Evidence-based practices (EBP) are increasingly being adopted by justice programs nationwide. That’s a good thing. When used appropriately, EBPs can:
These benefits have contributed to increased acceptance of EBPs as well as encouragement for more programs to adopt them, and a growing number of community correction programs have implemented EBPs. However, a recently published paper argues that while implementation is important, an EBP’s sustainability–the ability of the EBP to become an ingrained part of a program’s day-to-day procedures–is perhaps even more so.
In “The Legitimacy of Change: Adopting/Adapting, Implementing and Sustaining Reforms within Community Corrections Agencies,” researchers Danielle Rudes, Shannon Portillo, and Faye Taxman assert that:
It is not enough to choose, train, and implement [EBP] reform. The true test of reform comes later, as the change in policy/practice makes its way into standard practice or the growing graveyard of failed reforms.
So what is it that makes an EBP sustainable?
EBP Sustainability
A crucial part of sustainability is how justice program staff view the EBP reform. Rudes, Portillo, and Taxman note that program staff typically determine the EBP’s value based on three criteria:
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- Effectiveness
- Efficiency
- Legitimacy
The authors noted that program staff develop opinions early about these criteria and that those opinions don’t typically change. However, of the three criteria, the authors found that legitimacy is most crucial to sustainability. In fact, the author’s research showed that “if [program staff]…failed to see the EBP as legitimate the [reform] did not make it.”
At this point, you might be asking, “What’s legitimacy?” In this context, it’s the view that the EBP is “desirable, proper, or appropriate” within the program’s system of “norms, values, definitions, and beliefs.” The authors assert that in their study, “only program staff who saw their normative values, as well as their rational values aligned with reform efforts, were able to sustain the change.” In other words, for staff, legitimacy is saying, “this EBP makes sense, it’s the right thing to do, and it helps me get stuff done on a daily basis.”
Application
How can programs improve the likelihood that an EBP will be viewed as legitimate and thus be sustainable? Rudes, Portillo, and Taxman recommend four things.
Ensure organizational readiness before introducing the reform.
Setting up staff for success before adoption or implementation is critical and particularly applicable for administrators and supervisors. The authors note that although buy-in from all staff is helpful, it’s ultimately buy-in from case managers – i.e. the individuals more likely to be using the EBP on a day-to-day basis – that played “the greatest role in sustainability.”
Dr. Taxman and co-author Steven Belenko offer a framework for pre-reform efforts in the book Implementing Evidence-Based Practices in Community Corrections and Addiction Treatment.
Enhance staff perceptions of the reform.
Explain how the new EBP is going to work. If possible, give examples of other programs that have implemented and sustained the reform successfully.
Clearly communicate the rationale for the reform.
Make sure that staff are given the information to understand the why behind the shift. Explain what issue the EBP is going to address for the program, program staff, and the community.
Ensure staff get the training needed to use the new EBP.
Without adequate training on the correct way to use the EBP, program staff are set up to fail.
Study Overview
For fellow information lovers, here is a quick look at the study the paper was based on and the outcomes.
The researchers followed eight criminal justice programs as they adopted a single EBP—contingency management. Contingency Management (CM) “is an established EBP that relies upon operant conditioning (graduated rewards/incentives) to promote prosocial behaviors.”
The researchers studied three phases in the program’s journeys:
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- Phase 1: Adoption – Agency decides if and how to use EBP
- Phase 2: Implementation – EBP is put into practice and used by staff
- Phase 3: Sustainability – EBP is part of the fabric of the agency and standard practice
Two programs fully sustained the EBP after the study ended.
The two sites that fully sustained the CM practice aligned the reform with routine work practices and day-to-day organizational efforts.
Two programs had moderate/weak implementation.
Staff in these programs viewed the EBP as having moderate or weak legitimacy.
Staff worried that the EBP would limit their discretion and “rejected any study message that they perceived as telling them to alter or improve upon current case management or supervision practice.”
Four programs failed to sustain the practice.
Two programs viewed the EBP as illegitimate, inefficient, and ineffective. This occurred despite a general belief in EBPs.
One program abandoned the EBP without explanation, but the researchers hypothesized that a series of factors led to the decision including a failure to see the EBP as a pragmatic option or that there existed a need to implement further EBP programming.
One program dropped out after leadership issues.
Other issues included program staff declining to alter their standard operating procedures or use the EBP as indicated in the initial training.