Journal Article

A Police Partnership Targeting Truancy: Study Protocol for a Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial

Published: 2020

Abstract:

Research Question

How can an Australian police agency best test its role in a truancy prevention programme that can help to prevent crime?

Data

Operational and analytic planning for testing the Ability School Engagement Partnership (ASEP) programme in Queensland that aims to increase school attendance and reduce anti-social behaviour, including offending.

Methods

Fulfilling the requirements for registering a randomised trial protocol with the Clinicaltrials.gov Registry (NCT04281966; date registered 24 February 2020)

Findings

A protocol deploying a cluster randomised trial offers sufficient statistical power to detect a moderately large effect size as statistically significant with 80% probability.

Conclusion

Implementation of this protocol as planned would provide an internally valid test of the effectiveness of the ASEP programme in real-world conditions

 

Authors

Centre Member

Lorraine Mazerolle
Sarah BennettStephanie M. Cardwell

Citation

Mazerolle, L., Bennett, S., & Cardwell, S. M. (2020). A Police Partnership Targeting Truancy: Study Protocol for a Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial. Cambridge Journal of Evidence-Based Policing, 1-26.