Enhancing School Safety Officers' Effectiveness Through Online Professional and Job Embedded Coaching

NCT03339648 | Completed

• 2 other identifiers: IRB2017025202017-CK-BX-0019
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 96
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The University of Florida's (UF) Lastinger Center for Learning, in partnership with the UF Psychology Department, have been funded by the National Institute of Justice to advance the skills of School Resource Officers (SROs) currently working in the Miami-Dade Schools Police Department through an innovative, scalable, online and in-person professional development system. The goal will be realized through a 36-month pilot project allowing for the development, testing, and refinement of the system conducted in partnership with the Miami-Dade County Public Schools, and includes an evaluation component to assess for efficacy and scalability.

Conditions

Bullying; School Fear; Professional Role

Keywords

School Resource Officer; Trauma Informed Care; Cultural Competency; Restorative Problem Solving; Social Emotional Learning; Professional Development; School Violence

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (11)

• Change in knowledge of child development, classroom management, child problem behaviors, and behavior management strategies

  This assessment will be administered to all participant and non-participant SROs. The items will be developed by the study's team and evaluated using expert reviews and cognitive interviews. Following the first assessment, the discrimination of the items will be evaluated using item-to-total correlations and any items with low or negative item- to-total correlations will be removed from further use in the study.

  Up to 52 weeks

• Change in knowledge of Behavioral Principles as Applied To Children Test (KBPAC) - Short Form.

  The KBPAC is a 50-item instrument designed to measure basic knowledge of behavioral principles applied to children. The shortened 10-item version of the KBPAC had a Kuder-Richardson reliability estimate of 0.77 and was shown to have an internal reliability parallel to the 50-item, and 25-item versions of the test. Response options are correct or incorrect.

  Up to 52 weeks

• Change in Trauma-Informed Self-Assessment Test

  The TISAT was adapted from the Trauma- Informed Organizational Self-Assessment. The TISAT is a 17-item scale designed to measure an individual's knowledge of trauma-informed strategies associated with mental health outcomes, substance use, homelessness, triggers (reminders of traumatic events), and de-escalation techniques. Response options are a 6-point Likert-type scale where individuals self-report their level of confidence utilizing trauma-informed strategies.

  Up to 52 weeks

• Change in General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSE).

  The GSE is 10-item scale designed to measure self- reported self-efficacy. The instrument was found to be correlated with sentiments of positivity and work satisfaction with lower scores signaling stress, health complains, exhaustion, depression and anxiety. Response options range from "not at all true" to "exactly true."

  Up to 52 weeks

• Change in Self-Assessment of Social and Emotional Competencies (SASEC).

  The SASEC was adapted from Section 1-Part B of the "Self-Assessing Social and Emotional Instruction and Competencies: A tool for teachers". The measure is a self-report on a 4-point Likert-Type scale of how much individuals agree that they have specific social and emotional competencies influencing SRO's interactions at the school. The 21-item measure covers the following factors of Social Emotional Competencies: Self-Awareness, Self- Management/Emotion Regulation, Social Awareness, Relationship/Social Skills, and Responsible Decision Making.

  Up to 52 weeks

• Change in Intercultural Sensitivity Scale (ISS).

  The ISS is a 24-item measure of intercultural sensitivity through five factors: interaction engagement, respect of cultural differences, interaction confidence, interaction enjoyment, and interaction attentiveness. The self-reported instrument is measured in a 5-point Likert-Type scale (strongly disagree to strongly agree).

  Up to 52 weeks

• Change in Implicit Association Test (IAT).

  The Implicit Association Test measures implicit automatic associations by tracking the speed at which participants associate different groups of words. The scale is delivered electronically using an open-source software. Scores will be evaluated using the latest scoring procedure .

  Up to 52 weeks

• Change in LGBT Ally Identity Measure.

  The LGBT Ally Identity Measure is designed to evaluate the competencies of heterosexual allies of the LGBT community with four main factors: skills to support the LGBT community, awareness of LGBT oppression, knowledge of the LGBT experience, and engagement in action with LGBT members of the community. Response options range from "not at all true" to "very true for me." The 19-item scale had a Cronbach's alpha of .68 for the knowledge and skills subscale, .81 for the openness and support subscale, and .65 for the oppression awareness subscale .

  Up to 52 weeks

• Change in Measure of Role Clarity:

  Role clarity will be measured by five items, which have a five-point Liker scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree.

  Up to 52 weeks

• Change in Measure of Job Satisfaction

  The study team will measure general job satisfaction using a five-item short form of the Brayfield-Rothe job satisfaction scale. The items of this short form are: "Most days I am enthusiastic about my work," "I feel fairly satisfied with my present job," "I find real enjoyment in my work," "Each day at work seems like it will never end," and "I consider my job rather unpleasant." The last two items are reverse-scored.

  Up to 52 weeks

• Change in Measure of Intent to Quit

  The SROs intent to quit will be measure with two questions: 1\) How likely are you to quit your job within the next month? 2) How likely are you to quit your job within the next year? A five-point response scale will be used: "Very likely", "Somewhat likely", "Neither likely nor unlikely", "Somewhat unlikely", "Very unlikely".

  Up to 52 weeks

Study Arms (2)

Professional Development Enhancement

EXPERIMENTAL

During the measurement period, this group will receive the intervention, described below: Content using three of UF Lastinger Center's innovations for cost-effective teaching and learning - e-Content Clinics, Coaching, and Communities of Practice. Elements of the professional development model are as follows: 1. E-Content Clinics- Content Clinics are offered online using digital video technology. 2. Coaching- Coaching develops strong cadres of leaders that have profound expertise and substantial success in advancing teaching and learning outcomes. This approach uses existing personnel to reinforce and deepen learning through online professional development by embedding it in day-to-day activities. 3. Online Community of Practice- This scalable online platform allows users to create virtual communities of practice designed to strengthen the learning and collaboration network.

Behavioral: Professional Development Enhancement

Control- Delayed Intervention

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

This arm will continue business as usual during the measurement period. They will receive the exact same intervention described above once data collection is complete.

Behavioral: Professional Development Enhancement

Interventions

Professional Development Enhancement BEHAVIORAL

Professional development for SROs enhanced by content concerning trauma-informed care, cultural competency, restorative justice, and social-emotional learning.

Control- Delayed Intervention; Professional Development Enhancement

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 70 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• \- Must be a School Resource Officer Employed by Miami-Dade County

You may not qualify if:

• \- Not being a School Resource Officer Employed by Miami-Dade County

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Florida: lead
• U.S. Department of Justice: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

Miami Dade Public Schools

Miami, Florida, 33186, United States

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Bullying

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Aggression; Behavioral Symptoms; Behavior; Harassment, Non-Sexual; Social Behavior

Study Officials

• Julia Graber, PhD

  University of Florida

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Masking Details: All participants and study staff will be aware of which schools are in each arm.
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: SEQUENTIAL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Model Details: During the measurement period, the experimental arm will receive the intervention while the control arm continues business as usual. After all data collection, the control arm will receive the intervention.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: November 1, 2017
• First Posted: November 13, 2017
• Study Start: September 1, 2018
• Primary Completion: August 9, 2019
• Study Completion: December 31, 2020
• Last Updated: February 12, 2021

Record last verified: 2021-02

Locations

US (1)