Installation Prevention Team Training (IPTT)

Purpose and Objectives
Briefings/Slides
Information Papers/Documents
IPTT Course Overview and Evaluation

Purpose

To provide team building and coalition building training which strengthens the Installation Prevention Plan through development of an integrated, targeted strategy which supports combat readiness.

Objectives

• To apply historical information and best prevention practices to the implementation of a broad range of prevention strategies
• To learn the Army's Risk Reduction Model
• To identify and develop risk reduction strategies for use within the Installation Prevention Plan
• To understand how collaborative prevention efforts enhance installation prevention and risk reduction programs

Briefings/Slides

• IPTT Commander Briefing

IPTT - Information Papers/Documents

• Installation Prevention Team Training Course Update (posted 03/05/99)

IPTT Overview

IPTT is a curriculum-guided training course developed for Army installation program managers to partner in the development of a comprehensive prevention plan to define, address and prevent high risk behaviors which may impede force protection and personnel readiness. This course applies historical information and current best prevention practices to the implementation of a broad range of research-based prevention strategies. IPTT also provides an opportunity for the Army's Risk Reduction Program to be disseminated to installations, allowing risk reduction strategies to be integrated into the Installation Prevention Plan. In a collaborative effort, the multidisciplinary installation team develops a draft of a community prevention plan that is brought back to their installation for a formal briefing with the Commander. Once command support has been secured, the installation prevention team begins implementation, including initiating marketing strategies to gain local support and involve key community stakeholders in the accomplishment of their prevention plan goals and objectives.

IPTT was developed out of an effort to rethink how the Army operates in order to bring about dramatic improvement in performance, to leverage shrinking resources and create optimal health promotingopportunities; in this case, that is to support force protection and combat readiness. IPTT utilizes a facilitated training format in which a training staff of highly skilled professionals use didactic and experiential teaching methods to build competencies in the areas of Knowledge, Skills, and Personal Mastery, and incorporate the learning disciplines of Systems Thinking, Team Learning, Shared Vision and Mental Models. These concepts, along with the development of learning organizations, were initially developed by a team from MIT for business environments as part of the "reengineering" process; that is, the radical redesign of a corporation's processes, organization, and culture to achieve cost efficiency, increased productivity and greater consumer and employee satisfaction.

IPTT has taken lessons learned from the corporate sector and begun to apply them to the Total Army community of two million soldiers, family members, and Department of Army civilians.

Evaluation

At the close of the training on day three participants are requested to complete a process evaluation form rating the overall training experience (copy attached). There are twelve categories of achievement which participants are asked to score from one to five, one being Extremely Poor and five being Excellent. There is also a section available for comments, remarks or suggestions from the participants. Attached is a graph which represents a compilation of all the scores on these evaluations from January through December 1996. Overall comments were also excellent.

In addition, a follow-up process evaluation was completed in October 1996, surveying the first twenty installation teams trained. The survey consisted of 76 questions, focusing on the four key program elements of IPTT: completion of an installation prevention plan, implementation of the Risk Reduction Program, command support, and collaboration on-post (copy of survey attached). The surveys were conducted during scheduled telephone interviews, and lasted an average of one hour. The respondents were individuals who had participated in the IPTT training with their teams and had either designated themselves or been designated by command as team leaders or team points of contact.

Analysis of the data captured during this interim evaluation show:

• Nineteen out of twenty teams have continued augmenting their Installation Prevention Plans, and all will be completed by the second quarter of 1997. In addition, twelve teams have begun implementing their plans.
• Thirteen out of twenty teams have now implemented the Risk Reduction Program. Of the remaining teams, all but one are awaiting final command approval.
• Command support for the program is strong and commanders want to be involved in the program.
• Installation prevention teams have come together to work collaboratively, continue to meet regularly, and have experienced better coordination of efforts on-post.

Teams have also expressed significant interest in and desire for an IPTT 2; ACSAP is already planning and developing this next stage in supporting the field.

It is too soon to capture long-term outcomes of the Installation Prevention Team Training program. Nevertheless, review and analysis of the data, plus the response from training participants, has shown that with the purpose of improving community-wide prevention and intervention efforts for specific target populations, the goals of the IPTT have been realized, constituting a successful training effort.

The Installation Prevention Team Training course was designed for and has been presented to teams of Army military and civilian personnel. It is, however, based upon sound practices and processes of prevention and health promotion as developed and tested in civilian populations. IPTT is therefore applicable to any community or target audience that seeks to implement a comprehensive, systems-based, collaborative approach for reducing risk and enhancing the quality of life of its members.