Program Materials
Materials needed to implement and evaluate the Prime Time program include:
- Prime Time Case Management Guidelines;
- Just In Time Peer Educator Training & Group Teaching Practicum Curriculum;
- Program implementation monitoring tool
Program Staffing, Training & Support
Program Staffing
Ideally, the Prime Time program is staffed by a team including a program coordinator and case managers.
Prime Time Program Coordinator. A program coordinator ensures Prime Time case managers are trained, plans and oversees youth enrollment, provides ongoing clinical supervision and support to Prime Time case managers, acts as liaison between clinic staff and Prime Time case managers, manages program logistics, and monitors program implementation.
Prime Time Case Managers. Case managers -- health educators, social workers or youth workers experienced working with urban teens from diverse cultural backgrounds -- implement Prime Time case management and peer educator programs. To ensure substantive monthly visits with all participants, full-time case managers’ caseloads include a maximum of 25 teens.
Program Training
Use of Prime Time requires pre-service training and ongoing support for program implementation from the developers, to ensure that groups receive training in core principles and components of the Prime Time model and are sufficiently supported to skillfully implement Prime Time programs.
Pre-Service Training. Designed to be informative and interactive, a 3-day pre-service training for key staff who plan to implement and supervise the program covers:
- Principles and practices in promoting positive youth development;
- A detailed review of manualized Prime Time case management guidelines including an explanation of core case management topics, as well as practice and feedback in implementing motivational interviewing and other case management strategies.
- Discussion of foundations of case management practice such as building trusting relationships with teens, establishing rapport with teens’ families, confidentiality and mandated reporting;
- A detailed review of the Just In Time peer educator curriculum and materials, including practice and feedback in implementing selected peer educator program activities;
- Tips for enrolling & engaging teens in program; and
- Staff responsibilities in completing program implementation monitoring tools.
Location and timing of pre-service training is negotiated with individual groups.
Booster Trainings & Program Technical Assistance. Specific topics, frequency, and locations of booster trainings and technical assistance sessions are tailored to group-specific needs. At a minimum, formal booster training/technical assistance sessions are completed quarterly during program implementation.
Both pre-service training and structured ongoing support for program implementation are offered by program developers at the University of Minnesota on a fee-for-service basis.