What Support Do I Have for My Legacy Site?

This page will help you learn about Legacy training and technical assistance provided to support your Legacy site. You will also learn about program fidelity, and the tools and resources available for monitoring it.

How are Legacy staff trained?

Group leaders and supervisors attend a three-day workshop and view a series of webinars where they learn to apply their professional and interpersonal skills to meet the needs of their Legacy mothers. Participants who successfully complete the training receive Legacy certification and continuing education credits.

Much like the Legacy groups themselves, this training uses a group approach to discuss key Legacy concepts and promotes positive interactions among group members to accomplish the Legacy training goals. The training facilitator uses videos, slides, role playing, and structured discussion activities to introduce training information and facilitate group activities. Learners receive a Legacy training guide with copies of slides, information summaries, activity handouts, and case studies that describe how programs can be set up and used in different places.

What is involved in Legacy technical assistance?

Technical assistance (TA) provided by the Legacy TA team offers support to your Legacy site so the children and families you serve achieve the best possible outcomes. Your organization’s group leaders and the Legacy TA team are partners in carrying out Legacy. TA can guide you through the process of self-reflection to determine where adjustments need to be made in your implementation, both before and during Legacy program delivery.

TA topics can include (but are not limited to)

• Presentation of session topics and activities
• Challenges to successful presentation of the main session topic or activities
• Participant enrollment and retention
• Group dynamics
• Logistics
• Fidelity to the Legacy model
• Substitution or additions to session materials

There are three types of TA built into the Legacy program:

• Individual weekly contacts with your primary TA provider
  • Regular weekly meetings to discuss any challenges with your group, implementation, or recruitment. Your TA provider will help you with monitoring program fidelity and answering questions about adaptations to the curriculum.
• Monthly group TA calls
  • Group calls are a monthly meeting of all Legacy group leaders to discuss and problem-solve program implementation barriers, share ideas and successes of program implementation, and build a peer-to-peer network of Legacy expertize.
• As-needed TA contacts
  • Your Legacy TA provider will be available “on-call” via telephone or email for urgent questions and to discuss issues that may come up between regularly scheduled calls.

We recommend that group supervisors participate in the group TA calls and ongoing supervisory calls. Discussion of supervision may center on how to support the group and the logistics of implementing Legacy within your organization and community.

Why is fidelity important?

Implementing a program with fidelity means implementing it in the way it was designed. Fidelity is important because evidence-based programs, like Legacy, have positive impacts on child development and foster positive parenting practices when they are carried out as designed. If the critical components of the Legacy model are not implemented or are substantially changed, your participants may not have the expected results.

How do I monitor program fidelity?

Legacy staff use fidelity monitoring tools throughout the program to allow for continuous, seamless quality improvement. These tools are resources for self-reflection and for making quality adjustments to how you run your Legacy groups. Monitoring tools provide important information on how your mothers are doing, what worked well or needs improvement, and what opportunities or obstacles may exist in your program. Read the “Fidelity Tools Description” to learn more about how to complete the monitoring tools.