A project typically results in a lengthy process involving the participation of many people who bring various levels of expertise and interest to the table. The requirements for taking part in the program are different for everyone. In order to successfully complete the project, it is necessary to set participation goals and to then act in agreement with them. A stakeholder register should be created, which will contain the classification of the actors, details about the project, and requirements of the study.
The stakeholders in the current program are teenagers from two schools in the Miami-Dade County. Their participation is of paramount importance since the clinical question concerns the intervention program’s impact on adolescents. Thus, the stakeholders are the key part of the project since they are the suitable age group for successful implementation of the experiment and implementation of the intervention program.
In this project, two levels of the stakeholders’ interests are presented. The experimental group is expected to change its opinion and then enrich its knowledge as a result of the project implementation. The control group is supposed to illustrate clearly that nothing can change without an implemented intervention program.
Stakeholders are individuals who can be affected directly by a project’s outcome. In our case, this effect should be positive, since we aim to enrich participants’ basic knowledge of preventative measures about sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).
Potential Barriers and Strategies of Their Prevention
The obstacles to project implementation presented by the stakeholders may be connected with their personal attitudes, possibility to take part in the experiment, apprehension about communication with the intervention manager, and other environmental, cultural, and social factors. In case if the obstacles are not foreseen and prevented, the whole intervention and experimental program may be at risk.
Social and cultural barriers are connected with the stakeholders’ age peculiarities. Teenagers are very emotional and vulnerable, thus, they may feel some embarrassment connected with taking part in such program. They may feel stigmatized and ashamed, which could lead to failure of the intervention program. To prevent this type of obstacles, it is necessary to organize a very detailed instruction lecture. The manager of the intervention should make everything possible to earn the participants’ trust and to make them feel confident. The stakeholders should be given a chance to discuss any inconvenience or discomfort feelings either in oral or written form. No emotional obstacles should be left unattended, as neglecting them may cause the teenagers’ refusal to take part in the program or insincere answers.
Another critical barrier is related to the stakeholders’ possibility of participating in the experiment. Therefore, it is necessary to find out whether all of the prospective participants will have enough time and opportunities to attend the intervention program classes. If this issue is not foreseen and any obstacles for the stakeholders’ attendance appear in the middle of the program, they may lead to the project’s collapse. With the aim to prevent this barrier, the pre-intervention investigation steps should be taken to find out the participants’ schedules and make sure that the intervention does not interfere with other important things in their lives.
Finally, the participants may be reluctant to take part in the questionnaire for fear that their personal information might be disclosed. If they are not instructed about the anonymity of the test blanks, they may not feel comfortable to give sincere answers. As the reliability of the results is imperative for the success of the intervention program, the teenagers should be ensured about the secrecy of the data provided by them.
The abovementioned obstacles refer to the test taken by the two groups of participants. However, there may be environmental barriers to the whole intervention program. Communication between the control and the experimental groups may be a showstopper for the program. If the experimental group shares information with the control group, the intervention success will be impossible to prove. As the program manager will not be able to control the participants’ communication patterns, he/she can only rely on their honesty. In case when control group shows the similar results to the experimental group, the whole program will fail.
If all possible measures are taken to overcome the obstacles presented by the participants, the program’s success will be ensured. The risks presented by the stakeholders will be considerably eliminated and the project will most likely bring favorable results if the barriers are predicted and the solutions to them are provided.
Preferred Change Theory
Lewin suggested three steps the change channels should pass before a change turns into the system’s element: unfreezing (when the transformation is necessary); moving (when the change is instituted); and refreezing (when the balance is reached) (cited in Mitchell, 2013, p. 32). When applying this classification to our study, it became apparent that the fundamental purpose of the intervention is to reach the refreezing stage of the change theory. Since this phase deals with reaching equilibrium and aims at making constant the alterations, it is the most suitable for our study. We want the adolescents to enrich their knowledge about STDs and to adjust their lifestyles in agreement with preventative measures. Thus, the change theory or refreezing is the most suitable for the experiment.
References
Mitchell, G. (2013). Selecting the best theory to implement planned change.Nursing Management, 20(1), 32-37.