Articles

Supervision of Facilitators in a Multisite Study: Goals, Process, and Outcomes

Wu, Elwin; Witte, Susan S.; El-Bassel, Nabila; Gilbert, Louisa; NIMH Multisite HIV/STD Prevention Trial for African American Couples Group

Objective: To describe the aims, implementation, and desired outcomes of facilitator supervision for both interventions (treatment and control) in Project Eban and to present the Eban Theoretical Framework for Supervision that guided the facilitators’ supervision. The qualifications and training of supervisors and facilitators are also described. Design: This article provides a detailed description of supervision in a multisite behavioral intervention trial. The Eban Theoretical Framework for Supervision is guided by 3 theories: cognitive behavior therapy, the Life-long Model of Supervision, and "Empowering supervisees to empower others: a culturally responsive supervision model." Methods: Supervision is based on the Eban Theoretical Framework for Supervision, which provides guidelines for implementing both interventions using goals, process, and outcomes. Results: Because of effective supervision, the interventions were implemented with fidelity to the protocol and were standard across the multiple sites. Conclusions: Supervision of facilitators is a crucial aspect of multisite intervention research quality assurance. It provides them with expert advice, optimizes the effectiveness of facilitators, and increases adherence to the protocol across multiple sites. Based on the experience in this trial, some of the challenges that arise when conducting a multisite randomized control trial and how they can be handled by implementing the Eban Theoretical Framework for Supervision are described.

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Title
Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1097/QAI.0b013e3181844807

More About This Work

Academic Units
Social Work
Published Here
July 30, 2012