Application of a Race(ism)-Conscious Adaptation of the Consolidated Framework for Intervention Research to a School-Connectedness Intervention

Michele Allen, MD
University of Minnesota

April Wilhelm, MD, MPH
University of Minnesota

Luis Enrique Ortega, MEd
University of Minnesota

ABSTRACT:
The Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) facilitates understanding of intervention implementation, but deployment of CFIR as a presumptively race(ism) neutral tool may obscure the influences of racism-sensitive barriers and facilitators to intervention uptake, particularly for interventions aiming to address health disparities. We describe our use of CFIR, adapted through Public Health Critical Race Praxis, to understand facilitators and barriers to uptake of Project TRUST (Training for Resiliency in Urban Students and Teachers). Project TRUST was a community-based participatory intervention focused on BIPOC student-school connectedness. Our community-academic team analyzed qualitative observational field notes, youth and parent researcher reflections, and semi-structured interviews with community-academic researchers and school-based partners within CFIR constructs based on adapted framing questions. Within many CFIR constructs and sub-constructs, we identified barriers to implementation uptake either not previously recognized or differently contextualized than when we used standard racism-neutral definitions.  We conclude that a race(ism) conscious application of CFIR results in a more robust understanding of intervention uptake in equity-oriented interventions.