Assessing the Youth Usability of a Prevention-Focused Postsecondary Access and Retention Intervention for Youth Transitioning from Foster Care

Background and Purpose: Youth transitioning from foster care to adulthood enroll and succeed in higher education at much lower rates than other youth their age. Many services exist to support foster youth in reaching their postsecondary goals, but few have evidence of effectiveness. As part of a National Institute on Drug Abuse-funded intervention development project to design Fostering Higher Education, a structured postsecondary access and retention intervention for youth transitioning from foster care to adulthood, we conducted theater tests to assess youth usability of our preliminary intervention design. Theater testing is a qualitative research technique commonly used in market research to evaluate materials and messages with target audiences and is recommended as an effective methodological approach to adapting and testing evidence based interventions. This paper summarizes youth usability findings from these theater tests.

Methods: Two theater tests were conducted, each four hours in length. To participate in the theater test, youth had to be between the ages of 18 and 21 and have foster care experience. Youth were recruited through independent living, non-profit, and college support programs for foster care alumni. Each theater test had 6-7 participants, with a total of 13. Most were female (N=11) and identified as mixed-race/ethnicity (N=7), while two identified as White, two as African-American/Black, and one as Hispanic. At the theater test, participants role played four activities, each between 20-30 minutes in length, that covered key elements of the Fostering Higher Education intervention, including (1) goal planning with an educational advocate, (2&3) completing two modules of a curriculum designed to educate students about common pitfalls associated with postsecondary academic problems (alcohol/substance abuse and lack of sleep), and (4) participating in a mentor-matching activity. Following each activity, participants provided feedback through a brief written survey and a group discussion. Descriptive statistics were calculated to assess participant usability based on survey data, while comments from the discussions were used to elaborate on survey results.

Results: Participant feedback was primarily positive. Overall, participants found the activities interesting and useful, and felt comfortable participating in them. On a scale from 1 (Not Interesting) to 7 (Very Interesting), participants’ mean interest rating for all activities was above 5, with the highest (Mean=6.2) for the common pitfalls activities. Ratings of comfort level in participating in all four activities were above 6. For the two activities focused on common postsecondary pitfalls, participants particularly liked the “use of science” to help understand how substance abuse and sleep can potentially become problematic, and found them to be “very informative” and “a good resource.” Some participants did caution that some students may not feel comfortable sharing personal information, especially about substance abuse.

Conclusions and Implications: The activities piloted from the Fostering Higher Education intervention were found to be acceptable and comfortable to students, and were received as interesting and helpful in relation to achieving higher education goals. With further testing, Fostering Higher Education could provide one of the first evidence-based approaches to providing postsecondary access and retention support to youth transitioning out of foster care.