Justification for Change

A Controlled Evaluation of Expect Respect Support Groups (ERSG): Preventing and Interrupting Teen Dating Violence among At-Risk Middle and High School Students

(OMB no. 0920-0861 exp. date 08/31/2013)

Proposed Changes: Justification and Overview

September 24, 2012

Project Description

The prevalence and consequences of teen dating violence (TDV) make it a public health concern that requires early and effective prevention. In order to protect young people and build an evidence-base of effective prevention strategies, evaluation of TDV prevention programs is needed, including those programs currently in the field. Expect Respect Support Groups (ERSG) were identified by CDC through the empowerment evaluation process as a program in the field (Austin Independent School District) that is in need of rigorous evaluation. The ERSG program has demonstrated favorable, albeit preliminary, results in a pre-post program evaluation, which strongly suggests that a controlled evaluation is needed to more rigorously examine program effects. The proposed study has two primary goals and two exploratory aims. The primary goals are: 1) To evaluate the effectiveness of ERSG in preventing and reducing TDV, and 2) Comparing whether there are increased healthy conflict resolution skills reported by at-risk male and female middle and high school students supported by ERSG, compared to at-risk students in control schools who do not receive ERSG. The exploratory aims are: 1) To evaluate whether the effectiveness of ERSG is enhanced by the presence of a universal, school-wide prevention program, and 2) To examine whether participants with different characteristics respond differently to the intervention. For example, we will examine whether outcome for boys or girls are the same.

The requested changes to this study are non-substantive and will not change the study’s scope of work. We are requesting to add qualitative interviews with ERSG facilitators to the study. The goal of these interviews is to better understand the implementation process for ERSG. For example, interview questions will aim to explore factors that contribute to group engagement for participants, how facilitators make decisions about the format and delivery of session content, and the various group dynamics within ERSG. Substantive changes to the program will not be made during the study period so as not to impact evaluation results. The qualitative information will provide a more nuanced picture of implementation processes for the program.

Proposed Changes

• We request to conduct two interviews per year with each ERSG facilitator. ERSG facilitators will take part in a qualitative interview at one mid-year time point (around December) and at the end of each school year (around June). This interview will serve to help program evaluators understand the implementation process for ERSG. The interviews will explore factors that contribute to group engagement for participants, how facilitators make decisions about the format and delivery of session content, and the various group dynamics within ERSG. The two distinct interview guides are attached as Attachments K and L, respectively.

Change to Burden and/or Cost

• The non-substantive change request for addition of qualitative interviews to be completed by the eight ERSG facilitators will increase the burden to facilitators by 14 hours, but does not change the scope of the project. The goals of the project remain the same, and the additional fidelity measure will be used for program improvement purposes. A completed burden hour table is shown below.

• The average salary of Expect Respect Support Group facilitators is $22.76 per hour. This estimate was used to calculate the cost burden associated with the proposed interviews.

Table 1. Burden associated with interviews.

Type of Respondent	Form Name	No. of Respondents	No. of Responses per Respondent	Response Burden (hours)	Total Burden Hours
ERSG Facilitator	Mid-Year Qualitative Interview with ERSG Facilitators	8	1	45/60	6
ERSG Facilitator	End of Year Qualitative Interview with ERSG Facilitators	8	1	1	8
Total					14

Table 2. Cost associated with interviews.

Type of Respondent	Form Name	No. of Respondents	No. of Responses per Respondent	Response Burden (hours)	Hourly Wage Cost	Respondent Cost
Facilitators	Mid-Year Qualitative Interview with ERSG Facilitators	8	1	45/60	$22.76	$136.56
	End of Year Qualitative Interview with ERSG Facilitators	8	1	1	$22.76	$182.08
Total						$318.64

Appendices

Attachment K: Mid-Year ERSG Facilitator Qualitative Interview Guide

Attachment L: End of Year ERSG Facilitator Qualitative Interview Guide

Created: August 9, 2012