Attachment I – Final Reflection Interview Guide
OMB Control No: ____-____
Expiration Date: __/__/____
Final Reflection Interview Guide for the SUPPORT Act Grants Evaluation
This document covers the key topics addressed in one-on-one interviews with program managers at grantee and sub-grantee sites implementing the Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment for Patients and Communities (SUPPORT) Act grant programs. These interviews will document implementation lessons and the extent to which services and partnerships will be sustained once the grants end. The interviews will take place during the last year of the grant performance period, approximately one year after the initial site visits. As currently planned, these final reflection Interviews will take place at each of the four grantees and eight sub-grantees selected for the implementation study visits. Interviews will be approximately 60 minutes in length for grantees and 90 minutes in length for sub-grantees. A table at the end of the document summarizes which staff (grantees or sub-grantees) will be included in each topic of the interviews.
Introductory statement for staff: The evaluation of the Department of Labor’s (DOL) SUPPORT Act grants program is being conducted by Abt Associates and MDRC under DOL’s Chief Evaluation Office, in partnership with the Employment and Training Administration. The SUPPORT Act provides grant resources to local workforce development boards to address the economic and workforce impacts associated with the high rates of opioid use disorder (OUD) or substance use disorder (SUD) in Florida, Maryland, Ohio, and Wisconsin. The evaluation aims to provide new and critical information on promising practices and implementation challenges in providing services that address both employment and treatment needs for those with OUDs/SUDs. The goal of the evaluation is to document best practices, challenges, and lessons for both policymakers and program administrators. We will use this interview today to learn about how your grant program has changed since the last round of interviews and your plans for services and partnerships after the end of the grant period. Our aim is to learn from your experiences, not audit or rate your programs. This interview will take up to 90 minutes.
Privacy Statement: Before beginning the interview, I (we) want to thank you for participating in the evaluation of the SUPPORT Act grants program. I (we) know that you are busy and we will try to be as focused as possible. We have many questions and are going to talk to many different people, so please do not feel as though we expect you to be able to answer every question. And, we understand that your participation in this discussion is voluntary and you may choose to not answer some questions.
Information collected will be kept private to the extent permitted by law. The views you express will be kept private, and nothing we publish in this evaluation will identify you by name. Though we take notes during these interviews, information is never repeated with the name of the respondent. When we write our reports and discuss our findings, information from all interviews is compiled and presented so that no one person can be identified. We also ask that you refrain from sharing anything we discuss today with others to help us ensure your privacy and the privacy of others we are interviewing. Do you have any questions before we begin?
The Paperwork Reduction Act Statement: This collection of information is voluntary and will be used to understand programs that integrate employment and substance use disorder services. Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 90 minutes per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, gathering and maintaining the data needed, 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. The OMB number and expiration date for this collection are OMB #: XXXX-XXXX, Exp: XX/XX/XXXX. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden to Hannah Betesh (Abt Associates);[email protected].
Respondent information—grantees and sub-grantees
[Existing staff] Changes to role/responsibilities within organization and grant
[New staff] Name. title, organization/affiliation, length of involvement with the organization and with the program
[New staff] Educational background and prior work experience
[New staff] Overall role/job responsibilities
Program context and environment—grantees and sub-grantees
Changes since site visit on:
OUD/SUD conditions in community
OUD/SUD rates in community
Changes in treatment and recovery system capacity
Local economic conditions
Local labor market changes
Changes to workforce system service delivery and capacity
COVID-19 context
Evolution of local COVID-19 policies and response
How the pandemic continues to affect local labor market and OUD/SUD trends
How the pandemic continues to affect workforce system service delivery
How the pandemic continues to affect service delivery under the grant
Local policies and initiatives to address the opioid crisis
Status of existing initiatives
New local policies and initiatives
Program goals and structure—sub-grantees
Changes since site visit on:
Goals for grant on program participants, for community
Progress on grant spending, meeting enrollment targets, plans for obtaining a no-cost extension, reasons for any delays in spending
Staffing
Staff roles/responsibilities
Staff turnover
Key causes of staffing changes
Key partners
Changes in partner roles and why
Loss/ending of partnerships and why
For new partners: types of organization, nature of partnership, historical relationships, length of partnership
Recruitment and enrollment—sub-grantees
Changes since site visit on:
Recruitment strategies
Promising approaches
Strategies no longer using and why
Target populations
Program eligibility and enrollment processes
Reasons for changes
Program services—sub-grantees
Changes since site visit on:
Program services being offered
Career services
Training services
Employment services
Supportive services
Treatment and recovery services
Program enrollment
Reasons for changes
Participant characteristics and participation in services— sub-grantees
Changes in characteristics of participants in the program
Trends regarding participation in services, and why
Trends in utilization of career, training, and employment services
Trends in utilization of supportive services and treatment and recovery services
Challenges in engaging participants in services
Promising approaches for sustaining participants’ engagement in services
Program performance and outcomes—grantees and sub-grantees
Recent trends in meeting grant outcomes and changes since site visit
Enrollment in job training and services
Receipt of supportive services, treatment, and recovery services
Completion of job training and services
Entry into employment related to training and services
Employment retention
Reasons why any performance targets may not be met by end of grant
Operational challenges and successes—grantees and sub-grantees
Challenges the program encountered and how they were overcome, including challenges related to combining treatment and employment services and forming relevant partnerships
Promising approaches developed by program, including approaches to combining treatment/employment services and forming relevant partnerships
Areas for improvement; plans for changes and modifications
Sustainability and prospects for future funding
Plans to continue partnerships
Plans to continue serving target population
Plans to continue grant service offerings
Reflections on implementation learning activity
Steps taken to address implementation after activity
Successes and challenges
Continued used of “learn-do-reflect” cycle within program management
[grantees only] Plans to scale up, replicate in other locations throughout the state
The
following table provides a summary of interview topics and potential
respondents for each.
Summary of Interview Topics and Respondent Type
Topic |
Respondent Type |
|
Grantees |
Sub-grantees |
|
Respondent Information
|
X |
X |
Project context and environment
|
X |
X |
Program goals and structure
|
|
X |
Recruitment and enrollment
|
|
X |
Program services
|
X |
X |
Participant characteristics and participation in services
|
|
X |
Program performance and outcomes
|
X |
X |
Operational Challenges and Successes
|
X |
X |
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| Author | Kyla Wasserman |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2023-08-29 |