Subject: Re: Why a RCT is important to D2L & the Beau Biden Foundation
From: "Joshua Alcorn" <[email-masked]>
To: "Ashley Biden" <[email-masked]>
Cc: "Hallie" <[email-masked]>, "Hunter Biden" <[email-masked]>, "Patty Dailey Lewis" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 16 Mar 2016 17:49:37 -0400

Here’s the response from D2L:

When training is offered to a group (teachers, for example), they will be asked if they want to participate in a study. It is completely voluntary. If they agree, they will be randomly assigned to either the comparison group or the intervention group. Both groups will be asked to fill out an online pre-test, a post-test (intervention group only), a 6-month follow-up and a one-year follow-up. They will be compensated after they take each test (a total of $75).

The comparison group has to wait a year to take the training, the intervention group gets the training immediately.

We will aim for about 1,000 study participants (both control and intervention groups). Study subjects can be from all walks of life.

The measures will include pre-and post- knowledge and the use of child protective behaviors that are taught as part of the Stewards curriculum. The surveys will also measure the number of reports made before and after training.

A couple of things jumped out at me, and I had a long talk with the grants and research manager at D2L. The first challenge I see is that many of the teachers, for example, that we train are going through the training for continuing ed or mandatory reporting credit. So we cannot ask them to wait a year to be trained. Second, we need to train 9,000 people this year and 9,000 people next year - delaying even a few hundred could mean we miss our goal.

Here’s what I’m thinking: what if this project was the first test of our grassroots network? D2L has a great online training tool. It costs $3 per person, rather than the $6.50 a training with a facilitator costs. We could spend a few months messaging online through email/social to prime our network for this D2L ask: sign up and help us 1) train hundreds, thousands across the country and 2) prove that D2L works through a peer reviewed test such as this.

The grant and research director like this idea, since the best thing about the online training is it takes the small differences between facilitators out of the study.

Thoughts?
/ja

Josh Alcorn
302-598-1885
[email-masked]

> On Mar 16, 2016, at 5:00 AM, Joshua Alcorn <[email-masked]> wrote:
> 
> Excellent question - will circle back with a response. 
> 
> /ja
> 302-598-1885 (cell)
> 
> Sent from my iPhone, which is responsible for any typos. 
> 
>> On Mar 15, 2016, at 11:13 PM, Ashley Biden <[email-masked]> wrote:
>> 
>> The only question I have is about the experiment/trial. What is the intervention? How will this impact those who don't receive intervention? 
>> 
>> 
>> ________________________________________
>> From: Joshua Alcorn [[email-masked]]
>> Sent: Tuesday, March 15, 2016 5:18 PM
>> To: Hallie; Hunter Biden; Ashley Biden
>> Cc: Patty Dailey Lewis
>> Subject: Fwd: Why a RCT is important to D2L & the Beau Biden Foundation
>> 
>> Hi Hallie, Ashley, Hunter,
>> Darkness to Light would like to apply for a Randomized Controlled Trial grant from the John Arnold Foundation. Part of the grant is that someone other than D2L is paying for the program implementation - which is something we’ll start doing in April. It would be great if the BBF could be a part of proving the effectiveness of D2L training. Win Win: good for them, good for us as we go to folks asking for help expanding this program in DE.
>> NOrmally, this is something the full board would vote on. If you would like, I can send this request to the board as it exists now, but since we have not really met, I thought it would be prudent to start with you guys.
>> As you can see from Lyndon’s email, this is something D2L has done once already, but needs a second RCT to be “truly evidence based.”
>> Your thoughts? Happy to talk on the phone about this.
>> /ja
>> 
>> Josh Alcorn
>> 302-598-1885
>> [email-masked]<mailto:[email-masked]>
>> 
>> Begin forwarded message:
>> 
>> From: Lyndon Haviland <[email-masked]<mailto:[email-masked]>>
>> Subject: Why a RCT is important to D2L & the Beau Biden Foundation
>> Date: March 15, 2016 at 3:06:03 PM EDT
>> To: Joshua Alcorn <[email-masked]<mailto:[email-masked]>>, [email-masked]<mailto:[email-masked]>
>> 
>> Darkness to Light has a long-standing commitment to assessing the
>> effectiveness of the Stewards of Children program. There have been four
>> studies that have evaluated the training program. All studies have
>> demonstrated similar positive results. Training participants have
>> consistently demonstrated increased knowledge, improved attitudes and,
>> most importantly, positive change in child-protective behaviors.
>> 
>> One of these studies was a randomized controlled trial (RCT); a type of
>> research study is considered the gold standard for assessing efficacy of
>> interventions.   This study, conducted by the National Crime Victims
>> Research Center at MUSC and funded by the Centers for Disease Control
>> (CDC), yielded istatistically significant results, and demoinstrated
>> that our training achieves changes in knowledge, attitudes and most
>> importantly reporting behavior.
>> 
>> However, two studies like the one described above are required to meet
>> the highest research standard for evidence-based program effectiveness.
>> Those in academia typically consider a program to be evidence-based only
>> if it has two peer-reviewed published RCTs that measure behavior change
>> over an extended period of time.
>> 
>> One of Darkness to Light’s most pressing priorities is the designation
>> of the Stewards of Childrentraining as fully evidence-based by academia.
>> This is because many end-user organizations require that the programs
>> they use be fully evidence-based. This designation is needed to ensure
>> that all the schools, youth-serving organizations, universities,
>> hospitals and government agencies that require child sexual abuse
>> training have access to it.
>> 
>> To achieve evidence-based designation Darkness to Light must conduct and
>> publish a second RCT of the Stewards of Childrentraining. The cost of
>> the study will be about $340,000.
>> 
>> The Coalition for Evidence Based Policy has just released an RFP for
>> Social Program RCTs. If selected, the Coalition will cover the cost of
>> an RCT, with the caveat that another entity must be paying to deliver
>> the program. Delaware is an ideal state in which to implement an RCT,
>> and the Beau Biden Foundation is already working to deliver the program
>> in the state.
>> 
>> To move forward we would like to submit a letter of intent and include a
>> letter of support from the Beau Biden Foundation. The Foundation would
>> only be stating their intention to fund training in the state of
>> Delaware, and support for our evaluation activities.
>> --
>> Lyndon Haviland, MPH, DrPH
>> CUNY School of Public Health
>> Distinguished Scholar
>> Chair of the Advisory Council
>> +1.505.603.0168
>> [email-masked]<mailto:[email-masked]>
>> 
>> There is a calmness to a life lived in gratitude, a quiet joy. - Ralph
>> H. Blum
>>