An empirical study of multidimensional fidelity of COMPASS consultation

Practice Makes Proficient: Evaluation of Implementation Fidelity Following COMPASS Consultation Training

Objective

To test a training package for COMPASS, a multi-level consultation and coaching intervention for improved educational outcomes of students with ASD.

Method

Using a Hybrid Type 3 design with emphasis on implementation and a multidimensional approach to evaluating implementation outcomes, we tested a training package with community-based consultant trainees (CTs) unfamiliar with COMPASS and evaluated acceptance, appropriateness, feasibility, and fidelity from multiple sources (trainees, teachers, and parents).

Results

Results confirm that COMPASS-naïve CTs can be successfully trained. At least one feedback session was needed to achieve proficiency. Initial fidelity ratings between researchers and CTs were disparate suggesting self-report may not be adequate. Four feedback opportunities were required to achieve proficiency in writing intervention plans, an activity particularly challenging for CTs. Teachers and parents perceived COMPASS as acceptable, appropriate, and feasible. CTs knowledge of EBPs increased significantly following training; however, positive attitudes toward EBPs did not.

Conclusions

The implementation outcomes suggest that the training package was effective for training CTs; however, additional practice with writing intervention plans is warranted.

A Waitlist Randomized Implementation Trial of Classroom Pivotal Response Teaching for Students With Autism

Classroom Pivotal Response Teaching (CPRT) is a community-partnered adaptation of a naturalistic developmental behavioral intervention identified as an evidence-based practice for autistic children. The current study evaluated student outcomes in a randomized, wait-list controlled implementation trial across classrooms. Participants included teachers (n = 126) and students with autism (n = 308). Teachers participated in 12 hours of didactic, interactive training and additional in-classroom coaching. Generalized Estimating Equations accounted for clustering. Adjusted models evaluated the relative effects of training group, CPRT fidelity, and classroom quality on student outcomes. Results indicate higher CPRT fidelity was associated with greater increases in student learning. Having received CPRT training predicted increased student engagement and greater decreases in reported approach/withdrawal problems. These differences may be linked to the theoretical foundations of CPRT of increasing student motivation and engagement and collaborative adaptation to increase feasibility in schools. Overall, results suggest CPRT may be a beneficial approach for supporting autistic students.

Teachers of socially maladjusted children and youth. Occupational burnout - sense of self-efficacy - teachers' life optimism. A comparative study

BACKGROUND

The psychological specificity of the occupation of teachers in youth fostering centres (Młodzieżowe Ośrodki Wychowawcze, MOW) and youth psychotherapy centres (Młodzieżowe Ośrodki Psychoterapii, MOS) is rarely explored in empirical studies. As indicated in the literature, working in resocialization facilities (such as MOWs or MOSs) requires more effort expended in contacts with students. Study results indicate that teachers at greater risk of experiencing aggression are also at a greater risk of occupational burnout.

PARTICIPANTS AND PROCEDURE

The aim of the current study was to gather data on the intensity of occupational burnout among MOW/MOS teachers and public school teachers as well as to analyse the correlates and predictors of burnout. One hundred and sixty-nine people from two voivodeships in Poland took part in the study. The following measures were used in the study: the Life Orientation Test (LOT-R), the Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES) and the Link Burnout Questionnaire (LBQ).

RESULTS

Psychophysical exhaustion and a sense of a lack of self-efficacy among teachers are related to their workplace conditions. Longer job experience had a significant influence on the intensity of the individual aspects of occupational burnout and sense of self-efficacy. The current study did not reveal a significant influence of life optimism.

CONCLUSIONS

The current study requires continuation, as detailed scientific analyses of this occupational group are still lacking. There is a need for further studies on the impact of occupational burnout on the effectiveness of teachers' pedagogical interventions.

Implementation Fidelity and Common Elements of High Quality Teaching Sequences for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder in COMPASS

BACKGROUND

Evidence-based educational instruction includes teaching elements common across different approaches as well as specific elements of the chosen evidence-based practice. We were interested in evaluating the use and impact of common elements of teaching. Specifically, we adopted a model of elements of high quality teaching sequences and developed and tested an instructional quality index to capture evidence-based features within teaching sequences (Grisham-Brown & Ruble, 2014).

METHOD

The current investigation examined 29 special education teachers who received a consultation intervention called the Collaborative Model for Promoting Competence and Success (COMPASS; Ruble, Dalrymple & McGrew, 2012) that results in personalized teaching plans for young students with ASD and embeds elements of evidence-based teacher coaching of self-reflection and performance-based feedback. We analyzed the teaching plans to understand which of the common elements were present, and if teachers demonstrated improved performance after coaching.

RESULTS

Analysis of the use of common elements during the first and fourth coaching session demonstrated that all teachers showed improvement. Most importantly, the use of common elements correlated with student goal attainment outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS

These results suggest that common elements of teaching sequences which we view as core features of teaching quality, can be improved as a result of coaching, and most importantly, are associated with students' educational outcomes.

Adapting COMPASS for youth with ASD to improve transition outcomes using implementation science

Implementation science provides guidance on adapting existing evidence based practices (EBPs) by incorporating implementation concerns from the start. Focus-group methodology was used to understand barriers and facilitators of transition planning and implementation for students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who often experience disparate postsecondary outcomes compared to peers. Results were used to modify an evidence-based consultation intervention originally applied to young students with ASD, called the Collaborative Model for Promoting Competence and Success (COMPASS; Ruble, Dalrymple, & McGrew, 2012). Because consultation is a multilevel EBP, two existing implementation science frameworks were used to guide adaptation: the Framework for Evidence Based Implementation and Intervention Practices (Dunst & Trivette, 2012) and the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (Damschroder et al., 2009). The purpose of this article is to describe a process of adaptation of COMPASS that may be useful for other implementation science studies of consultation interventions, teacher acceptability, feasibility, and burden, and parent/student satisfaction with the adapted intervention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).