Symposia
Autism Spectrum and Developmental Disorders
Kassandra Martinez, M.S.
San Diego State University/University of California, San Diego Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology
La Jolla, California
Barbara Caplan, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
UC San Diego, Child and Adolescent Services Research Center
San Diego, CA
Lauren Brookman-Frazee, Ph.D.
Professor
University of California, San Diego
San Diego, California
Background: Provider attitudes and motivations are essential in the community implementation of evidence-based interventions (EBIs), as they reliably predict provider EBI training engagement and EBI use (Lyons et al, 2013). Implementation strategies designed to enhance provider motivation are currently being tested (Brookman-Frazee & Stahmer, 2018), yet no measures to date have been developed to measure this construct. The current study aimed to characterize the factor structure of the Provider Motivation Inventory (adapted from the Parent Motivation Inventory; Nock & Photos, 2006), when used with providers in community mental health and school settings.
Method: Data were drawn from a large-scale implementation-effectiveness trial, “Translating Evidence-Based Interventions for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD): A Multi-Level Implementation Strategy (TEAMS)”, which tests the effectiveness of multilevel implementation strategies on implementation outcomes for two EBIs for ASD. Participating providers (N = 498) completed the Provider Motivation Inventory at baseline. Providers were predominantly female (80%) and White Non-Hispanic (57%), and had a mean of 7 years of experience (SD = 6.55). Exploratory factor analyses were run on Mplus. The root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA >.08), chi-square, and the comparative fit index (CFI >.95) were used to evaluate model fit.
Results: A three-factor model demonstrated the best fit based on overall fit indices c2(228) = 869.08, p < .001; CFI = .96., RMSEA = .02 and the clinical and research utility of the derived factors. The first factor (Motivation for Provider Skill Building; 11 items) included items characteristic of providers’ motivation to learn new skills and strategies. The second factor (Motivation for Provider Training; 11 items) included items characteristic of providers’ motivation to engage in EBI training. The third factor (Motivation for Child Behavior Change; 3 items) contained items that were characteristic of providers’ motivation for child improvement.
Conclusion: This inventory may advance the field by enhancing the assessment of a key potential mechanism of successful EBI implementation. Next steps include conducting a confirmatory factor analysis in an independent sample and examining psychometric properties of the identified factors.