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Implementation Science at UW

Keywords: Vaughan K. Collins

✪ Not getting better but not getting worse: A cluster randomized controlled pilot trial of a leadership implementation strategy

Authors:

Jill Locke, Catherine M. Corbin, Roger Goosey, Vaughan K. Collins, Mark G. Ehrhart, Kurt Hatch, Christine Espeland, and Aaron R. Lyon

University of Washington affiliated authors are displayed in bold.

✪ Open Access

Published: January 2025

Read the full text in the open access journal Implementation Research and Practice

Abstract:

Background

Implementation of evidence-based practices (EBPs) in schools is fraught with challenges. Even when EBPs are initiated, deterioration of implementation efforts often hinders their long-term success. School leadership behaviors can influence teachers’ EBP implementation. Our study tested an implementation strategy called Helping Educational Leaders Mobilize Evidence (HELM), adapted from the Leadership and Organizational Change for Implementation strategy, to enhance EBP implementation through improvements in school leadership teams’ implementation leadership and climate to buffer against the deterioration of implementation efforts. This study explores the impact of HELM on theorized mechanisms of change (i.e., implementation leadership, climate), educator-level factors (i.e., implementation citizenship), and implementation outcomes (i.e., fidelity, initiative stability).

Method

One school district and 10 schools in Washington participated. Five of the schools were randomized to receive the HELM strategy and the remaining five schools received an alternative leadership training as an implementation attention control. Teachers at every school (n = 341) received training for an EBP called Positive Greetings at the Door that has been previously demonstrated to reduce student behavior problems. Principals and Assistant Principals (n = 18) received the HELM strategy or alternative leadership training. Three district Administrators also participated in HELM as part of the Organizational Strategy Development meetings.

Results

HELM significantly slowed the average decline of implementation leadership (perseverant leadership and communication), three dimensions of implementation climate (recognition, rewards, and existing supports) and total implementation climate, and one dimension of implementation citizenship (keeping informed). No significant effects were found with regard to implementation outcomes (i.e., fidelity, initiative stability).

Conclusions

HELM shows promise in buffering the deterioration of EBP implementation efforts in schools. HELM positively influenced implementation leadership and climate, which are the hypothesized mechanisms for promoting successful long-term implementation efforts. An appropriately powered trial is needed to determine the efficacy of HELM in the future.

Trial Registration Information

Name of the registry: clinicaltrials.gov
Trial registration number: NCT06340074
Date of registration: March 29, 2024. Retrospectively registered
URL of trial registry record: https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT06340074?intr=helm&rank=

Plain Language Summary

Using practices that have been proven to work in research to support youth social, emotional, and behavioral well-being in schools is hard. Efforts to use these practices decrease across the school year. School leadership behaviors can influence educators’ use of these practices. Our study tested an implementation strategy or support designed to help educators use a research-backed practice called Helping Educational Leaders Mobilize Evidence (HELM). HELM was adapted from the Leadership and Organizational Change for Implementation (LOCI) strategy, to enhance school leadership teams’ specific leadership behaviors to protect against the decline in implementation effort. This study explores the impact of HELM on outcomes related to practice use. One school district and 10 schools in western Washington State participated. Five of the schools received the HELM strategy and the remaining five schools received an alternative leadership training. Teachers at every school (n = 341) received training in a practice called Positive Greetings at the Door (PGD) that has been shown to reduce student behavior problems. Principals and Assistant Principals (n = 18) received the HELM strategy or alternative leadership training. Three district administrators also participated in HELM. HELM unexpectedly slowed the average decline of implementation leadership (perseverant leadership and communication), three dimensions of implementation climate (recognition, rewards, and existing supports), total implementation climate, and one dimension of implementation citizenship (keeping informed). No significant effects were found with regard to use of the practice. The HELM strategy shows promise in slowing the deterioration of practice in schools and positively influenced implementation leadership behaviors.

**This abstract is posted with permission under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License**

✪ Helping Educational Leaders Mobilize Evidence (HELM): The iterative redesign of the Leadership and Organizational Change for Implementation (LOCI) intervention for use in schools

Authors:

Jill Locke, Cathy M. Corbin, Vaughan K. Collins, Mark G. Ehrhart, Roger Goosey, Kurt Hatch, Christine Espeland, Clayton R. Cook, and Aaron R. Lyon

University of Washington affiliated authors are displayed in bold.

✪ Open Access

Published: April 2024

Read the full text in the open access journal Implementation Research and Practice

Abstract:

Background

Few “intervention agnostic” strategies have been developed that can be applied to the broad array of evidence-based practices (EBPs) in schools. This paper describes two studies that reflect the initial iterative redesign phases of an effective leadership-focused implementation strategy—Leadership and Organizational Change for Implementation (LOCI)—to ensure its acceptability, feasibility, contextual appropriateness, and usability when used in elementary schools. Our redesigned strategy—Helping Educational Leaders Mobilize Evidence (HELM)—is designed to improve principals’ use of strategic implementation leadership to support the adoption and high-fidelity delivery of a universal EBP to improve student outcomes.

Method

In Study 1, focus groups were conducted (n = 6) with 54 district administrators, principals, and teachers. Stakeholders provided input on the appropriateness of original LOCI components to maximize relevance and utility in schools. Transcripts were coded using conventional content analysis. Key themes referencing low appropriateness were summarized to inform LOCI adaptations. We then held a National Expert Summit (Study 2) with 15 research and practice experts. Participants provided feedback via a nominal group process (NGP; n = 6 groups) and hackathon (n = 4 groups). The research team rated each NGP suggestion for how actionable, impactful/effective, and feasible it was. We also coded hackathon notes for novel ideas or alignment with LOCI components.

Results

Study 1 suggestions included modifications to LOCI content and delivery. Study 2's NGP results revealed most recommendations to be actionable, impactful/effective, and feasible. Hackathon results surfaced two novel ideas (distributed leadership teams and leaders’ knowledge to support educators EBP use) and several areas of alignment with LOCI components.

Conclusion

Use of these iterative methods informed the redesign of LOCI and the development of HELM. Because it was collaboratively constructed, HELM has the potential to be an effective implementation strategy to support the use of universal EBP in schools.

Plain Language Summary

Our research team designed a strategy (HELM) for school principals to improve the support they provide to staff to implement practices proven to work in research for improving student outcomes. We designed HELM by conducting focus groups with school district administrators, principals, and teachers. Participants were asked for their feedback on how to adapt an existing leadership strategy (LOCI) to the school context. After collecting this feedback, we held a meeting with 15 research and practice experts. During this meeting, the group of experts reviewed the focus group feedback and decided how to incorporate it into the design of the HELM strategy. We believe that collecting this feedback and involving research and practice experts in interpreting and integrating participant feedback into the HELM strategy will make HELM a more effective strategy for supporting school principals’ in implementing supports in their schools.

**This abstract is posted with permission under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License**

✪ Centering School Leaders’ Expertise: Usability Evaluation of a Leadership-Focused Implementation Strategy to Support Tier 1 Programs in Schools

Authors:

Vaughan K. Collins, Catherine M. Corbin, Jill J. Locke, Clayton R. Cook, Mark G. Ehrhart, Kurt D. Hatch & Aaron R. Lyon

University of Washington affiliated authors are displayed in bold.

✪ Open Access

Published: March 2024

Read the full text open access in the journal School Mental Health

Abstract:

Although there are a growing number of implementation strategies to increase the adoption, fidelity, and sustainment of evidence-based practices (EBP), they are often complex and bulky, which can interfere with their widespread application. To address these challenges, the Helping Educational Leaders Mobilize Evidence (HELM) strategy was created as an adaptation of the evidence-based Leadership and Organizational Change for Implementation (LOCI) implementation strategy to enhance elementary school principals’ use of strategic implementation leadership to support the adoption and delivery of Tier 1 (i.e., universal social, emotional, and behavioral) EBP. In service of its iterative development, a human-centered design methodology was employed to increase the successful uptake and use of HELM. The Cognitive Walkthrough for Implementation Strategies (CWIS), a novel mixed-methods approach to evaluate implementation strategy usability, was applied to identify and test HELM strategy tasks of critical importance. A sample of 15 elementary school principals participated in group cognitive walkthrough testing as either school principal recipients or HELM coaches. Both user types rated the strategy as acceptable (principal M = 77.8, SD = 15.5; coach M = 87.5, SD = 7.9). Five usability issues were identified using a highly structured common usability issue framework and provided direction for the generation of redesign solutions to be incorporated in a subsequent version of the HELM strategy. The evaluation of the strategy’s usability improved its alignment with user needs, expectations, and contextual constraints, rendering a more usable strategy and broadly applicable information surrounding the development of psychosocial implementation strategies in real-world settings.

**This abstract is posted with permission under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License**