Research and Training Center on Service Coordination

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Project Methods

The Research and Training Center on Service Coordination was initiated on December 1, 1999. As the project progresses through its fifth year, many exciting activities have begun to address the center's objectives. Information from national surveys and focus groups have been utilized to meet the projects goals.

 

Surveys

Part C: A national survey was distributed to Part C coordinators in all 57 US states and territories to gather information on the current status of service coordination policies and models. Results from the survey will be used to better understand and improve the infrastructure of this important component.

Curricula: Information was gathered from 55 U.S. states and territories on the service coordination training curricula being utilized. The state-specific training content, competencies, and methods for service coordination training will be utilized to develop a training resource guide.

Parent Leader: 319 parent leaders in 50 states and the District of Columbia completed a survey to assess their perceptions and experiences with service coordination within their state. Information from the surveys will be used to help develop training materials.

Parent ICC Leader: Parent leaders in each of 50 states who were currently serving on state ICCs completed a phone interview to determine their perceptions and level of knowledge of service coordination regulations. Information from the survey will help to target audiences for training, as well as contribute to the training content.

 

Mail Surveys

Parent/Practitioner Survey: 879 early intervention program practitioners and directors and parents of infants and toddlers with disabilities in 48 states completed and submitted a survey that included outcomes of service coordination, early intervention, and natural environments. Findings will be used to help clarify outcomes  of various components of early intervention.

National Family Survey: 358 parents of children with disabilities who are enrolled in an early intervention program submitted a survey on family demographics, experiences with service coordination, experiences with early intervention, types of intervention, quality of life, parental choice, and child/family behavior.

 

Focus Groups and Delphi Surveys

National: Focus groups were used to gather information about outcomes of effective service coordination as perceived by families, Part C coordinators, and interagency coordinating council chairs. National focus groups were conducted at the NEC*TAS (National Early Childhood Technical Assistance System) Project Director's meeting in Washington, D.C. on January 29 & 30, 2000.

Focal States: The center conducted a series of focus groups to gather information about outcomes of effective service coordination in North Carolina, Massachusetts, Indiana, and Connecticut. In these four focal states, we conducted focus groups with individuals from each of the following groups:

• Families
• Service coordinators/service providers
• Local program administrators
• Child care providers
• Physicians

Focus group participants answered the question "If service coordination were of the highest quality for children, families, and systems, how would you know it?" This process generated a list of outcomes of effective service coordination. These outcomes were incorporated into a Delphi survey, which is a method of building consensus by consolidating the opinions of a group or groups. The process involves a series of "rounds" of data collection in which participants are asked to rate items in terms of their importance. With each round, the list is reduced based on participants' responses, resulting in a final list of outcomes.

Following the Delphi survey to identify outcomes of effective service coordination, another series of focus groups was held to identify practices associated with these outcomes. Thirty-nine focus groups were held in each of the four focal states with participants from the following stakeholder groups:

• Family members
• Service coordinators
• Service providers (Indiana only)
• Program administrators

The focus groups generated over 2000 practices. Project staff sorted these statements by stakeholder groups and combined similar statements into clusters associated with outcomes generated from the previous Delphi Survey. Survey respondents were asked to rank each practice statement according to the likelihood that it would result in the outcomes listed. Results from this survey were used to comprise a large-scale national survey which was distributed to participants in 53 US states and territories in April 2002.

 

Interviews:

Families from each of the four focal states (Connecticut, Indiana, North Carolina, Massachusetts) were recruited according to specific guidelines to ensure that a representative cross-section was attained. Families were introduced to the concept of service coordination and asked to explain something about their family, their child, their experience with early intervention, and the status of services being provided. The interviewer, during the course of listening to the family's story, identified outcomes that were described by each family. At the conclusion of the story, the interviewer asked specific questions about each identified outcome. Finally, the family was asked "If service coordination is working well, how would you know it?" Interviews were audio taped and responses were recorded on a data sheet. In addition to interviewing families, project staff interviewed each family's service coordinator. A protocol was developed that included questions regarding the service coordinators training, supervision, and work activities to guide conversations with families. In the fourth year of the project additional interviews were conducted in Utah, Arizona and Washington to gain broader representation nationally. Findings will be compared with other data sources and used to inform the field and develop training materials.