Lessons Learned

The Healthcare providers also take part in monthly process evaluations. This evaluation allows feedback from the health care provider and their staff members. This feedback alerts staff in areas needed to improve programming and other methods of technical assistance.

Data Management

All data collected throughout the WATCH program implementation with community partners is transported, stored, analyzed, and housed at SPTHB. Data gathered from community partners will be analyzed for the purpose of evaluation and to give back to the community. It is with the best intention that data is collected for the benefit of those the program serves. During data collection, staff work to ensure safety and security of all participant information. Staff and team members are instructed to always keep participant information and activity confidential. All documents with identifying information will be locked in storage at the SPTHB office.

Tribal Data Sovereignty

Staff at SPTHB dedicate special attention to the right of the tribal community to govern the collection, ownership, and application of data collected. Any information collected should not be burdensome and should be for the benefit of the tribal community without causing any unintended harm. If the community partnership has identified specific instructions for the collection, storage, transport, or destruction of data, the SPTHB staff will respectfully oblige. No data will be shared if not explicitly approved from the community partners.

Data Entry & Analysis

Data entry will occur after the collection of measures. Authorized staff from SPTHB or OUHSC will be able to enter data on secure software. Data entered will then be transferred to the SPTHB organization’s drive. Data entry will be done with codebooks created in Excel. The use of codebook will reduce data entry errors and create ease when analyzing data. Other data entry has been automated by online survey platforms such as Constant Contact to not only collect information but provide an analysis thus minimizing data entry errors as well. After the completion of the analysis, a synopsis is given to the community partners for their review and approval. With reciprocity in mind the information analyzed and approved is put into a 1-page format to distribute to the community partners (Appendix L: Community 1-Pager. Analysis will focus on the ability to make real time changes within implementation and for enhancing future implementations in new tribal communities.

Lessons Learned

WATCH staff make it their mission to tailor this program to fit the specific wants and needs of each participating community. To tailor the program, we encourage all feedback from our partners. This allows us to make programmatic adaptations and shows our flexibility and willingness to serve this program to each community. SPTHB staff began implementing WATCH into tribal communities in August 2018. Since this time, staff have learned many valuable lessons. Most adaptations come from the weekly/monthly process evaluations.

Wyandotte Nation and Eastern Shawnee ECEs were our very first learning centers to take part in WATCH. During this implementation period, we adjusted our target age population from 2to 5-year-old children to 3- to 5-year-old. Through the weekly process evaluations at these centers, we learned that the curriculum being served to each classroom was not at the 5 year and under reading level and that the Gardening and Emotional health kits in the OrganWise Guys curriculum did not match the seasons in which they were taught. Teachers also shared that these lessons were far too advanced for the children attending each ECE. The teachers managed to read the books and watch the videos with these kits, but these kits were removed when WATCH was implemented into the next community.

As WATCH expanded into newer communities in the following year, 2019, WATCH staff learned that it was vital to share our purpose and mission of the program with all community partners. Staff began to schedule introductory meetings and we learned that it was beneficial to bring all ECE and HCPs together in a kickoff style meeting. This was helpful to not only share our mission, but to gather more feedback related to schedules, capacity, and willingness to take part in the WATCH program. As we embarked into the communities of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes ECEs, we included tribal Head Starts. This allowed us to serve more 3- to – 5-year-old children. The communication from the WATCH program staff remains open, flexible, and the staff strives to give our community partners the most respect as they work to implement the program in new communities.

WATCH staff understand that time given to the program by each participating partner is valuable. Staff work to align meetings and training with existing schedules, especially when collaborating with the healthcare provider sector. The lesson learned here is that all meetings need to be purposeful, and time given for the partners to respond to emails is needed because of their remarkably busy schedules. Training and meetings are vital for the HCPs, and staff understand that not all the times provided may be aligned with their current schedules. Added training dates and times should be provided to allow for flexibility in the event the HCPs shift to operations not related to WATCH.