Measurement and assessment of fidelity and competence in nonspecialist-delivered, evidence-based behavioral and mental health interventions: A systematic review.

Nonspecialists have increasingly been used to deliver evidence-based, mental health and behavioral interventions in lower resource settings where there is a dearth of specialized providers and a corresponding gap in service delivery. Recent literature acknowledges that nonspecialist-delivered interventions are shown to be effective. However, few studies report on the fidelity (the degree to which an intervention was implemented as intended) and/or competence (general skills of nonspecialists), key concepts that measure quality of evidence-based intervention delivery. This study seeks to understand how both fidelity and competence have been assessed in nonspecialist-delivered, evidence-based interventions with an intended social or psychological behavior-change outcome. Our search results originally yielded 2317 studies, and ultimately, 16 were included in our final analysis. Generally, results from a narrative synthesis indicated that tools used in the studies demonstrated sufficient inter-rater reliability and intra-class correlation components. Included studies used and described a range of fidelity and competence tools. However, the ENhancing Assessment of Common Therapeutic factors tool was the most commonly used tool that measures competence of nonspecialists, and has been adapted to several other settings. The roles of supervisors in mentoring, monitoring, and supervising nonspecialists emerged as a key ingredient for ensuring fidelity. Most studies assessing fidelity were limited by small sample sizes due to low numbers of nonspecialists implementing interventions, however, more advanced statistical methods may not be needed and may actually impede community-based organizations from assessing fidelity data. Our results suggest interventions can share resources, tools, and compare findings regardless with proper supervision. While the two terms "fidelity" and "competence" are often used interchangeably, their differences are noteworthy. Ultimately, both competency and fidelity are critical for delivering evidence-based interventions, and nonspecialists are most effective when they can be evaluated and mentored on both throughout the course of the intervention.

Pesquisa em Políticas Públicas: Uma Política Investigativa a partir das Noções de Rede e Performance / Public Policy Research: An Investigative Policy from the Notions of Network and Performance / Investigación en Políticas Públicas: Una Política de Investigación desde las Nociones de Red y Performance

Este artigo objetiva compartilhar a experiência da proposição de uma política de pesquisa em políticas públicas, constituída no campo da Psicologia Social, a partir das contribuições teórico-metodológicas da Teoria Ator-Rede (TAR) e dos estudos da Ciência, Tecnologia e Sociedade (CTS). Frente ao expressivo número de produções acadêmicas em políticas públicas filiadas aos estudos foucaultianos sobre biopolítica, esse trabalho busca contribuir para a afirmação da potência de um percurso teórico-metodológico de pesquisa que nos possibilita interrogar e visibilizar questões diversas em relação ao campo de estudos da biopolítica. Para discussão dessa política investigativa apresentamos as contribuições de uma pesquisa que buscou compreender a produção do vínculo como objeto da Política Nacional de Assistência Social, utilizando como operadores as noções de performance (enact), de Annemarie Mol e de rede, de Bruno Latour. Nesse processo, ressaltamos as mudanças que promoveram deslocamentos de nosso lugar como pesquisadoras e, portanto, em nosso modo de produzir pesquisa e análise no campo das políticas públicas. Por fim, destacamos como essa política investigativa visibiliza o caráter performativo da rede de práticas que produz os objetos que ganham existência na Política Nacional de Assistência Social. (AU)

This article aims to share the experience of proposing a research policy in public policies, constituted in the field of Social Psychology, from the theoretical-methodological contributions of Actor-Network Theory and Studies of Science, Technology and Society. Faced with the expressive number of academic productions on public policy affiliated with Foucaultian studies on biopolitics, this work seeks to contribute to the affirmation of the potency of another research path that allows us to question and make visible different issues in relation to the field of biopolitics studies. To discuss this investigative policy we use the contributions of a research that sought to understand how the bond is enact as an object of the National Social Assistance Policy, using the notions of enact, by Annemarie Mol and network, by Bruno Latour, as operators. In this process, we highlight the changes that promoted displacements of our place as researchers and, therefore, in our way of producing research and analysis in the field of public policies. Finally, we highlight how this investigative policy shows the performative character of the network of practices that produce objects that come into existence in National Social Assistance Policy. (AU)

Este artículo tiene como objetivo compartir la experiencia de proponer una política de investigación en políticas públicas, constituida en el campo de la Psicología Social, a partir de las contribuciones teórico-metodológicas de la Teoría del Actor-Red y los estudios de ciencia, tecnología y sociedad. Frente al número expresivo de producciones académicas sobre políticas públicas afiliadas a los estudios foucaultianos sobre biopolítica, este trabajo busca contribuir a la afirmación del poder de otra ruta de investigación que nos permite cuestionar y hacer visibles diferentes cuestiones en relación con el campo de la biopolítica. Para analizar esta política de investigación, utilizamos las contribuciones de una investigación que buscaba comprender la producción del vínculo como objeto de la Política Nacional de Asistencia Social, utilizando como operadores las nociones de performance (enact), de Annemarie Mol y red, de Bruno Latour. En este proceso, destacamos los cambios que promovieron los desplazamientos de nuestro lugar como investigadoras y, por lo tanto, en nuestra forma de producir investigación y análisis en el campo de las políticas públicas. Finalmente, destacamos cómo esta política de investigación hace visible el carácter performativo de la red de prácticas que producen objetos que nacen en la Política Nacional de Asistencia Social. (AU)

Encapsulated Nanodroplet Crystallization of Organic-Soluble Small Molecules.

Single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis (SCXRD) constitutes a universal approach for the elucidation of molecular structure and the study of crystalline forms. However, the discovery of viable crystallization conditions remains both experimentally challenging and resource intensive in both time and the quantity of analyte(s). We report a robot-assisted, high-throughput method for the crystallization of organic-soluble small molecules in which we employ only micrograms of analyte per experiment. This allows hundreds of crystallization conditions to be screened in parallel with minimal overall sample requirements. Crystals suitable for SCXRD are grown from nanoliter droplets of a solution of analyte in organic solvent(s), each of which is encapsulated within an inert oil to control the rate of solvent loss. This encapsulated nanodroplet crystallization methodology can also be used to search for new crystal forms, as exemplified through both our discovery of a new (13th) polymorph of the olanzapine precursor ROY and SCXRD analysis of the "uncrystallizable" agrochemical dithianon.