for school leaders in implementation of initiatives. Ultimately, the findings result in recommendations for principal preparation programs, as well as current school and district leaders, to deeply understand implementation frameworks that encompass systems change and culturally responsive practices in order to successfully implement SEL. District systems must also support school leaders in their knowledge gaps, provide processes and structures to support their instructional leadership, and provide professional development that facilitates systems change.
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    Moving Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Self-Sampling Into Primary Care Settings: A Healthy-Equity Centered, Pre-Implementation Study To Address Cervical Cancer Screening Inequities In Minnesota
    (2022-05) Xiong, Serena
    Since the implementation of cervical cancer screening methods (i.e., cervical cytology/Pap test), cervical cancer rates have been declining. Nevertheless, racial/ethnic disparities in cervical cancer screening continue to exist, and are caused by a wide range of factors, including limited awareness about human papillomavirus (HPV) and cervical cancer, difficulties accessing health care services, and cultural or religious beliefs. Self-sampling techniques for the collection of HPV specimens (“HPV self-sampling”) have been proposed as an evidence-based and effective alternative to overcome some of these barriers. Most research in this area, however, has focused on home-based (e.g., mail-in) HPV self-sampling approaches and has overlooked the potential to adapt HPV self-sampling into point-of-care (e.g., clinic-based) settings. Recent guideline adoptions also recommend that women ages 30-65 can undergo primary HPV testing every five years. HPV self-sampling, further, can be used to facilitate patient-initiated primary HPV testing. This collection approach, however, has failed to be mainstreamed in US primary care due to its limited applications and evidence in US-based contexts. Planning for the implementation of HPV self-sampling within US health systems, hence, will require a multilevel (individual, community, institutions, policies) understanding of how proven cancer prevention interventions are adopted into routine care. The aim of this dissertation was to gather multilevel perspectives on the possible implementations and adaptations of an HPV self-sampling practice for racially- and ethnically-diverse patient populations in Minnesota (MN). In the first manuscript, a systematic review was conducted to explore how implementation science (IS) frameworks have been used across health systems to adapt evidence-based cancer prevention interventions for diverse populations. In the second manuscript, healthcare professionals were interviewed on their perspectives on the possible implementations and adaptations of an HPV self-sampling practice in MN. In the final manuscript, racially- and ethnically-diverse women from MN were surveyed online about their awareness and preferences for HPV self-sampling. To date, IS frameworks are used minimally and varyingly across cancer prevention studies. Of the few studies that applied IS frameworks to adapt evidence-based cancer prevention interventions, they were intentionally used to identify and plan for adaptations to increase intervention fit. Next, while healthcare professionals have yet to adopt HPV self-sampling, they expressed interest and suggestions for how it could be implemented, with the biggest hurdle being how to effectively convince key decision-makers. Finally, women who were surveyed reported a low level of HPV self-sampling awareness. Although most women reported high self-efficacy to perform the test, less than half preferred HPV self-sampling to Pap tests. Taken together, these results suggest that until greater population uptake of HPV self-sampling has occurred in the United States, it remains unknown the extent to which this alternative cervical cancer screening method may be preferable to Pap tests for reducing cervical cancer disparities among minority women. Pragmatic HPV self-sampling interventions, therefore, need to be more widely implemented and tested in US contexts, so that more women become aware of this new modality and experience the self-collection approach and its respective location options, before further scale-out and adaptations of an HPV self-sampling practice can be instituted in US primary care settings.
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    Supporting Fidelity of Implementation of Class-Wide Behavioral Interventions
    (2020-06) Klaft, Jenna
    These studies were part of a research line to examine what methods and techniques were most successful at supporting teachers’ fidelity of implementation of evidence based classroom management procedures as well as assessing different dimensions of fidelity and how they affect student outcomes. The first study was a systematic literature review of methods and techniques most commonly used to support teachers’ fidelity of implementation and answer questions regarding fidelity criterion researchers are using, characteristics of the supports, whether and how quality of implementation is being measured, and if student outcomes are being reported. The second study was an examination of the use of self-monitoring paired with automated performance graphing to improve the fidelity of a class-wide behavior management strategy, the Good Behavior Game. If fidelity was not brought up to criterion levels with the self-monitoring procedures, teachers were given their choice of follow-up strategy in order to bring fidelity up to criterion levels. Additionally, the use of a Likert scale and substeps were used to measure quality of implementation in order to compare the two methods of measurement.