Kristen Varjas

Mixed Methods in Intervention Research: Theory to Adaptation

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate the application of mixed methods research designs to multiyear programmatic research and development projects whose goals include integration of cultural specificity when generating or translating evidence-based practices. The authors propose a set of five mixed methods designs related to different phases of program development research: (a) formative research, Qual →/+ Quan; (b) theory development or modification and testing, Qual → Quan →/+ Qual → Quan ... Qual → Quan; (c) instrument development and validation, Qual → Quan; (d) program development and evaluation, Qual →/+ Quan →/+ Qual →/+ Quan ... Qual →/+ Quan, or Qual →← Quan; and (e) evaluation research, Qual + Quan. We illustrate the application of these designs to creating and validating ethnographically informed psychological assessment measures and developing and evaluating culturally specific intervention programs within a multiyear research program conducted in the country of Sri Lanka.

Assessing Adolescents' Understanding of and Reactions to Stress in Different Cultures Results of a Mixed-Methods Approach

This article expands on an emerging mixed-method approach for validating culturally-specific constructs (see Hitchcock et al., 2005). Previous work established an approach for dealing with cultural impacts when assessing psychological constructs and the current article extends these efforts into studying stress reactions among adolescents in Sri Lanka. Ethnographic data collection and analysis techniques were used to construct scenarios that are stressful to Sri Lankan youth, along with survey items that assess their related coping mechanisms. The data were factor analysed, results were triangulated with qualitative findings, and reliability estimates of resulting scales were obtained. This in turn generated a pilot assessment approach that can be used to measure stress and coping reactions in a distinct culture. Use of the procedures described here could be replicated to generate culturally-specific instruments in international contexts, or when working with ethnic minorities within a given nation. This should in turn generate information needed to develop culturally relevant intervention work.

Validating Culture- and Gender-Specific Constructs: A Mixed-Method Approach to Advance Assessment Procedures in Cross-Cultural Settings

SUMMARY Despite on-going calls for developing cultural competency among mental health practitioners, few assessment instruments consider cultural variation in psychological constructs. To meet the challenge of developing measures for minority and international students, it is necessary to account for the influence culture may have on the latent constructs that form a given instrument. What complicates matters further is that individual factors (e.g., gender) within a culture necessitate additional refinement of factor structures on which such instruments are based. The current work endeavors to address these concerns by demonstrating a mixed-methods approach utilized to assess construct validation within a specific culture; and in turn develop culturally-specific instruments. Qualitative methods were used to inform the development of a structured self-report by gaining detailed knowledge of the target culture and creating items grounded in interview and observational data. Factor analysis techniques and triangulation with qualitative analyses validated these findings. Previous work (Sarkar, 2003) suggested a number of gender-specific perceptions of mental health constructs within the target culture and these were investigated using additional mixed-method analyses. This article demonstrates an emerging mixed-method technique for developing culturally sound assessment tools, offers guidance on how to incorporate the overall approach in assessment, and provides a basis for thinking critically about the use of existing instruments when working with diverse populations.

Community-Based Sexual Risk Prevention Program for SRI Lankan Youth: Influencing Sexual-Risk Decision Making

This article describes the design, implementation, and evaluation of a sexual-risk prevention program focused on the development of individual competencies and cultural norms promoting healthy sexual decision making. The community-based peer-facilitated intervention targeted adolescents and young adult men and women in Sri Lanka, who participated in small-group activities targeting sexual knowledge, attitudes, and practices; risk perception; and sexual-risk decision making. The intervention and evaluation tools were based on formative research data collected from members of the target population. Researchers from Sri Lanka and North America collaborated with local community health workers and community members in formative data collection and program development. The pilot intervention project was successful in improving sexual-risk perception and decision making, and (for women) knowledge of condoms and sexual terminology. The use of group process showed promise as a tool for fostering negotiation of perspectives and consensus building regarding sexuality and sexual risks. The lessons learned from this project can inform the development of culture-specific sexual-risk prevention programs worldwide.

Students’ views of factors affecting their bystander behaviors in response to school bullying: a cross-collaborative conceptual qualitative analysis

Abstract The aim of the present study was to focus on how students articulate and discuss what factors influence students’ decisions to defend or not defend victims when witnessing bullying. In this unique qualitative cross-collaborative study, where two research teams collected interviews from two cultural contexts, eighty-nine students with an age-range from 9 to 14 years old participated. Participants included 43 Swedish students and 46 US students (50 girls, 39 boys). The interviews were analysed through a collaborative qualitative analysis aimed at constructing shared concepts of our data as a whole. The results revealed five broad factors among the students when they reasoned about how they act as a bystander in bullying situations: (a) informed awareness, (b) bystander expectations, (c) personal feelings, (d) behavioural seriousness, and (e) sense of responsibility. The results indicated that each of these considerations could make the students more or less likely to defend as well as to defend in a certain way. According to these five broad factors, students seemed to adjust their bystander acts, which suggests that students’ bystander acts vary depending on situational factors that influence bystanders’ interpretations of bullying and decision-making about how to respond to observed bullying.