Robin Edward Gearing

Despite the research benefits and cost savings pilot studies offer, such studies have been the exception rather than the rule in social science research. This article provides a primer and guide to pilot studies and posits the case that their systematic use is critical to rigorous social science research. Pilot study benefits include refinement of research questions, establishing goals, and providing a rehearsal study to (a) identify problems, (b) determine and implement potential solutions, and (c) improve the main study. Beyond their utility to improve scientific rigor, pilot studies have practical benefits, including cost savings and reductions in time and work required to complete a study. Human participants bring complexity, diversity, and environmental embeddedness to scientific research, qualities that create variability and sensitivity not fully recognized during the design stage. When confounding elements are not identified and managed at the outset, the integrity of the main study findings is at risk.

Background: The Evidence-Based Practice Attitude Scale (EBPAS) is a widely used measurement tool to assess mental health providers’ attitudes toward adopting research-based interventions. To date, this scale has not been used or validated in an interdisciplinary sample of mental health professionals in Latin America. This study investigated the factor structure, psychometric properties, cross-cultural validity, and model fit of the EBPAS in a sample of Spanish-speaking and Latino social workers, counselors, and psychologists. Methods: A culturally and linguistically tailored version of the 15-item EBPAS scale was administered to a sample of Puerto Rican mental health professionals (N = 222) working across various settings, including schools, healthcare clinics, and community organizations. The EBPAS’s scores were derived from four distinct constructs involving willingness to adopt EBPs (i.e., requirements, openness to innovation, appeal, and divergence from research). A Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) examined the psychometric properties of the EBPAS scale. Several first and second-order factor models were specified. A global and approximate fit examination of the measurement model and composite reliability estimation for each subscale was conducted. RStudio version 4.3.1 software was used for the CFA. Results: The CFA supported a first-order factor model. Most subscales showed strong reliability coefficients ranging from 0.83 to 0.91, except for the divergence subscale, which showed a coefficient of 0.77 . After allowing for covariance between two items in the appeal dimension, the correlated factor model demonstrated a satisfactory fit to the data, although some misspecification was observed. Conclusions: The tailored EBPAS-15 demonstrated adequate psychometric properties in this Latinx sample of mental health professionals, suggesting that its factor structure and reliability may be useful in a Spanish-speaking and Caribbean sample of mental health professionals working across a variety of settings and contexts. Findings contribute to the scant literature on culturally and linguistically validated measures examining attitudes toward EBPs in Latin America.

COVID-19 presented numerous challenges to medical professional's mental, emotional, and physical health, including burnout and secondary trauma. As social workers served as essential and frontline workers during COVID-19, it is important to investigate the effects of the pandemic on professional burnout and secondary trauma responses. A multiracial sample of 163 medical social workers working across four hospital settings responded to a survey addressing burnout and the impact of COVID-19. Medical social workers in this sample reported high levels of emotional exhaustion and personal accomplishment and moderate levels of depersonalization. Regression analyses found that hyperarousal scores significantly predicted emotional exhaustion, identifying as Latinx and Black significantly predicted depersonalization, and being older and identifying as White significantly predicted personal accomplishment among medical social workers. Resiliency programs can be developed for medical social workers in direct practice to reduce secondary traumatic stress and increase employee well-being. Future research should employ more rigorous research designs to better understand risk and protective factors for burnout among medical social workers providing direct practice to clients and families.

Background: Digital-based mobile interventions hold significant promise in preventing suicide. Although mixed, some evidence suggests these interventions are effective and capable of overcoming barriers such as cost and stigma. Aim(s): This review aimed to determine the effectiveness of digital interventions designed to address suicidal ideation and behaviors and the impacts of age, gender, and control group type on these outcomes. Methods: Databases were searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on digital suicide interventions (apps/online programs) published before January 1, 2022. Data were analyzed using a random-effects model in Stata 17. Results: The search identified 4,317 articles, and 16 were included. Risk of bias analysis found studies to be of low-to-moderate quality. The random-effects model indicated a small but significant effect of treatment on suicidal ideation, k = 16, g = 0.11 (95% CI: 0–0.23), p = .049. Subgroup analyses found the interventions to have a significant effect on adults ( g = 0.15, 95% CI: 0.03, 0.28, p = .01) but not adolescents. The interventions showed better effects compared to waitlist controls ( g = 0.28, 95% CI: 0.19, 0.38) but not compared to treatment as usual or active controls [χ²(2) = 29.41, p < .001]. Limitations : Sample sizes across studies were insufficient for examining the effectiveness of digital interventions by gender. Limited studies reported on suicidal behaviors, so the impact of digital interventions on these behaviors could not be analyzed. Conclusions: This review found a significant effect of digital interventions for reducing suicidal ideation and highlights the importance of examining the effectiveness across subgroups.