Obtaining active parental consent for evaluation research: A case study

This study assesses the effectiveness of a strategy for obtaining active wr itten parental consent for the outcome evaluation of an alcohol, tobacco, a nd other drug (ATOD) abuse prevention program. A local school-based strateg y that was implemented in 16 middle schools in ten rural and suburban schoo l districts is presented. Using a multiple case study approach and an adequ acy of performance analysis, it was found that seven of the ten districts a chieved a minimum consent rate goal set at 70% (ranged from 53% to 85%, ave rage rate of 72%). Only two districts achieved a desired consent rate of 80 %. Interviews with a key contact person in each school district provided pr ofile information that distinguished districts that were successful in impl ementing an active parental consent strategy from those that were not succe ssful. A cost effectiveness analysis showed that this local school-based st rategy for obtaining parental consent for program evaluation was more cost effective than in previous studies. However, more than 20% of the data coll ection costs involved obtaining active written consent. Methodological and practical implications are discussed.