The acceptability of organizational consultation with prereferral intervention teams

This article presents three studies of the acceptability of an extended org anizational consultation project featuring collaborative, qualitative resea rch methods as consultation tools, and a focus on facilitating the developm ent of one school district's Prereferral Intervention Teams (PITs). Each st udy investigated one component of the acceptability of the project, includi ng (a) the acceptability of the organizational consultation project, (b) th e relationship between changes the PITs adopted to improve their team funct ioning and the acceptability of these changes, and (c) the acceptability of the adopted changes 1 year later. Results suggest that the consultation me thods were highly acceptable to team members, influenced the teams to alter their goals and practices, and changes were acceptable 1 year after implem entation. Previous models delineating the relationship between treatment ac ceptability and treatment efficacy were supported. Results also suggest tha t acceptability is a complex construct that changes over rime and can be mo dified through the consultation process.