Author: Alexander    Reppond

Major: Psychology

Graduation Year: 2019

Thesis Advisor: Julie DellaMattera & Rebecca Schwartz-Mette

Description of Publication: The purpose of this thesis is to evaluate the Attachment Theory Program currently ongoing in Sierra Leone, Africa. Specifically, the evaluation focuses on whether the program was implemented correctly and whether it was effective in its goal to teach attachment theory and related behaviors to the caregivers. To determine whether the program was promising, eight evaluation questions with benchmarks for achievement were created with input from primary stakeholders, the donors. This thesis includes a literature review of trauma, attachment, Sierra Leone, program evaluations, and WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) populations. After undertaking the review of literature, the caregivers in Sierra Leone were given surveys after participating in the trainings. Data was then collected from 46 questionnaires in the first batch of data and 64 questionnaires in the second batch of data. Results showed that benchmarks were tentatively, at face value, achieved on seven out of eight of the evaluation questions, although with limitations that impacted the results. With consideration towards those limitations, it was found that two benchmarks were achieved, one benchmark was not achieved, and five were deemed inconclusive. This was interpreted to mean that the program was has shown early promise but needs further follow-up evaluation to truly determine its impact. Finally, a discussion on limitations and recommendations for improvement to the program were provided.

Location of Publication:

URL to Thesis: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/honors/544/