Experience Corps Trial: Monitoring Training and Intervention Fidelity

描述(申请人提供)：体验团(EC)是一个以社区为基础的老年人健康促进模式，嵌入了一个旨在改善公立小学儿童学习和行为结果的社会参与计划。在P01的资助下，我们正在进行一项为期5年的随机对照有效性试验(RCT)，以了解该计划对老年人健康和功能的影响，并评估该计划对学校和儿童的影响。这份竞争性补充材料建议实施一项研究，以监测和提高EC计划的保真度，这是我们最初P01申请的审查员所建议的。通过这项拟议的保真度研究收集的数据将允许对干预保真度进行经验性评估，作为随机对照试验结果评估的一部分。迄今为止，行政补编提供了资金，以便在2001年财政年度期间监测培训和干预的选定方面的初步执行情况；并在2002年财政年度开始开发数据录入/管理应用程序和监测控制措施。根据Bellg和Borrelli等人提出的“最佳做法”建议，目前的申请概述了在整个试验过程中监测和加强执行保真度的正式计划。(2004)。拟议的忠诚度监测包括三个部分-(1)监测老年志愿者在被安置到学校之前接受的培训，以及他们被安置到学校后的在职培训和进修培训，以及监测对学校有EC志愿者的EC站点协调员、教师和校长的培训；(2)监测志愿者在学校正在进行的EC活动(即实际干预本身)，同时监测控制活动；以及(3)研究可能影响总体计划实施和随机对照试验结果的组织和背景因素。我们亦建议监察校长、教师和行政人员在干预和控制学校担任教统会或非教统会学校的经验。总而言之，这一竞争性补编的具体目的是加强现有的、由P01资助的数据收集，以包括评估和分析欧共体区域工作队的执行水平。这些数据将提供关于计划实施保真度的其他关键信息--当前P01资助的数据收集中缺失的信息，从而不仅允许评估(和修改)可能影响培训/干预保真度的因素，而且还允许评估(和修改)与P01资助的EC-RCT的主要结果有关的积极(或消极)结果的可能原因。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The Experience Corps (EC) is a community-based, health promotion model for older adults, embedded in a social engagement program designed to improve academic and behavioral outcomes of children in public elementary schools. With P01 funding we are conducting a 5-year randomized controlled effectiveness trial (RCT) of the impact of this program on older adults' health and function, as well as assessing the program's impact on schools and children. This competitive supplement proposes implementation of a study to monitor and improve the fidelity of the EC program, as recommended by the reviewers of our original P01 application. Data collected through this proposed fidelity study will allow for empirical evaluation of intervention fidelity as part of the evaluation of RCT findings. To date, administrative supplements provided funding to monitor the initial implementation of selected aspects of the training and intervention during Yr 01; and to begin developing data entry/management applications and monitor the controls in Yr 02. The current application outlines a formal plan to monitor and enhance implementation fidelity throughout the course of the trial, following "best practice" recommendations set forth by Bellg, Borrelli et al. (2004). Proposed fidelity monitoring includes three components - (1) monitoring the training that older adult volunteers receive before they are placed in the schools and in-service training and refresher training after they are placed in the schools, as well as monitoring training for EC site coordinators, teachers, and principals who have EC volunteers in their schools; (2) monitoring the on-going EC activities of the volunteers in the schools (i.e., the actual intervention itself) along with parallel monitoring of control activities; and (3) studying the organizational and contextual factors that may impact overall program implementation and RCT outcomes. We also propose to monitor the experience of principals, teachers, and administrative staff in intervention and control schools of serving as an EC or non-EC school. In sum, the specific aims of this competitive supplement are to augment existing, P01-funded data collection to include assessment and analysis of the level of implementation of the EC-RCT. These data will provide additional crucial information - missing from current P01-funded data collection - about fidelity of program implementation, thereby allowing for evaluation (and modification) of not only factors that may impact the fidelity of training/intervention, but also of possible reasons for positive (or negative) findings with respect to the P01-funded EC-RCT's primary outcomes.