Symposium 69 - Innovative qualitative approaches to understanding implementation processes and outcomes in legal systems that serve youth

Saturday, November 18, 2023

10:30 AM – 12:00 PM PST

Location: Sol Duc (708), Level 7

CE: 1.5

Keywords: Implementation, Child, Research Methods
Level of Familiarity: Basic to Moderate
Recommended Readings: Rudd, B.N. & Beidas, R.S. (2021). Reducing the scientific bench to judicial bench research-to-practice gap: Applications of implementation science to family law research and practice. Family Court Review, 59, 741-754., Saldana, L. (2014). The stages of implementation completion for evidence-based practice: protocol for a mixed methods study. Implementation Science, 43. , McGuier, E.A., Aarons, G.A., Byrne, K.A., Campbell, K.A., Keeshin, B., Rothenberger, S.D., Weingart, L.R., Salas, E., & Kolko, D.J. (2023). Associations between teamwork and implementation outcomes in multidisciplinary cross-sector teams implementing a mental health screening and referral protocol. Implementation Science Communication, 4. doi: 10.1186/s43058-023-00393-8., ,

Chair(s)

Brittany Rudd, Ph.D. (she/her/hers)

Assistant Professor
University of Illinois at Chicago
Chicago, Illinois

Discussant(s)

LS

Lisa Saldana, Ph.D. (she/her/hers)

Chestnut Health Systems
EUGENE, Oregon

Presenter(s)

Brittany Rudd, Ph.D. (she/her/hers)

Assistant Professor
University of Illinois at Chicago
Chicago, Illinois
Catalina Ordorica, M.Ed. (she/her/hers)

Graduate Student Researcher
University of Illinois at Chicago
Chicago, Illinois
AH

Amy Holtzworth-Munroe, Ph.D. (she/her/hers)

Professor
Indiana University
Bloomington, Indiana
EM

Elizabeth McGuier, Ph.D. (she/her/hers)

Assistant Professor of Psychiatry & Pediatrics
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Children interact with and are impacted by legal systems in many ways. These interactions are opportunities to promote youth mental health. This symposium brings together 4 presentations, by student, early career, and senior researchers who collaborated with different youth-serving legal systems striving to improve youth outcomes through the implementation of new practices. Throughout the symposium we will highlight the application of innovative qualitative methods within community-partnered implementation research. Each presentation focuses on a unique youth-serving legal system, innovation, stage of implementation, and qualitative method. Such diversity in setting, practice, and analytical method will give attendees both broad knowledge of how implementation science can be applied to non-traditional mental health settings and exposure to state-of-the-art qualitative research methods that can improve understanding of implementation processes and outcomes. 

First, we will focus on the family law setting, where divorcing and separating parents seek legal resolutions to their child-related issues. We present the results of a countywide evaluation of barriers to and facilitators of screening these families for need and connecting them to mental health, social, and legal services. This study highlights the exploration stage of implementation and a rapid qualitative analytic approach to analyzing stakeholder interviews to design innovations with implementation in mind. 

Second, we will present findings from an ethnographic study of juvenile detention center leaders and the implementation strategies they use to influence detention centers’ culture and climate. This study highlights the preparation stage of implementation and describes a thematic analysis of unstructured stakeholder-led group discussions collected during a leadership institute on juvenile-legal reform.

Third, we will present findings from a pragmatic hybrid type 1 evaluation of the implementation of intimate partner violence (IPV) screening and modified forms of mediation in a family law court. When not detected and addressed in mediation, IPV can continue to harm children after parental separation. This study highlights the implementation stage as well as a framework analysis of barriers and facilitators regarding implementation processes collected via focus groups with staff.

We will end with results from a hybrid type 2 cluster randomized control trial evaluating a structured, self-guided implementation strategy to improve a team training innovation in multidisciplinary teams responding to child abuse. This study highlights the implementation stage and describes how periodic reflections with team members, analyzed using rapid qualitative analysis, were used to gather details of the implementation process, feedback on the implementation strategy, and suggestions for improvement. 

Our discussant, an expert in both implementation science and systems that serve youth, will highlight implications for the field of implementation science and legal systems serving youth.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of the session, the learner will be able to:

Select qualitative methods that support collaboration with stakeholders in a community setting to prepare for implementation.
Know which implementation strategies may impact their setting’s culture and climate.
Select methods to identify barriers and facilitators to implementation in their own community settings.
Use qualitative methods to iteratively refine implementation strategies.
Apply innovative qualitative methods to enhance their research on implementation in community settings.
Goal: Learn options for rapid qualitative research.
Goal: Learn about implementation of innovations in legal systems that serve youth.