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MyALIGN (Career Long Community of Support
Next Steps
The major next steps include receiving IRB approval, finalizing the STARS evaluation measures, initiating the initial phase of the formative evaluation (e.g., curriculum review, stakeholder interviews), and monitoring the collection of data to be used for the summative evaluation. The evaluation team will apply similar methods used for the STARS evaluation to evaluate the Understanding Substance Use in Family Systems AdCert. The CFC team plans to finalize the curriculum by early December 2022. The evaluation team will finalize the evaluation plan including selecting measures and determining the data collection timeline once the curriculum and plans for the course are finalized.
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MYALIGN (CAREER LONG COMMUNITY OF SUPPORT)
MyALIGN, a customized digital platform for the child welfare professional, aims to provide support by leveraging technology to create streamlined access to resources, establish a networking and coaching community, and provide real-time data on worker well-being. It is a multi-faceted software as a service (SaaS) mobile-app and web-based cloud solution. This centralized and individualized hub will house career-long learning opportunities and holistic ongoing support for college students, recently trained personnel, trainers, and middle and upper management positions working in child welfare agencies. The goal of MyALIGN is to offer the child welfare professional community a centralized hub with easy access to myriad supports and opportunities to network, take courses that supplement their ongoing career development, learn about relevant issues, enhance well-being, and gain experience in problem solving to become more confident in their work and feel supported throughout their learning pathway and career progression.
The vision is to cultivate a learning community of professionals who will benefit from enhancement of skills as well as comprehensive support such as coaching, AdCert offerings, leadership development, reflective supervision, trainings, and well-being and resiliency building resources as they advance in their child welfare careers.
During this reporting period, the Institute engaged eCare Vault as a partner to develop the MyALIGN Hub and customize workflows to fit the Institute’s identified needs, onboard users, and provide ongoing support.
THE VISION:
Four Phases
This project has four distinct phases, with plans to roll out the product to users in the spring of 2023. The Institute and eCare Vault are currently in phase 1 of the project (Discovery, Analysis, and Development) and are working together to determine how best to design MyALIGN for the Institute’s goals. eCare Vault’s technology is highly configurable and can be customized and deployed to meet a variety of needs and use cases.
Phase I: Discovery, Analysis, and Development
❖ Elements of Phase 1 include discovery and analysis sessions with key stakeholders, workflow planning sessions, integration scoping, and platform personalization
Phase 2: Technological Solution Customization
❖ Elements of Phase 2 will be informed by determinations made during Phase 1
Phase 3: Pilot of a Phase 1 roll-out
❖ Phase 1 roll-out is scheduled for spring 2023, for a limited number of child welfare professionals (pre-service employees [CPIs & CMs] and trainers)
Phase 4: Broader Roll-out
❖ Broader target roll-out date will be informed by determinations made during the Phase 1 roll-out
Highlighted Achievements
Starting in July 2022, the Institute and eCare Vault consistently adhered to a series of weekly sessions and have secured participation from relevant stakeholders and contributors as appropriate (e.g., GROW Center Advisory Committee, the DCF Office of Well-being, community-based care lead agencies, a sheriff’s office representative, Florida Coalition for Children, etc.), to better understand the key requirements of each aspect of MyALIGN, uncover collaborative opportunities with other stakeholders, define must-haves vs. niceto-haves, and to describe the vision for interaction among systems.
THE PHASES:
Next Steps
The MyALIGN Implementation Team will:
1. provide feedback, suggestions, and insight on the Discovery Scope and identified
Discovery Outcomes. 2. select a coaching model and develop a plan for alignment for the identified user groups specific needs. 3. identify and recruit users to participate in user Interviews.
MyALIGN Evaluation
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Erin King, Ph.D., LCSW
University of West Florida
Overview
To support the development of MyALIGN, specifically regarding data-related infrastructure, the Institute contracted with our affiliate Dr. Erin King as a mental health and well-being expert. Dr. King is responsible for identifying and recommending mental health and well-being domains and concepts to be measured, both standardly within the MyALIGN platform and separately as part of the larger MyALIGN evaluation. Subsequently, she will identify and recommend specific measures for the identified domains. In the event validated measures do not exist, Dr. King will begin the initial development of measures.
Current Status
Collaboratively, Dr. King, Institute leadership and eCare Vault developers identified a range of constructs of interest to be measured, specifically those centering on well-being, critical thinking, decision making, and emotional intelligence. Currently, they are determining the best way to measure each domain, while minimizing burden on users. Discussion related to engagement and gamification within the app, as well as use of assessments to link users with appropriate levels of resources, is ongoing.
Next Steps
After a review of relevant assessments/measures of constructs of interest, final identification of the measures to be integrated into the MyALIGN platform will be completed. Discussion with eCare Vault staff will involve determining where these measures will be integrated and how often they are to be repeated. The IRB approval process and informed consent will be the next steps for preparation of the launch of the MyALIGN evaluation process prior to beginning data collection.
RESOURCES:
ALIGN
Resource
ALIGN One-Page Overview Reach
Read: 21
ALIGN Website Page Visits: 335
Introducing ALIGN
(video)
Views: 71
STARS AdCert Website Page Visits: 673
STARS Handout 1 (Overview) STARS Handout 2 (Course Outline) STARS Handout 3 (For Supervisors)
STARS Introduction Video
Views: 122
