Implementation Supports to Reduce Burnout in Therapists Delivering Child Trauma EBPs

Many evidence-based mental health interventions have been developed to address the negative outcomes associated with child exposure to early adversity and trauma. Despite these promising advances, however, the majority of children served in publicly funded mental health systems do not receive evidence-based programs (EBPs). To address this research-to-practice gap, several large-scale, system-driven implementation efforts of multiple trauma EBPs have been launched over the last decade, including in the states of California and Arkansas. Though these system-driven initiatives often increase EBP delivery in community settings following the initial implementation push, long-term sustainment of EBP delivery is low. Workforce risk factors, such as provider burnout leading to turnover, have been identified as contributing to the poor long-term sustainment of trauma EBPs. Therefore, an important step to consider in supporting the longterm sustainment of child trauma EBPs is to develop implementation strategies that target provider burnout and organizational climate factors associated with decreased provider retention. This study will develop and pilot a package of implementation strategies, "Supporting Providers & Preventing the Overwhelming of Resources in Trauma Systems" (SUPPORTS), aimed increasing the sustained delivery of trauma EBPs by addressing the factors associated with provider retention related to burnout. The development of SUPPORTS will be informed by a needs assessment conducted with programs involved with the multiple-EBP implementation efforts in California and Arkansas. A small randomized controlled pilot will then be conducted in California.

Inclusion criteria

• Therapists who have delivered a (or components of a) trauma EBP to a child in the past year.

Exclusion criteria

• Therapists employed at their current agency for less than 6 months.