PI.PD emails

B1. Introductory email—PIs/PDs

Dear Sir or Madam:

You’ve received this email because you’ve been identified as the Principal Investigator/Program Director for the AAFT Program at your grantee site. As you may already know, Advocates for Human Potential, Inc. (AHP) was awarded a three-year SAMHSA-funded contract to conduct their first cross-site evaluation of an AAFT grantee cohort. The goal for the evaluation is to document the process of implementing AAFT at the grantee sites and to explore the role the training and technical assistance impact the grantee programs and how these programs evolve over the course of the grant.

One of the methods we’re using to learn more about the process is an on-line survey with a range of grantee personnel concerning the implementation of AAFT at their individual sites. Each grantee site will be asked to have grantee staff complete one of three surveys (based on their role in the project), all of which are web-based:

1. Principal Investigator/Program Director survey—to be completed by both the Principal Investigator and Project Director. (Only to be completed once if one person fills both positions)

2. Clinical Supervisor/Clinician survey—to be completed by all clinical supervisors overseeing the day-to-day activities of direct care staff and clinicians directly providing the grant-funded services to consumers. (Clinical supervisors who also carry a caseload should only complete this survey once and clinical supervisors who do not carry a caseload, but who provide direct supervision to direct care staff should also complete this version)

3. Evaluator/Data Manager survey—to be completed by local evaluation staff as well as any personnel fulfilling the role of data manager for their site.

As a program administrator for your program, your role is critical to successful completion of these surveys. We are hoping to collect information from grantee personnel at all levels to gain their unique perspective on the implementation of the AAFT program. We encourage you, as administrators, to participate but will also need your help in encouraging the participation of clinical staff, evaluators, and data managers at your individual sites.

This survey will provide valuable information regarding the background, experience, skills, practices, and implementation of AAFT components by grantee sites that cannot be assessed through data already being collected by grantee staff. It should take approximately 45 minutes to complete the survey on-line. This information will help CSAT and other funders shape similar initiatives to introduce evidence-based practices in ways that maximize the potential for success. All reports utilizing this data will contain only aggregate responses (for example, “50% of staff reported attending monthly coaching calls”).

A high participation rate is critical to assuring the value of this information—so, we hope you take the time to complete the survey. Please contact me by phone: 1-800-795-5486 x418 or email: ttobin@ahpnet.com with any questions or comments you may have regarding this survey.

Thank you for your interest and support.

Sincerely,

Terri Tobin, Ph.D.

Associate Director of Research

B1. Email invitation—PIs/PDs

Dear [organization name] Principal Investigator/Program Director:

We're writing to request your support and participation in an important survey for the Program Evaluation of the AAFT Program.  This survey will involve Principal Investigators, Program Directors, Clinical Supervisors, Clinicians, Evaluators, and Data Managers.

Our organization, Advocates for Human Potential, Inc. (AHP), is a research and consulting firm based in Sudbury, MA.  We are conducting this evaluation as part of our contract to conduct the first SAMHSA-funded cross-site evaluation of an AAFT grantee cohort.

The responses that you and your staff provide will come directly to AHP staff and our reports will contain only aggregate responses (for example, "50% of the program staff have participated in monthly coaching calls").

This survey will provide valuable information regarding the background, experience, skills, practices, and implementation of AAFT components by staff providing services through the third cohort of AAFT grantees. This information will help CSAT and other funders shape similar initiatives to introduce evidence-based practices in ways that maximize the potential for success.

The link to your version of the AAFT Implementation Survey—the Principal Investigator/Program Director version—is:

[link]

This link is for the Principal Investigator/Program Director survey only, please do not forward this link to other program staff. We will send links to other staff members based on their role in the project to their respective surveys. Please complete the survey by [date] and please encourage your staff to do so, as well.

A high participation rate is critical to assuring the value of this information—so, we hope you take the time to complete the survey. Please contact me by phone: 1-800-795-5486 x418 or email: ttobin@ahpnet.com with any questions or comments you may have regarding this survey.

Thanks for your participation!

Terri Tobin, Ph.D.

Associate Director of Research

B1. 2^nd reminder email with tally—PIs/PDs

Dear [org name] Principal Investigators/Program Directors:

We’re sending another quick update about the AAFT Implementation Survey.  At this point, we have received the following survey responses from your grantee site:

• [?] out of [?] possible Principal Investigator/Program Director responses;

• [?] out of [?] possible Clinical Supervisor/Clinician responses; and

• [?] out of [?] possible Evaluator/Data Manager responses,

If you’ve already taken the survey, thank you!  If you haven’t taken the survey yet, we’d like to encourage you to do so. The survey will take about 45 minutes to complete.  AHP’s report to your organization won’t reveal your individual answers, and nobody at your organization will see your completed survey. 

Below is the link to Principal Investigator/Program Director survey if you have not already completed it.  Please note that if you began the survey in the past but did not complete it, you can continue from where you left off if you log on using the same computer that you used to start the survey.

[PI/PD survey link]

Participation from all grantee staff is very important to the survey’s success and your support if critical to their participation. We’d appreciate it if you would encourage clinical supervisors, clinicians, evaluators, and data managers at your site to complete the on-line survey. Your version of the survey is different from those for clinical and research staff, so it’s important that they access their surveys using the appropriate link. Please let us know if they need the link to their individual surveys re-sent to them and we’d be happy to do so.

We hope that you will participate and support the participation of your staff. Please contact me by phone: 1-800-795-5486 x418 or email: ttobin@ahpnet.com with any questions or comments you may have regarding this survey.

Thank you for your time, attention and support of this project.

Terri Tobin, Ph.D.

Associate Director of Research

B1. Final reminder—PIs/PDs

Good afternoon:

We’re sending one last reminder about the AAFT Implementation Survey. The survey will be closing in 7 days!

If you’ve already taken the survey, thank you! If you haven’t taken the survey yet, we’d like to encourage you to do so. Please note that if you began the survey in the past but did not complete it, you can continue from where you left off if you log on using the same computer that you used to start the survey. You’ll find the survey at the following web address:

[link]

The survey will take about 45 minutes to complete. AHP’s report to your organization won’t reveal your individual answers, and nobody at your organization will see your completed survey. This survey will provide valuable information regarding the background, experience, skills, practices, and implementation of AAFT components by staff providing services through the third cohort of AAFT grantees. This information will help CSAT and other funders shape similar initiatives to introduce evidence-based practices in ways that maximize the potential for success.

Please submit your survey by 5pm on [DAY, DATE].

As we’ve mentioned before, participation from all grantee staff is very important to the survey’s success and your support if critical to their participation. We’d appreciate it if you would encourage clinical supervisors, clinicians, evaluators, and data managers at your site to complete the on-line survey. Again, your version of the survey is different from those for clinical and research staff, so it’s important that they access their surveys using the appropriate link. Please let us know if they need the link to their individual surveys re-sent to them and we’d be happy to do so.

If you have any questions regarding the survey, please feel free to contact me by phone: 1-800-795-5486 x418 or email: ttobin@ahpnet.com. We believe the results of this survey will help to further understand the implementation of AAFT and similar initiatives and we hope that you will choose to participate.

Thank you for your participation!

Terri Tobin, Ph.D.

Associate Director of Research