An efficacy study of two dissemination strategies for the enhance Aussie Optimism: Social Life Skills and Optimistic Thinking Skills program.

This study evaluated the efficacy of two different dissemination strategies for the enhanced Aussie Optimism: Social Life Skills (SLS) and Optimistic Thinking Skills (OTS) programs in Western Australia, incorporated with a self-directed parent and families program. Grade 6 students (aged 10-11 years) and their parents from primary schools within three Western Australia Department of Education school districts were recruited to participate in a randomised field trial of the dissemination of the Aussie Optimism Program. 63 primary schools were recruited from three education districts and randomly assigned to one of the three conditions: i) Aussie Optimism with teacher training, ii) Aussie Optimism with teacher training plus coaching and iii) a usual care condition that received the regular Western Australian Health Education Curriculum. Principals were invited to participate by way of a letter and follow-up phone call. These described the project aims and methods, what this means for schools, teachers and parents, and which condition the school had been assigned to. Once the principal consented, a visit and presentation was made to the school staff. The principals were asked to sign a Memorandum of Understanding stating that they agree to participate in the research, that they agree to implement the program, the number of teachers who will implement the program, & receive training and coaching, depending on the dissemination condition. Teachers were provided with information forms & were asked to sign consent forms to indicate consent to take part in the study. Information & consent forms were sent home to parents in sealed envelopes to all grade 6 students. Children of Parents who did not consent for their children to participate in the research had accessed to the program but did not complete the questionnaires. Teachers in the intervention condition received 8-hour training in the SLS and OTS. Each program contain ten 60-minute modules that can be incorporated into regular primary school classes for health education or personal development. The modules include didactic information, interactive activities, games, cooperative learning tasks, cross curriculum applications, worksheets, and homework activities to help students generalise skills outside of the school setting. Parents booklets inform parents of the content of the programs and provide evidence on how to support their child's use of the skills in the home environment. SLS was developed to overcome interpersonal skills such as poor social skills and problem solving, lack of social support and friendship difficulties. OTS targets cognitive vulnerabilities such as pessimistic attribution style, and negative self-perceptions and future expectations. The self-directed family program, Aussie Optimism for Families and Parents (F & P), was provided for parents of Grade 7 students in the second half of the year when schools and families were preparing students for secondary school. The F & P program aims to enhance family protective factors for young adolescents over the transition to secondary school. Topics such as working together as a family, building new friendships, stress management in times of transition, and cultivating an optimistic perspective are discussed and families are encouraged to make plans to assist their teenagers over time. The F & P program is a self-directed booklet delivered to the parents via their grade 7 child. The program was distributed at an initial meeting (1 x hour) with parents (regardless of whether year/class groups, or individual parents) so that aims, contents, and activities can be explained, and there was opportunity for questions. This is associated with increased fidelity, commitment, and school community ownership of the program. After the F & P was distributed, parents were given about 8-40 weeks to complete the program at home on their own. At the end of 10 weeks a follow-up questionnaire was posted, and if not returned, there was follow-up telephone contact (15 minutes) from a facilitator (school psychologist or teacher who has completed SLS and OTS training). A checklist (based on the content of the program) , 5-item rating scale (usefulness, enjoyment, relevance, compatibility with family values and beliefs, presentation, delivery), and series of open-ended questions was used to monitor adherence to the program. The whole program was implemented over two years: SLS in grade 6, OTS in grade 7, and F & P in the second half of Grade 7. All learning outcomes were compatible with the Western Australia Department of Education 's Curriculum Framework for Health Education.. The 8-hour teacher training workshop for each SLS and OTS includes skills practice and feedback on the program activities and discussion of implementation issues for individual classrooms. The majority of teachers taught either SLS or OTS; teachers who taught OTS also administered the P & F program in Grade 7. While teachers in both intervention groups received program manuals, resources, and student workbooks, teachers in the training/coaching condition were able to access up to five hours of coaching per year to support them in program implementation. The coaching was provided by school psychologists who were accredited trainers in AOP programs and had experienced in school- based intervention programs. Teachers in this condition accessed coaching at their own convenience for a variety of issues including individualising the program to meet the needs of their students, advice on how to implement certain activities and motivate students, advice on how to adapt the content for children with special needs, encouraging parent participation, and assistance with dealing with referrals for children with more serious problems. In order to assess and compare between group differences in social, emotional and mental health conditions, the following instruments were used: Students: Extended Strengths & Difficulties questionnaires - student version (SDQ-S; Goodman, 1999). Students who scored in the clinical range on the SDQ-S Emotional symptoms subscale were interviewed with the computerised Diagnostic Interview for Children and Adolescents (DICA-IV; Reich, Welner, & Herjanic, 1997). Parent Measures - Demographic Questionnaire and Extended Strengths & Difficulties Questionnaires (SDQ - P) (Goodman, 1999). The SDQ-P measures externalising and internalising problems at home. Teachers (intervention groups only ) : Implementation checklists, Levels of Use questionnaire, Organisational Climate Questionnaire, Concerns Based Adoption Questionnaire and Program Adoption Questionnaire (Steckler et al. 1992). Students and parents completed the questionnaires at pre and post-test, after completing the program components at the end of grade 6 &7, & at 12-months follow-up at the end of grade 8. Students questionnaires were administered in class time by trained research assistants, blind to the dissemination conditions. Parental questionnaires were sent home with the students & parents returned them to their child's school in a sealed envelope at the grade 6 & 7 assessment points. At the 8th grade assessment, the questionnaires were mailed to parents and requested that they forwarded their questionnaires to Curtin University in pre-paid envelopes.