Research Scheduled for Presentation at March 2020 FMIH Conference
Wraparound has resulted in life changing improvement and outcomes for thousands of youth and families. Some carefully controlled evaluations have shown significant improvements in outcomes. Unfortunately, efficacy research has had mixed outcomes and inconsistent results in moving the process to overall community implementation. This study is an exploratory analysis of two of the outcome measures related to engagement and motivation for youth and families receiving high fidelity wraparound. Many of the youth and families who are referred to wraparound are ambivalent about making changes in their lives and participating in a process to support that change. To be an effective service for those youth with the most severe needs it is important that the process be effective in supporting the engagement and motivation to give the process and staff a chance. The first measure was the proportion of youth referred and oriented to wrapround who decide to participate in the process.
Does Wraparound Need Enhancement
The results of Study One made us start to think it was time for an enhancement to the wrapround model.  Motivational Interviewing was one of the ways in which it could be re-energized. We truly believe that Wraparound is an excellent approach to working with people that have multiple complex issues and behaviors. We wanted to see if adding Motivational Interviewing training could provide a way of better engaging, motivating and building the self-efficacy of those youth/families who are not engaging in or completing wraparound. The second study was to look at the effect of training in Motivational Interviewing on current wrapround staff. The first question was to determine if training in Motivational Interviewing would change the way staff interact with youth/families in a way that better meets the spirit and fidelity of Motivational Interviewing.
Does MI Training Enhance Wrapround
Following the development of the model integrating Wraparound and Motivational Interviewing, the next step was to do exploratory research to determine if training and coaching in the integrated model would have better transfer of the concepts of Motivational Interviewing than separate training for wraparound staff. In addition, if the MiiWrap (Motivational Interviewing Informed Wraparound) training and coaching resulted in fidelity use of the concepts of MI , the second step would be to examine the outcomes for youth/families on initial engagement and completion of services. To do this staff in six programs in three states received the integrated MiiWrap training and the coaches/supervisors received the training and coach training and consultation. Data on fidelity and youth outcomes was gathered from before the training and compared to after the training.