Table 1 The proposed standardised intervention model components (bold text) and its application to the BackTrack program (normal text)
a. Areas of need | b. Intervention | c. Mechanisms of change | d. Outcomes (outcome measures) | e. Process measures | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Core components | Flexible activities | ||||
- Emerging or established involvement in criminal incidents and the criminal justice system - Tenuous engagement with the education system and/or un-, under-employment - Risky drug and alcohol use - Low self-efficacy and/or emerging mental health issues | 1. Engagement | - Paws-Up - Youth forum | 1. Successful engagement with participants ensures sufficient exposure to program components | - A reduction in crime/severity of crime (e.g. routinely collected police incident data; self-reported involvement in crime) - A reduction in substance misuse (e.g. Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test [AUDIT], the Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test [ASSIST], the Heaviness of Smoking Index [HSI]) - A reduction in suicide ideation and/or psychological distress (e.g. self-reported suicide ideation; psychological distress [such as Kessler-6]) - Improved employment options (e.g. employment status; school attendance; formal skills training; work experience) - Improved self-efficacy or resilience (e.g. the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale) | - The extent to which the program was delivered as planned (program fidelity) - Participant attendance and exposure to the different core components of the program (program dose) - Participant satisfaction with the program - Participant acceptability of the program - Contextual facilitators/barriers to program implementation |
2. Case management | - Assist with legal issues (e.g attend court) - Work ready preparation - Contingency planning - Inter-agency liaison | 2. Prioritising participants’ most immediate problems (e.g. legal issues), and developing pragmatic solutions to these problems, allows participants to focus on pro-social activities | |||
3. Diversionary activities | - Supervised events in town on weekends - Interstate travel on weekends to community events (e.g. Dog jump competitions) - Day-to-day attendance at the program | 3. Reducing participants’ exposure to high-risk situations (at home and in public), at high-risk times (e.g. the weekend) | |||
4. Personal development, identity, and team identity | - Circle Work - Chilling the brain - Counselling - BackTrack shirts | 4. Improving participants’ capacity to manage when they are in high-risk situations | |||
5. Training and skill development | - BackTrack school - Work experience - Vocational training - Volunteer work experience | 5. Improving participants’ education and life skills to increase their opportunities for active participation in employment | |||