Poster #54 - Inter-agency early childhood provider training for substance-exposed newborns: Impacts on knowledge, confidence, and expectations for inter-agency collaboration

• In Event: Poster Session 04

Abstract

Multiple early childhood providers—such as child welfare, early intervention (IDEA Part C), and infant home visiting staff—have contact with families with infants exposed to substances. Many barriers inhibit how effectively these services are coordinated (Corr & Santos, 2017). In an attempt not only to build the knowledge and confidence of these early childhood providers but also to increase their coordination, we developed an inter-agency training in substance-exposed newborns and their families. The training involves seven online modules—focused on impacts of substances on the fetus and development, trauma, mental health, addiction, stigma, compassion fatigue, readiness to change, medical and psychosocial treatment for addiction, and motivational communication— and a six-hour in-person training focused on sharing experiences across agency providers, group discussions, and activities to consolidate learning from the online modules.

Method. 115 trainees from three regional (pre-COVID) trainings represented staff in home visiting (n=39), child welfare (n=45), and early intervention (n=31) agencies. Participants were 92% female and mostly White (62%) or Black (32%). Pre- and post-training questionnaires evaluated participants' knowledge of issues surrounding substance-exposed newborns and confidence working with their families on Likert scales and their involvement with and expectations for interagency collaboration. Answers were aggregated to create scores reflecting knowledge, confidence, and provider connection. Training satisfaction was measured on a 5-point scale.

Results. Satisfaction with the training was generally high, but an analysis of variance found that providers differed significantly, F(2, 114) = 5.18, p < .01, with home visiting staff (M = 4.65, SD = 0.49, N = 37) significantly higher in satisfaction than child welfare staff (M = 4.26, SD = 0.62, N = 45).

Table 1 presents the means for knowledge and confidence. For knowledge scores, a 2 x 3 repeated measures analysis of variance found an interaction between training and provider type, F(2, 112) = 6.83, p < .01, partial eta2 = .11. Although training produced a significant and large increase in knowledge in all three provider groups, this effect was particularly large for early intervention staff (partial eta2 = .72). Analyses for confidence scores similarly found an interaction between training and provider type, F(2, 114) = 15.01, p < .01, partial eta2 = .21, with a particularly large effect for early intervention staff (partial eta2 = .66).

Table 2 presents the means for inter-agency connection and expected collaboration. We conducted a series of repeated measures analyses of variance (pre- vs. post-training) for each variable for each combination of providers. All but one change had a large effect size, and 9 of 12 changes met a corrected p value. Increased expectation for collaboration was particularly strong between child welfare and home visiting staff, likely in part because they entered the training with lower levels of expectation to collaborate with each other in the next year.

These and other results suggest the efficacy of the training but also differences across providers in their training needs. We’ll discuss results and inter-agency collaboration needs in light of the hybrid nature of post-COVID early childhood service delivery.

Authors

• David Schultz, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
  Presenting Author

• Samantha A. Moran

• Carlo C. DiClemente

• Ana Katrina Aquino, University of Maryland - Baltimore County

• Brianna Jehl, University of Maryland - Baltimore County

• Rebecca L. Schacht

• Elisabeth Groth

• Alicia E. Wiprovnick