K-ORCA: Testing a Decision Support Tool and Group Process for Selecting Interventions

Summary

This proposal responds to NIMH Objective 4.2.c to develop "decision-support tools and technologies that increase the effectiveness and continuous improvement of mental health interventions" by leveraging the Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA) policy opportunity. First, a web-based platform to host (a) a decision-support tool and (b) automated facilitation for group decisions with the tool will be developed with state partners' feedback. Next, decision makers leading their states' FFPSA quality improvement efforts will be engaged to pilot a decision-support intervention comprised of the tool and live or automated facilitation, and to evaluate the implementation quality of evidence-based programs adopted with the decision-support intervention.

Conditions

• Child Abuse
• Decision Making
• Child Welfare
• Decision Making, Shared
• Decision Support Technique
• Social Facilitation
• Implementation Science
• Policy
• Organizations
• Consensus
• Mental Health
• Family

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Optimizing Responses with Collaborative Assessments-Automated (ORCA-A)

Participants will receive automated facilitation in the ORCA platform. This will entail prompts for group discussion based on group model building scripts and decision hygiene approaches proposed by Kahneman, Sibony, and Sunstein (2021). Participants will have the option of using these prompts to discuss ORCA results in group decision discussions. Optimizing Responses with Collaborative Assessments (ORCA) is a technical decision support tool based in multi-criteria decision analysis. Decision makers rate and compare evidence-based programs or other practices with ORCA, then prioritize practices for local implementation based on ORCA results. ORCA will be on a virtual platform to allow for web-based completion, automated analysis, and automated facilitation.

BEHAVIORAL

Optimizing Responses with Collaborative Assessments-Live (ORCA-L)

A facilitator will guide group decision discussions using group model building scripts and decision hygiene approaches proposed by Kahneman, Sibony, and Sunstein (2021). Facilitation will be either in-person or virtual, but occur "live" as in during real-time. Optimizing Responses with Collaborative Assessments (ORCA) is a technical decision support tool based in multi-criteria decision analysis. Decision makers rate and compare evidence-based programs or other practices with ORCA, then prioritize practices for local implementation based on ORCA results. ORCA will be on a virtual platform to allow for web-based completion, automated analysis, and automated facilitation.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

  collaborator NIH

• Chestnut Health Systems

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Gracelyn Cruden, PhD · Chestnut Health Systems

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2026-05-31

Primary Completion

2027-07-31

Completion

2027-07-31

Countries

• United States

Study Locations