Policy and Practice April 2019

staff spotlight

Name: Jenny Hogan Title: Marketing and Communications Coordinator Time at APHSA: Two months Life Before APHSA: I startedmy career as a graphics specialist in the private sector and then decided to take a break from the “office environment” by becoming a licensedmassage therapist. After much kneading and relieving tension, I moved back into the private sector working as aMedia Director for an integratedmarketing agency. I have also trained with the Literary Council of Northern Virginia and volunteered as an English as a Second Language tutor. Priorities at APHSA: To help bring our five-year strategic plan to life through member communications with an emphasis on social media and peer-to-peer interac- tions and learning. I want to focus on helping our members

create thriving communities built on human potential and increasing engagement with APHSA and other members. What I Can Do for Our Members: I will help our members stay up to date about conferences, educational opportunities, member benefits and general goings-on. I also coordinate all of our email communications and social media. Let me know what you want to learn or share! Best Way to Reach Me: You can reach me by email at JHogan@aphsa.org or call (202) 682-0100 x292. When Not Working: I love to be outdoors and espe- cially on the water. I have a paddleboard and kayak. I love gardening, yoga, reading, and creative writing. Also—wine! Motto to Live By: “People will forget what you said, forget what you did, but will never forget how you made them feel.” – Maya Angelou

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recommendations ‘out of the lab’ and put them into widespread practice.” 3 Our shared imperative is to bridge all of these divides. We must accelerate the field’s ability to turn research into evidence of what works and then apply that evidence in both services and systems that, in turn, generate new research questions and learning oppor- tunities. To do so requires that we understand the many points along the research to practice continuum where these gaps occur, specifically: n Suggested research questions and studies n Relevancy of those questions to real- world problems or challenges on the ground n Clarity of what constitutes or quali- fies something as based in evidence n Assuring the integrity of data that supports the research n Identifying the structural inequities and bias that may be inherent in the data

through less extensive research methods and rapid-testing cycles. Our continuum of research and evaluation should reflect all ways in which we can identify what works. Where research does effectively translate into evidence-based policy, initial implementation is often sporadic and a challenge to spread and scale at the pace desired by both policy- makers and practitioners. We need to better understand the enabling factors and conditions that support effective rollout of evidence-informed practices. One way to do so is to further study the act of implementing programs that already have an evidence base such as home visitation, coaching models, and parent engagement. As our partners at the Frameworks Institute have noted in their implementation research, many fields, including human services, are “underutilizing implementation science—a methodical approach to how to take policy and program

n Translating the research results into pragmatic, evidence-informed solutions n Putting those solutions into practice n Building the capacity of the field to generate evidence by program design that “bakes in” evaluation n Embedding learning cycles in organizations n Sparking new research questions that lead to new studies and iterative cycles of learning For those of us who sit from the vantage point of policymaking or leading health and human services organizations, it is critical that we understand that neither research nor evaluation of specific programs comes in one shape or size. Today, more than ever, there is a continuum of approaches, methodologies, and tools, many of which better suit the iterative learning needs of the field, such as examining impact through

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