2 LIA Leadership Interview Protocol

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Expiration Date: XX/XX/XXXX

INSTRUMENT 6: Program Leadership Interview Protocol

Public Burden Statement 

An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. The OMB control number for this information collection is 0906-XXXX and it is valid until XX/XX/202X. This information collection is voluntary. Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1.5 hours per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to HRSA Information Collection Clearance Officer, 5600 Fishers Lane, Room 14N39, Rockville, Maryland, 20857 or paperwork@hrsa.gov. 

Note to OMB: The Home Visiting Leadership Interview uses a semi-structured qualitative approach, as recommended by Weiss (1995).¹ This approach allows the HV-AIM project team to pursue the same constructs across participants while developing depth and coherence from groups regarding the meaning of the constructs from their subject position. These interviews are focused primarily on the co-construction of knowledge². Therefore, the items in the protocol are designed to address the constructs under investigation while providing adequate space for the interviewer and participants to develop meaning through an exchange of ideas. The interviews are distinct from a “survey interview approach,” which collects categorical data in a fixed-item interview format.

This is a guide, not a script. These are example questions that are similar to the questions we will ask. We will tailor the questions based on findings from the family survey and information learned about the program from the LIA and family nomination form. We will also tailor questions based on participant responses.

Home Visiting Leadership Interview Guide

Introduction and Consent

Thank you for taking the time to talk with me about your experiences as a home visiting program leader working with Black families. You received information about the study, including research questions, analysis plans, and FAQs via email in advance of our conversation today. I will share these materials again for your reference [interviewer shares materials with respondent].

First, I’d like to read an informed consent statement, which you also received by email. It may be helpful to follow along with the statement I read as it includes standard language we are required to state.

You are invited to participate in an interview about your immediate memory of experiences as a leader in a home visiting program working to promote racial equity and working with Black families. The information collected in this discussion will inform considerations for program improvement efforts related to removing potential barriers to family enrollment and engagement in home visiting services and providing supports for families from historically marginalized communities.

This is not an interview to evaluate your performance and will not impact your employment or current or future grant status. Participation in the interview is voluntary. The interview will take approximately 60 minutes. You may choose not to participate in the interview or end your participation at any time without affecting your employment. You can decline to answer any questions for any reason. There are no foreseeable risks to your participation in the interview. Although you do not receive any direct benefits from participating in this interview, your stories and input will help to improve home visiting services for Black families. Your name or other personally identifying information will not appear in any report and your responses to this interview will remain private to the extent permitted by law. We will not share any of your responses with anyone else at your home visiting program. Your anonymous responses, however, may be included in a report that is shared with our funders and made available to the public.

I’d like to record our discussion so we can be sure to capture your responses accurately. No one besides the HV-AIM project team will listen to the recording. If you want to say anything you do not want recorded, please let me know and I will be glad to pause the recording. Recordings will be transcribed and analyzed, and then destroyed. All of the information you share in this interview will be stored in a password protected electronic database and will only be accessible to the HV-AIM project team.

Do you agree to participate in the interview?

• Yes • No

May I record the interview?

• Yes • No

[If participant does not want to be recorded, a team member will take notes.]

Great, let’s get started. Today’s interview will focus on understanding how you have addressed anti-Black racism in your home visiting program.

Introduction  

We would like to start by getting to know you a bit more. Please complete the short form [hand to participant] to provide some information about you and your home visiting program.

1. What do you identify your race or ethnicity as (please select all that apply): 

   1. American Indian or Alaska Native (For example, Navajo Nation, Blackfeet Tribe of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation of Montana, Native Village of Barrow Inupiat Traditional Government, Nome Eskimo Community, Aztec, Maya, etc.)

   2. Asian (For example, Chinese, Asian Indian, Filipino, Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese, etc.)

   3. Black or African American (For example, African American, Jamaican, Haitian, Nigerian, Ethiopian, Somali, etc.)

   4. Hispanic or Latino (For example, Mexican, Puerto Rican, Salvadoran, Cuban, Dominican, Guatemalan, etc.)

   5. Middle Eastern or North African (For example, Lebanese, Iranian, Egyptian, Syrian, Iraqi, Israeli, etc.)

   6. Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander (For example, Native Hawaiian, Samoan, Chamorro, Tongan, Fijian, Marshallese, etc.)

   7. White (for example, English, German, Irish, Italian, Polish, Scottish, etc.)

   8. Prefer not to answer

2. Are you: Mark all that apply. 

1. Female   

2. Male   

3. Transgender, non-binary or another gender   

4. I prefer not to answer   

3. What is your role at [name of home visiting program]?

4. How long have you been in this role?

About Your Program and Program Equity Efforts

1. Let’s start by just learning more about your home visiting program.

   1. Tell me about the home visiting program at [insert program name].

   2. Which program models do you implement?

   3. What is your role within the home visiting program?

2. Now, can you provide some background on your program’s efforts to promote racial equity?

   1. What do these efforts look like?

   2. When did this work start?

   3. Who is involved in the efforts?

   4. What challenges have you experienced in these efforts?

   5. What successes have you experienced?

 

Now, we would like to talk a little about your experiences and thoughts on working with and supporting Black caregivers through home visiting.  

Reflective Organization

1. How does your home visiting program engage in reflective practices? Reflective practices in home visiting typically involve “stepping back” to consider the meaning of what is happening in interactions and relationships, and to examine professional and personal responses to interactions to inform plans and decision making about appropriate next steps. This might include internal reflective dialogue, reflection with colleagues, or reflection in the context of group or individual supervision.

   1. Please describe the range of reflective practices within your home visiting program?

   2. Please tell me a story about a time when you discussed racism as part of your reflective practice.

   3. Can you tell me about a time when your perspective on race in general or Black families in particular changed as a result of reflective practice.

Race Talk

1. Can you tell me about a time when staff at [name of home visiting program] were talking about a Black family enrolled in your program and an experience of racism came up?

1. What was the experience?

2. How did you address it?

3. [If the participant says that they have not been a part of such an exchange]

   1. What are your thoughts on why this type of conversation has not come up in your work?

Implicit Bias

1. Research shows that some Black parents and families experience worse outcomes than White parents and families in areas such as education, health, and economics.  

   1. What do you think about this?  

   2. What do you believe contributes to some Black parents and families experiencing worse outcomes? 

2. Are you familiar with the term implicit bias.

   1. [If no, provide a definition before moving on]

      1. Definition: Implicit bias is a form of bias that occurs automatically and unintentionally, that nevertheless affects judgments, decisions, and behaviors.

   2. Some in the home visiting field have suggested that addressing implicit bias about race could improve services to Black families. What are your thoughts on that suggestion?

   3. Have you attempted to address implicit bias within your home visiting program, for yourself or staff? If so, how? What were the challenges? Did it support home visitor’s work with Black families?

3. How does your program support home visitors in their work with Black families so they can be responsive to the needs of Black caregivers, including when caregivers share an experience of racism?

   1. In your programs?

   2. In your budget?

Reflections and Recommendations

1. In what ways does your program work to ensure that home visiting services are accessible to Black families?

1. Can you describe successful strategies for recruiting and enrolling Black caregivers?

2. Can you describe any challenges or barriers experienced in recruiting and enrolling Black caregivers?

2. What advice would you have for home visiting programs that are trying to make their home visiting services accessible to Black caregivers?

3. What advice would you have for other home visiting programs that are working to be responsive to the experiences of Black caregivers?

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