This report describes the development and pilot testing of eGTO™, an online interactive implementation and evaluation support system for Veterans Service Organizations. eGTO is based on Getting To Outcomes™ — a ten-step evidence-based support process that any organization can use to implement, evaluate, and continuously improve programs aiming to prevent negative behaviors or outcomes, such as suicide, substance abuse, and homelessness.

Getting To Outcomes™ for Veterans Service Organizations

Pilot Test of an Interactive Online Implementation Support Tool

Matthew Chinman, Amy L. Shearer, Joie D. Acosta

ResearchPublished Sep 18, 2024

Despite a wide variety of nonprofit and governmental resources available to Veterans and their families, many Veterans lag behind the general population in general measures of health and wellness. Local Veterans Service Organizations (VSOs) face challenges with the implementation and evaluation of research-based practices that can maximize and sustain positive impacts on Veterans and their families. In this report, the authors describe the development and pilot testing of eGTO™, an online interactive support system that VSOs can use to address these challenges. eGTO is based on Getting To Outcomes™ (GTO™) — a ten-step evidence-based support process that any organization can use to implement, evaluate, and continuously improve programs aiming to prevent negative behaviors or outcomes, such as suicide, substance abuse, and homelessness. The authors describe GTO and how they collaborated with the technology development firm 3C to adapt GTO into an online format; they also describe how they conducted a pilot test of eGTO with three VSOs and discuss what their findings were.

Key Findings

  • Pilot test participants, who were representatives from VSOs, were satisfied overall with eGTO's usability and particularly appreciated its interactivity, digital storage of information for easy revision, and the carryover of key text inputs from one GTO step to the next.
  • eGTO helped participants create an implementation and evaluation plan while improving their understanding of key relevant areas (e.g., logic models, risk and protective factors, staff engagement).
  • Participants indicated that using eGTO could become a standard practice in their workplaces because it prompts staff to think about planning issues before heading into implementation.
  • As a result of the pilot test, two changes were made to improve eGTO's usability: An example was embedded into the system at each step, and additional explanations appear when users hover over key terms.
  • eGTO could help increase the capacity of VSOs to deliver and sustain positive supports to Veterans and their families by enabling more-comprehensive and more-rigorous implementation and evaluation of research-based practices.
  • By expanding the implementation and evaluation of research-based practices, VSOs can better support Veterans' health and well-being and promote quality of life for Veterans and their families.

Topics

Document Details

Citation

Chicago Manual of Style

Chinman, Matthew, Amy L. Shearer, and Joie D. Acosta, Getting To Outcomes™ for Veterans Service Organizations: Pilot Test of an Interactive Online Implementation Support Tool. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2024. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA1363-18.html.
BibTeX RIS

Funding for this research was made possible by a generous gift from Daniel J. Epstein through the Epstein Family Foundation. The research was conducted by the RAND Epstein Family Veterans Policy Research Institute within RAND Education and Labor.

This publication is part of the RAND research report series. Research reports present research findings and objective analysis that address the challenges facing the public and private sectors. All RAND research reports undergo rigorous peer review to ensure high standards for research quality and objectivity.

This document and trademark(s) contained herein are protected by law. This representation of RAND intellectual property is provided for noncommercial use only. Unauthorized posting of this publication online is prohibited; linking directly to this product page is encouraged. Permission is required from RAND to reproduce, or reuse in another form, any of its research documents for commercial purposes. For information on reprint and reuse permissions, please visit www.rand.org/pubs/permissions.

RAND is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.