Assessment of training and technical assistance needs of Colorectal Cancer Control Program Grantees in the U.S.

Background Practitioners often require training and technical assistance to build their capacity to select, adapt, and implement evidence-based interventions (EBIs). The CDC Colorectal Cancer Control Program (CRCCP) aims to promote CRC screening to increase population-level screening. This study identified the training and technical assistance (TA) needs and preferences for training related to the implementation of EBIs among CRCCP grantees. Methods Twenty-nine CRCCP grantees completed an online survey about their screening activities, training and technical assistance in 2012. They rated desire for training on various evidence-based strategies to increase cancer screening, evidence-based competencies, and program management topics. They also reported preferences for training formats and facilitators and barriers to trainings. Results Many CRCCP grantees expressed the need for training with regards to specific EBIs, especially system-level and provider-directed EBIs to promote CRC screening. Grantees rated these EBIs as more difficult to implement than client-oriented EBIs. Grantees also reported a moderate need for training regarding finding EBIs, assessing organizational capacity, implementing selected EBIs, and conducting process and outcome evaluations. Other desired training topics reported with higher frequency were partnership development and data collection/evaluation. Grantees preferred training formats that were interactive such as on-site trainings, webinars or expert consultants. Conclusions Public health organizations need greater supports for adopting evidence-based interventions, working with organizational-level change, partnership development and data management. Future capacity building efforts for the adoption of EBIs should focus on systems or provider level interventions and key processes for health promotion and should be delivered in a variety of ways to assist local organizations in cancer prevention and control

Pathways to suicide or collections of vicious cycles? Understanding the complexity of suicide through causal mapping

International audienceSuicide is the second leading cause of death among youth ages 10–19 in the USA. While suicide has long been recognized as a multifactorial issue, there is limited understanding regarding the complexities linking adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) to suicide ideation, attempt, and fatality among youth. In this paper, we develop a map of these complex linkages to provide a decision support tool regarding key issues in policymaking and intervention design, such as identifying multiple feedback loops (e.g., involving intergenerational effects) or comprehensively examining the rippling effects of an intervention. We use the methodology of systems mapping to structure the complex interrelationships of suicide and ACEs based on the perceptions of fifteen subject matter experts. Specifically, systems mapping allows us to gain insight into the feedback loops and potential emergent properties of ACEs and youth suicide. We describe our methodology and the results of fifteen one-on-one interviews, which are transformed into individual maps that are then aggregated and simplified to produce our final causal map. Our map is the largest to date on ACEs and suicide among youth, totaling 361 concepts and 946 interrelationships. Using a previously developed open-source software to navigate the map, we are able to explore how trauma may be perpetuated through familial, social, and historical concepts. In particular, we identify connections and pathways between ACEs and youth suicide that have not been identified in prior research, and which are of particular interest for youth suicide prevention efforts

CDC Suicide and ACEs

The methods used, results, and conclusions produced for this project are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Assessment of training and technical assistance needs of Colorectal Cancer Control Program Grantees in the U.S.

BackgroundPractitioners often require training and technical assistance to build their capacity to select, adapt, and implement evidence-based interventions (EBIs). The CDC Colorectal Cancer Control Program (CRCCP) aims to promote CRC screening to increase population-level screening. This study identified the training and technical assistance (TA) needs and preferences for training related to the implementation of EBIs among CRCCP grantees.MethodsTwenty-nine CRCCP grantees completed an online survey about their screening activities, training and technical assistance in 2012. They rated desire for training on various evidence-based strategies to increase cancer screening, evidence-based competencies, and program management topics. They also reported preferences for training formats and facilitators and barriers to trainings.ResultsMany CRCCP grantees expressed the need for training with regards to specific EBIs, especially system-level and provider-directed EBIs to promote CRC screening. Grantees rated these EBIs as more difficult to implement than client-oriented EBIs. Grantees also reported a moderate need for training regarding finding EBIs, assessing organizational capacity, implementing selected EBIs, and conducting process and outcome evaluations. Other desired training topics reported with higher frequency were partnership development and data collection/evaluation. Grantees preferred training formats that were interactive such as on-site trainings, webinars or expert consultants.ConclusionsPublic health organizations need greater supports for adopting evidence-based interventions, working with organizational-level change, partnership development and data management. Future capacity building efforts for the adoption of EBIs should focus on systems or provider level interventions and key processes for health promotion and should be delivered in a variety of ways to assist local organizations in cancer prevention and control