So Now We've Picked an Evidence-Based Program, What's Next? Perspectives of Service Providers and Administrators

In recent decades, psychologists have been actively involved in the development and evaluation of parenting programs and are now turning their attention to the implementation of these evidence-based programs in real-world contexts. In the current study, we examined administrators’ reasons for adopting an evidence-based parenting program and service providers’ use of and adherence to this program in community agencies. Surveys were completed online by 63 administrators and 215 service providers from 69 different agencies. Although the majority of trained service providers used the program, a significant minority (25.6%) had not delivered it since completing training. The average adherence rate reported by the service providers who used the program was 85.9%; the most common explanations provided for omitting session objectives were that they did not have enough time in session and because they did not consider the activities relevant for the parents they were seeing. Implications and suggestions for psychologists involved in the implementation of parenting programs are discussed.