Knowledge translation in child welfare: Improving educational outcomes for children at risk (KOBA).

This project aims to develop and implement practical measures and procedures that enable municipal child welfare services to strengthen and support the education of children at risk for failing in school and their families. Educational support will be provided to children and families receiving assistance from municipal child welfare services, serving as a supplement to regular education, taking place outside of school hours and in the home.

Children in child welfare services are at an increased risk of marginalization in adulthood, and as a group, they perform less well in school compared to their peers in general. Mastering education is a strong protective factor that reduces the likelihood of various unfavorable outcomes, including marginalization in adulthood.

One main goal of the project is, therefore, to prevent children in child welfare services from dropping out of school by offering training in enhanced educational support to child welfare professionals who then provide this support to parents and children.

The second goal of the project is to adopt and evaluate an approach to transferring knowledge from research to practice. This is referred to as a knowledge transfer process, and it involves a combination of several evidence-based implementation strategies.

The project has direct relevance to the involved child welfare services, and the knowledge gained from the project will be beneficial not only for these services but also for other health-, care-, and welfare services.

Title: Knowledge translation in Child Welfare services: Improving educational outcomes for children at risk.

Two important societal issues are the focus of this project. One is to support the child welfare services (CWS) in delivering school-support interventions that are safe, empirically-supported and that ensure user involvement. The other is to help improve academic outcomes for children who are at risk for failing in school and their families.

The present project is a knowledge translation (KT) process that includes the synthesis, dissemination, implementation, and evaluation of knowledge from research to practice.

First, we conduct a systematic review of out-of-school interventions aimed at improving academic achievement in children at risk for failing in school. We then use a common elements methodology to identify the most effective evidence-based elements (EBP elements) of the interventions.

In each participating CWS, we will establish a core group, with leaders and staff of the CWSs, users of CWS, school personnel, professional educators and researchers. In a collaborative effort, each core group will create a locally adapted training program based on the EBP elements (the intervention). The project is carried out as a randomized controlled trial.

We measure implementation quality in order to assess the extent to which the EBP elements are implemented as intended, including readiness, fidelity and adaptations, reach and uptake. We also measure organizational climate, practitioners' satisfaction and perceived competence.

We measure changes in children's academic achievement (reading, spelling and math) in order to test intervention effects. Children's mental health, social skills and cognitive functioning are examined as possible moderators.

We also assess families' satisfaction with the services received and their involvement.

Results from the project will be disseminated through both popular and scientific channels in a joint effort with members of the core groups, and with national and international collaborators.

The study is a mixed-methods hybrid type 2 randomized, controlled pragmatic trial. The participants are approximately 120 children whose families receive support measures from three child welfare agencies in and around Oslo, Norway, and practitioners from these agencies. Families are randomly assigned to either the EAS condition or “business as usual” support. Primary outcomes are math and reading skills, parental involvement in school, and intervention fidelity. Questionnaires and academic tests are administered at baseline, post-intervention (after 6 months), and at follow-up (after 12 months). Implementation drivers are assessed before and after the trial period, and intervention fidelity is monitored during the trial through checklists and structured telephone interviews. Semi-structured interviews and focus groups are conducted after the trial.