(PS5-C68) Qualitative Analyses of SWOT Interviews (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) with Stakeholders to Inform Implementation of Evidence-based Trauma Interventions

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted disparities and gaps in effective implementation of evidence-based interventions (EBI) for many communities.  One critical issue is identifying and addressing both barriers and opportunities in terms of implementing EBIs during times of emergency and disaster.  The National Child HELP Partnership (a Category II site in the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, NCTSN) is a training center and resource for the delivery of evidence-based, culturally adapted trauma services and interventions for children exposed to disaster, sexual abuse, family violence, race-based and immigration trauma, and traumatic deaths. Currently, we are training 7 launch sites with established school-mental health relationships that  serve a range of urban and rural communities with cultural and geographic diversity (Nevada, South Dakota, North Dakota, Michigan, Maine, Maryland, South Carolina), experiencing large behavioral health disparities.  Each site has assembled a trauma team consisting of local stakeholders (e.g., mental health professionals, school personnel, parents, youth). As one of our first steps, we are conducting SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) interviews with all trauma team members to identify both barriers and opportunities for each community regarding meeting trauma specific needs.  The information will be used to tailor training delivery methods (e.g., telehealth versus live, classrooms vs small groups vs individuals) and dissemination and implementation strategies to address the unique needs of the site communities.  The goal of this presentation is to report on our qualitative analysis of these SWOT interviews and discuss how these results are used to modify our interventions for each site.

Thus far we have completed over 40 interviews with team members from across the 7 sites. An iterative team approach is being used to develop a codebook to guide content analysis (Fonteyn et al., 2008).  Preliminary themes that have been identified include: stigma of therapy as a barrier (e.g., threat), importance of personal connections with students and families (e.g., strength), support of school administration as both an opportunity and threat.  We will report on the completed content analysis and resulting themes and discuss how qualitative information can assist in the dissemination and implementation of trauma specific EBIs that are responsive to specific cultural and community needs.