Citation

Aarons GA, Fettes DL, Sommerfeld DH, Palinkas LA. Child Maltreat. 2011; 17(1): 67-79.

Affiliation

University of California, San Diego; Child & Adolescent Services Research Center, Rady Children's Hospital, San Diego, CA, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1077559511426908

PMID

22146861

Abstract

Many public sector service systems and provider organizations are in some phase of learning about or implementing evidence-based interventions. Child welfare service systems represent a context where implementation spans system, management, and organizational concerns. Research utilizing mixed methods that combine qualitative and quantitative design, data collection, and analytic approaches are particularly well suited to understanding both the process and outcomes of dissemination and implementation efforts in child welfare systems. This article describes the process of using mixed methods in implementation research and provides an applied example of an examination of factors impacting staff retention during an evidence-based intervention implementation in a statewide child welfare system. The authors integrate qualitative data with previously published quantitative analyses of job autonomy and staff turnover during this statewide implementation project in order to illustrate the utility of mixed method approaches in providing a more comprehensive understanding of opportunities and challenges in implementation research.

Language: en