The UNC Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (FPG) recently wrapped up its fifth annual Summer Graduate Internship Program in Implementation Practice, a paid opportunity for masters' and doctoral students. The program, which is designed to create a challenging and meaningful professional experience, exposes interns to implementation practice and research across a variety of fields and practice settings.
 
The 2024 summer implementation interns were Alden Parker and Tori Wierzchowski. Parker is currently pursuing a Master of Social Work at NYU’s Silver School of Social Work and a Master of Arts in Child Development at Sarah Lawrence College. Wierzchowski earned her Master of Public Health in health behavior from UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health in May 2024. They were mentored by FPG Implementation Associate Alana Gilbert, MPH, and FPG Implementation Specialist Rebecca Roppolo, MPH.
 
The interns partnered on a joint project, “Triple P Implementation: Facilitators and Barriers to Capacity Development.” This qualitative analysis project was designed to explore the implementation capacity of the Impact Center at FPG’s Implementation Capacity for Triple P (ICTP) projects.
 
The Center’s projects are a collaborative effort to support communities in North Carolina and South Carolina in successfully and sustainably implementing the evidence-based Triple P―Positive Parenting Program―system of interventions. This evidence-based parenting program, designed to improve child and family well-being, is based on a scaled-up systems approach of community intervention ranging from communication strategies to intensive family interventions.
 
Parker and Wierzchowski examined the ability of different regional sites of Triple P to conduct implementation efforts and the skills and resources site employees need for these efforts. In addition, they explored which functions and forces outside of implementation affect implementation efforts, both positively and negatively.
 
Within the qualitative data, there were 529 total survey respondents from 13 different regional sites in both North and South Carolina, from September 2017 through May 2023. The survey data resulted from a quarterly questionnaire, site survey, or a post site visit survey filled out by the implementation specialist or regional site member.

Utilizing a hybrid Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (2.0) (CFIR) and Ecological framework, Parker and Wierzchowski found that there were unique differences between Triple P regional sites. They also discovered common barriers to implementation efforts such as staffing issues including turnover, time constraints, and competing priorities, as well as uncertain funding streams. Facilitators to implementation efforts across regional sites included adaptable and available support from external implementation specialists, guidance through site implementation evaluations, buy-in from leadership and community members, and collaboration within and across teams. Parker and Wierzchowski are preparing a manuscript on their research, which they will submit to Implementation Science and the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Prevention Research.
 
In their final presentation of their findings, the pair thanked FPG and The Impact Center for “this really awesome opportunity to utilize our analysis skills and learn so much about the field of implementation science this summer.” They also expressed an immense appreciation for their mentors, Gilbert and Roppolo, and others at FPG, “We so appreciate being able to shadow some of the assessment meetings and the time that many at The Impact Center took out of their days to chat with us one-on-one. It's been a really great time.”
 
The pair recently took time to reflect on their experiences in the internship program and answer a few questions. Here’s what they had to say.

What did you learn from this project?

Alden Parker: Through writing our report, I learned how to pull ideas and data together in a comprehensive and understandable way so that stakeholders can review our work. It was difficult to come up with common themes, but that in and of itself was an interesting finding. I have mostly been focused on quantitative research throughout my career. This was a great opportunity to work with open ended survey responses in a qualitative way.
 
Because FPG encompasses so many different departments and divisions, I received a
broad knowledge about not just implementation science but I also gained new skills in community outreach, accessibility within research, and ethics within implementation research.
 
Tori Wierzchowski: To add to Alden’s list, I would include policy.
 
In addition, Caroline Chandler offered us the seminar "Implementation Research and Practice" during which we heard more about concepts, theories, and frameworks behind implementation science. That is where we learned about CFIR. Learning how we could have used that from the beginning of the research to formulate the codebook and to structure our work would have been helpful. We learned that, in the future, before beginning the data collection process, it would be useful to look for a framework that will fit what you need to understand and then design the questions using that framework. This will allow for faster analysis and more regular use of the data.

How does a qualitative analysis project like this benefit from implementation science?

Tori Wierzchowski: It provides direct feedback about what is going on. So much of the research work that Triple P does is immediately incorporated into their practice because they are not just a research group. They are working with real people on the ground while they're also still collecting data. Being able to get information that is more detailed than a yes or no bubble in a survey can help figure out what is going well and that could be implemented in places that are not doing as well. It also helps you to recognize barriers that should be addressed. You’re not going to get as rich data from a multiple-choice survey as you do from a free response survey. With qualitative responses, researchers are able to get information that they weren't anticipating, which is helpful.
 
Alden Parker: It is hard to quantify a lived experience. When you're able to look at people's direct words, you're able to utilize more than just quantitative information, and you're able to look at the richness of responses and the strength of attitudes of how they feel. That brings a lot into the research field.
 
We learned in one of our seminars, particularly from Robin Jenkins and have heard multiple times, that implementation science is all about relationships. That's where it all comes together. A streamlined approach to lift everyone up isn't as likely to work when everyone requires a different kind of ladder.

How will you use the learnings from this project and the internship itself as you move forward in your career?

Alden Parker: In the fall, I will be doing my practicum with The Children's Storefront, an organization in New York City that does its own implementation efforts within parenting. I will take what I've learned from Triple P implementation efforts into that space, specifically what are common facilitators and common barriers to implementation efforts. Knowing more about implementation science, and specifically best practices of implementation, I understand how to build capacity at the front end in outreach efforts rather than having challenges at the back end.
 
Tori Wierzchowski: Gaining the ability to sort through short-form qualitative responses made me prepared to approach that kind of data in the future. There were about 1,600 responses with varying degrees of detail. Going through those surveys was a lot different than having in-depth focus groups or interviews. Being able to add that skill to my toolbox was a highlight for me. I'm currently job searching and being exposed to implementation science as a field has broadened my horizons.

What would you say to others who are applying for this internship program in the future?

Alden Parker: I would say definitely apply. It was a really great experience. Don't be intimidated by not knowing everything. Everyone at FPG is super friendly and answered all of our questions. They understand that we're here to learn. Use that to your advantage and meet a bunch of different, amazing people who do this work.
 
Tori Wierzchowski: I would also encourage people to apply. It has been such a great experience overall because of the work that we're doing, the people that we got to meet, and working with Alden and building our relationship. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. And if you don't know the question to ask, someone at FPG is going to help you find out what your questions are or by answering questions you didn't know that you had. I was amazed that so many people at FPG were willing to take an hour out of their day to meet with us and be responsive to what we had to say as a fellow professional.