Practice in Action Together Shared Practice Model

Elevate healing. Build relationships.

Designed with a vision of equity, Ohio’s new shared practice model is PACT — Practice in Action Together. PACT has been developed for (and by) public children services agencies: caseworkers, supervisors, and agency leaders working alongside families, former foster youth, academics, and other experts. Now it is being evaluated to determine which of the caseworker behaviors identified by this diverse stakeholder group achieve stronger relationships between workers and families.

County agencies have teamed up with PCSAO and an independent research group in an exciting research project to learn how to promote strong relationships between frontline caseworkers and the families they serve. A brief online survey will help answer the question, “What caseworker behaviors are associated with strong relational outcomes for workers and families?” The answer to that question will be used to shape the PACT practice model.

The goal is to hear from as many case-carrying workers as possible, along with the families they work with, to shape what practice will look like in the future.

Take the Survey Online HERE

PACT Behavioral Research Project FAQ

1. How long will involvement take?
It should take individuals who participate in the survey about 15 minutes to complete it.

2. How do we get people to the survey to fill it out? Will there be multiple options to take the survey?
The link can be found on the PACT webpage of the PCSAO website. The survey can be completed online or on any personal device that has internet access. We are using a safe and trusted software platform to collect survey data (Qualtrics), which maintains security certifications with ISO27001, FedRAMP, HITRUST, and SOC2.

3. How will you protect confidentiality?
Participants’ privacy and confidentiality is our top priority. We are collecting the names of individuals who participate in the survey—if they choose to share their name with us. We will only use names to link surveys of workers and families who are working together if both participants give us permission to use their name for that purpose. Then, we will assign every survey a unique identification number and delete the names from the data file.

Participants’ answers to survey responses will never be shared with anyone outside of the research team at KI&E. All data collected from surveys will be combined together during analysis and results will be presented in aggregate.

4. Does the survey include information found in SACWIS?
No. The survey questions do not include any confidential case-specific or SACWIS-related questions or information. If any confidential details are inadvertently shared by a worker, KI&E will remove and delete this information.

5. Will this affect my case? Or my employment?
No. This survey is voluntary and individuals choose whether or not they would like to participate. If they choose to participate, they have additional options about how they would like the information they share to be used.

6. Will this be part of a report?
Yes! Researchers at KI&E will develop a summary of results that will be posted on the PACT webpage of the PCSAO website. Results from this survey will be used by the PACT Advisory Group to continue refinement of the PACT practice model and implementation plan.

7. Will we have access to our counties’ answers?
No. Counties will not receive individual county-specific findings. However, insights from the survey could be made available as part of a readiness assessment in the early stages of PACT implementation.

8. What if a family cannot complete the survey online?
KI&E is willing to conduct the survey by phone – please contact Mike Kenney at mike@pcsao.org to coordinate. And/or, workers are encouraged to take their tablets or work devices to the home of a family who is interested in completing the survey and may not have internet access. Families using this method should feel confident that workers are not able to access their responses after submitting the survey responses.

Here is a quick overview of the PACT model:

Learn more about PACT through our Seven Guiding Principles and our overview slide deck.