ERSG Facilitator End of Year Qualitative Interview

Form Approved

OMB No. 0920-0861

Exp. Date: 08/31/2013

Public Reporting burden of this collection of information is estimated at 45 minutes per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden to CDC/ATSDR Reports Clearance Officer, 1600 Clifton Road NW, MS D-74, Atlanta, GA 30333; Attn: PRA (0920-0861).

Attachment L: End-of-Year ERSG Facilitator Qualitative Interview Guide

Goals of the Interview: understand how and why the program works. Includes:

• Exploring what makes groups function, the process of change, group dynamics

• Identifying what’s working well and where there’s room for programmatic improvement

Research Approach: Grounded Theory

• The purpose of a grounded theory approach is to ask people about their experiences with a phenomenon/topic, and then use this information to generate a theory about it. Interview questions typically focus on the individual’s experience of the phenomenon and the causal conditions and consequences of the phenomenon.

• Grounded theory is a good approach when a theory is needed to describe how people are experiencing a phenomenon.

• The current study aims to generate theories that explain how and why Expect Respect support groups work.

Content Areas for End of Year Interviews

1. How groups work – stages in group process

2. Process of change for individual students within the general group process

3. Programmatic strengths and weaknesses

Interview Script

Thank you so much for agreeing to talk with me again. Similar to the first interview, I will be asking you questions about your experiences leading the Expect Respect support groups. This time I will be asking you about your experiences over the past year. Our conversation today will help us to understand more about how and in what ways the groups work. We hope to use this information to continue strengthening the program and to expand the field’s understanding of programs like Expect Respect.

A. Looking back over the whole year, I would like you to tell me about a group that went well.

1. How did the group change over the year?

Prompts:

a. How did students’ interactions with each other change?

b. How did the group norms about healthy relationships and dating violence change?

c. How did your role in the group change?

2. How is this group different from one that did not go as well?

Prompts:

a. What do you think contributes to this difference?

b. How would you describe the group dynamic of the group that did not go as well?

B. I am interested in understanding more about the changes that students go through during the course of group. Thinking back across the whole year, I want you to think about a group member that underwent a significant change.

4. What changes did you see the student make?

Prompts

1. How did his/her understanding of healthy relationships change?

2. How did his/her attitude or behavior change in group?

3. How did his/her relationships with other group members or with you change?

4. How did his/her behavior outside of group change?

5. Was there evidence of behavioral changes, like reduced perpetration of physical and emotional violence and controlling behaviors?

6. Can you describe examples of skills for achieving healthy and respectful relationships that the student learned and practiced outside of group?

7. Are there other changes you would have liked to have seen the student make?

5. What do you think contributed to this change?

Prompts

a. What role did the group play?

• How do you think the level or type of student change would have been affected by a group that functioned differently (i.e., more or less successfully)?

b. What role do you think you played?

c. How did the school (personnel, climate, support) contribute?

d. What (if anything) seemed to cause the change?

6. How did the change occur?

Prompts

a. When did you first start seeing the change?

b. Did it occur gradually, or did you see a stark change at one point?

c. What kinds of things seemed to change first? (e.g., changes in knowledge, attitudes, relationships with people in group or with you?). What happened then?

e. Did you see this pattern with other students? If no, what patterns have other students followed?

C. Now I would like you to think of a student that did not show signs of undergoing significant change.

7. What did you observe that makes you think this?

8. What do you think made it difficult for this student to change?

9. What do you think would have helped this student?

Prompts:

a. Are there ways that the group could have helped?

b. Is there a role you could have played?

c. Is there a role that SafePlace could have played?

d. How could the school (personnel, climate, support) have helped?

e. What external resources or sources of support could have been useful?

D. Next, I’m interested in learning more about how you see the Expect Respect curriculum working across all of your groups this year.

10. What topics, activities, or discussions did students seem most interested in (or related to best)?

Prompts

a. In what topics, activities, or discussions did students seem less interested?

b. What topics, activities, or discussions seemed more difficult for students?

c. Can you given an example of the way that groups reacted differently to the same topics?

d. What do you think caused these differences to occur?

E. We collected pre/posttest data from students. I would like to hear your thoughts about the survey instrument. Given the study design, there are a number constraints on what (if any) changes we can make to the instrument. Therefore, your feedback may have to be used primarily in contextualizing the study findings, rather than for survey modification.

11. What parts of the survey do you think best capture the relevant changes that occur in group?

Prompts:

a. Which scales would you expect to show the greatest change from pretest to posttest?

12. What changes do you see in students that are not being captured by the survey instrument?

13. What other potential issues do you see with the instrument?

F. Finally, as you know, we asked facilitators to complete surveys about how you implemented the program. The findings provide some valuable insights about group participants’ engagement in the program and how facilitators structured the implementation of the program. We would like to discuss some of these findings with you, to have more information about how you make decisions about program delivery, and how you think about matching the program delivery to the particular needs of the participants in each group. (Specific findings to be shared will depend on summary findings from end-of-year fidelity monitoring facilitator surveys.  Examples of findings include: variability across groups in how structured the program delivery was vs. flexible to provide individual support for students; variations in the use of structured activities in group sessions; etc.)

16. How does this finding relate to your experiences in group this year?

      Prompts:

a. In what ways does the finding support or contradict your experiences in group? Can you give an example?

b. How do you make decisions about how to structure the group session? What influences your decisions? Can you give an example?

c. How do the needs or personalities of the participants in each group shape how you deliver the program or structure the sessions? Can you give an example?