The Practice of Family Life Education: Toward an Implementation Framework

• Published date: 01 July 2020
• Author: Sharon M. Ballard
• Date: 01 July 2020
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12443

S M. BEast Carolina University

The Practice of Family Life Education: Toward an

Implementation Framework

The practice of family life education (FLE)

includes the methods and strategies that fam-

ily life educators use when implementing pro-

grams, along with processes and contextual

factors that inuence effective program imple-

mentation. The focus of this article is on the

evidence-based practices (i.e., best practices)

used in the effective delivery of FLE programs.

These best practices areorganized into an imple-

mentation framework designed to guide and sup-

port FLE practice and thereby improveprogram

outcomes. The FLE Implementation Framework

includes the following components: (a) program

environment, (b) program participants, (c) pro-

gram design and delivery,and (d) program facil-

itator.Best practices for each component, as well

as guiding questions and evaluation strategies,

are provided.

Family life education (FLE) consists of a

variety of educational activities designed to

enrich and strengthen families. But what do

family life educators do as they engage in

these activities? Myers-Walls, Ballard, Darling,

and Myers-Bowman (2011) identied four

components of FLE practice, in the form of

questions, to capture the essence of how family

life educators work with families:

Department of Human Development & Family Sci-

ence, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC 27858

(ballards@ecu.edu).

Key Words: best practices, family life education, imple-

mentation framework, implementation science, program

implementation.

1.How are specic needs determined?

2.How are services delivered?

3.What settings and modes are used? and

4.How are families involved in the services?

The “how” or practice of FLE aligns with the

growing area of research called implementation

science and is the focus of this article.

Implementation science is the examination

of processes and contextual factors that affect

the delivery of evidence-based programs and

practices (Fixsen, Naoom, Blase, Friedman, &

Wallace, 2005; Moore, Bumbarger, & Cooper,

2013) and includes many factors of effective

programming, such as dosage and program

delivery (Durlak & DuPre, 2008). Fixsen, Blase,

Metz, and VanDyke (2013) suggested a formula

for effective evidence-based programming:

Effective programs ×Effective implementation

=Improved outcomes. If either effective pro-

grams or effective implementation is missing

(i.e., representing a 0 in the equation), then

the outcomes will be zero. The key point for

the purpose of this article is that effective pro-

grams cannot achieve intended outcomes in the

absence of effective implementation and deliv-

ery (Durlak & Dupre, 2008; Fixsen et al., 2013).

Accordingly, as evidence-based programs have

garnered increased attention, focus has shifted

to include implementation outcomes as well as

program outcomes. In other words, it is equally

important to assess how well the program was

implemented as it is to assess the extent to which

the program achieved the desired outcomes.

Therefore, this article is focused on the

implementation of FLE programs and what

research deems to be effective FLE practices.

Family Relations 69 (July 2020): 461–478461

DOI:10.1111/fare.12443

462 Family Relations

These best practices are organized into the FLE

Implementation Framework. An implementa-

tion framework is “a coherent set of interlinked

elements or factors that together constitute a

generic structure for describing, understanding,

or guiding implementation processes” (Albers,

Mildon, Lyon, & Shlonsky, 2017, p. 102). The

purpose of an implementation framework is to

guide and support practice and thereby improve

program outcomes. There are several exist-

ing implementation frameworks, with many

designed to support a systematic uptake of a

particular evidence-based program to expand

program reach, whereas others were designed

formore universalapplicability(Albers et al.,

2017; Forgatch, Patterson, & Gewirtz, 2013;

McWilliam, Brown, Sanders, & Jones, 2016).

The varied nature of FLE (e.g., different

settings, types of programs) does not lend

itself to the structure of many of these exist-

ing implementation frameworks. Additionally,

many implementation frameworks are designed

to support the organizational capacity for

program implementation rather than the indi-

vidual educator.Albers et al.(2017) suggested

that implementation frameworks could be

strengthened by using a modular approach that

incorporates core elements of program imple-

mentation. As such, the FLE Implementation

Framework presented in this article adopts this

modular approach and supports the individual

family life educator to implement FLE pro-

grams of all sizes. The framework can be a

resource for the family life educator to make

informed decisions regarding various factors

that might inuence implementation and pro-

gram success, such as attendance, integration

of programming with other services, and sus-

tainability. Additionally, retaining the locus of

control with the family life educator rather than

the larger organization can facilitate a good

t between the program and the participants,

ensuring that participant needs are adequately

addressed.

The goals of this article are to (a) identify

and describe four main components (program

environment, program participants, program

design and delivery, and program facilitator)

that comprise FLE practice and organize these

four components into a exible implementation

framework specic for FLE; (b) review current

trends and best practices for each of the four

FLE implementation components; and (c) pro-

vide guidance on using the FLE Implementation

Framework for planning and implementing

effective and sustainable FLE programs.

In meeting these three goals, I took a com-

prehensive approach in reviewing best practices

to capture the multidisciplinary nature of FLE

(Arcus, Schvaneveldt, & Moss, 1993). In addi-

tion to family science, I reviewed literature on

programs from many disciplines, such as psy-

chology, social work, nursing, and public health.

There is a growing body of literature on pro-

graming for children and families, which typi-

cally aligns with FLE, although it may be iden-

tied simply as child and family programs or

prevention programs rather than as FLE. Others

use different terminology, such as parent train-

ing or parenting intervention, instead of parent-

ing education. Additionally, different terms are

used to refer to individuals who implement these

programs. Family life educator maybeused,but

more often terms such as practitioner,provider,

educator,orfacilitator are used. Familylife edu-

cator or program facilitator are the terms I use

in this article, and they are used interchangeably.

Although certainly not exhaustive, the wide net

cast in reviewing the available literature yielded

a considerable amount of research on program-

ming practices, or what are sometimes referred

to as implementation drivers (Fixsen, Blase,

Naoom, & Duda, 2015), including dosage, mode

of delivery, strategies or techniques used, and

educator competence. In this article, I integrate

best practices (i.e., evidence-based practices) on

these “implementation drivers” in educational

programming designed to strengthen individ-

ual, couple, and family well-being regardless of

whether it is labeled “family life education.”

FLE I F

There are a variety of ways to categorize or

organize implementation components into a

framework (Albers et al., 2017). Common com-

ponents include context, such as organizational

and community factors (Darling, Cassidy, &

Rehm, 2017; Sedlar, Bruns, Walker, Kerns, &

Negrete, 2017); process factors, such as quality

ofdelivery(Darlinget al., 2017;Sedlar et al.,

2017); and competence or skill of the provider

(Ballard & Taylor, 2012; Kumpfer, Scheier, &

Brown, 2018). The Framework for Best Prac-

tices in FLE developed by Ballard and Taylor

(2012) included program content, program

design, and the family life educator set within

the context of culture and strengths and needs