Symposia
Dissemination & Implementation Science
Kathryn Parisi, M.A.
University of Arkansas
Fayetteville, Arkansas
Dustin E. Sarver, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
University of Mississippi Medical Center
Jackson, MS
Crises such as war, natural disasters, and COVID-19 disproportionately exacerbate social, emotional, and behavioral health problems in communities where needs for support are highest, where there are the greatest number of stressors, and the fewest resources. Thus, feasible, prevention-focused services that leverage natural helpers within children’s social ecologies are particularly vital to mitigate the added stress of crisis conditions. Teachers are especially poised to help reduce risk and increase protection from adverse effects of these crises. However, it is unknown how they feel about these programs and whether their attitudes towards what they learn in training are related to their students’ behavioral outcomes. The current presentation describes a statewide implementation of an evidence-based prevention program, Child-Adult Relationship Enhancement (CARE), in early childhood educational centers. Two-hundred three teachers from 10 early childhood centers and preschools provided ratings of their students’ social-emotional behavior for several weeks before and after participating in CARE training. Participants also completed a measure of their attitudes towards evidence-based practice (EBP). Linear regression results indicated that greater openness to EBP before training predicted higher perceived feasibility (β = .27), acceptability (β = 2.98), and understanding (β = 2.81) of CARE after training and at follow-up (all p’s < .01). Endorsing EBP because it was required was related to lower perceived level of system support for CARE (β = -.26, p = .03). Ability to accomplish instructional goals was also predictive of greater openness to EBP (β = 2.66) and lower divergence from EBP (β = -.24). Divergence from EBP before training predicted higher attention (β = .13), oppositional (β = .25), emotional (β = .22), social (β = .19), and overall behavior problems (β = .22) at post-training. Divergence also predicted higher interference with instruction (β = .20) and was inversely related to teachers’ ability to accomplish instructional goals (β = -.17). Appeal of EBP at pretraining predicted significantly higher ability to accomplish instructional goals after training (β = .20) (all p’s < .01). In general, results indicate that teachers’ attitudes towards EBP significantly affect their use of CARE, as well as the potential benefit their students may receive from CARE. Outcomes will be considered in the context of enhancing the scientific literacy of teachers to facilitate uptake of prevention and intervention during emergencies.