| Description |
To ensure staff members implement interventions and empirically supported practices with fidelity, different methods of professional development are necessary. One theory designed to support staff is using a multitiered systems of support (MTSS) for professional development. MTSS for staff professional development is a proposed structure to teach the skills necessary to be successful and prevent the harmful effects of burnout. With this MTSS model, there is universal staff training at tier one, small group instruction at tier two, followed by intensive, individualized instruction to support staff at tier three, as needed. Within this framework, coaching is an intensive intervention that functions as a tier-three support for staff. This intervention uses direct observation, feedback, and instruction on skills (e.g., modeling, role-play, etc.) to help facilitate skill development and prevent burnout, negative psychological effects, as well as job termination for staff of the greatest need. Coaching has been shown to be an effective intervention for teaching staff to implement social and behavioral interventions with the children and adolescents with whom they work, yet this has not been evaluated in a summer camp setting. Summer camps can provide significant benefits for many youth, including specific populations (e.g., children with social, emotional, and behavioral challenges). The purpose of the current study is to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of a coaching intervention on general counselors at a residential therapeutic summer camp for children with disabilities as a tier-three intervention. The coaching intervention was shown to have a limited effect on the behavior of general counselors at a residential therapeutic summer camp for children with disabilities as a tier-three intervention. There were significant limitations considering the reliability of the measurement used. Conversely, there were high ratings of intervention acceptability for both counselors and the direct supervisors who worked with the counselors. Implications for this study and future directions were discussed. |
