Prime Time

Program Structure and Timeline

The Prime Time program is organized as follows:

Case Management:

• Trained case managers conduct monthly visits for 18 months
• Case management visits, typically 1-2 hours in length, occur in community locations that are convenient for individual teens.
• All core topics are covered during each six months of a teen's active involvement.
• Participants receive $10 for each monthly visit completed.

Just In Time Peer Educator program (Training and Group Teaching Practicum):

• The training is organized into 16 sessions; an optional post-training group teaching practicum consists of 7 sessions.
• Peer educator groups take place in convenient locations and include 8-12 teens who are also involved in case management.
• In community clinic settings, peer educator groups are conducted weekly, as 2-hour training sessions. Transportation is provided.
• In school clinic settings, peer educator groups are offered as a for-credit course during the school day, with five 45-minute sessions per week for 9 weeks.
• Each peer educator group is co-facilitated by 2 case managers.
• Participants receive $5 for each peer and family contact, up to 50 contacts. If the group teaching practicum is offered, participants receive $6 for each practicum session they attend.

Staffing

Implementation of Prime Time requires the following types of staff:

Prime Time Program Coordinator: Sets up the program, ensures case managers are trained, plans and oversees youth enrollment in the program, 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, monitors program implementation.

Prime Time Case Managers: Program case management and peer educator groups are led by case managers, who may be health educators, social workers or other youth workers experienced working with teens from diverse cultural backgrounds. To ensure substantive monthly visits with all participants, full-time case managers’ caseloads include a maximum of 25 teens.

Program Materials and Resources

Prime Time provides the following materials for implementation:

• Prime Time Case Management Guidelines
• Just In Time Peer Educator Program Curriculum
• Program Implementation Monitoring Tools
• Original Participant Outcomes Evaluation Instrument
  

Additional Needs for Implementation

Providers interested in implementing Prime Time should meet the following criteria:

• Ready access to youth-serving clinics;
• Evidence that collaborating clinics provide youth-friendly sexual & reproductive health services;
• Evidence that collaborating clinics offer youth development programs (beyond office visits), or have an active partnership with an organization that provides youth development programs for the clinic.

Fidelity

As part of the evaluation of Prime Time, case managers use an information system to track and monitor aspects of program implementation such as case management topics covered, number and length of monthly case management visits, peer educator program sessions offered and core activities completed, and peer educator contacts documented by individual participants.

The developer offers tools for monitoring implementation of Prime Time case management and peer educator programs.

Training and Staff Support

Staff Training:

The developer is equipped to provide training and ongoing technical assistance to groups that meet three criteria:

• Ready access to youth-serving clinics;
• Evidence that collaborating clinics provide youth-friendly sexual & reproductive health services;
• Evidence that collaborating clinics offer youth development programs (beyond office visits), or have an active partnership with an organization that provides youth development programs for the clinic.

Pre-service training and ongoing support for program implementation are required, to ensure that staff receive training on core principles and components of the Prime Time model and are sufficiently supported to expertly implement the Prime Time programs.

Pre-Service training: Designed to be informative and interactive, a 3-day pre-service training covers 1) principles and practices in promoting positive youth development; 2) 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; 3) discussion of foundations of case management practice such as building trusting relationships with teens, establishing rapport with teens’ families, confidentiality and mandated reporting; 4) a detailed review of the Just In Time peer educator curriculum and materials, including practice and feedback in implementing selected peer educator program activities; and 5) staff responsibilities in completing program implementation monitoring tools.

Location and timing of pre-service training is negotiated with individual groups.

Booster trainings and program technical assistance: Specific topics, frequency, and locations of booster training and technical assistance sessions are tailored to address site-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 through the University of Minnesota Prevention Research Center (UMN PRC) on a fee-for-service basis.

Technical Assistance and Ongoing Support:

UMN PRC provides structured ongoing support and technical assistance in implementing Prime Time case management and peer educator programs. Booster trainings and program technical assistance sessions are tailored to address site-specific needs.

Allowable Adaptations

The developer notes that omitting the 7-session Peer Educator Group Teaching Practicum is an allowable adaptation.