Peer support program evaluability assessment

Assessed whether a peer support program designed and implemented by ICE could be reliably and credibly evaluated.

Project Overview

Federal Directive 1037.1 in 2013 established a peer support program for US immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Working closely with stakeholders from ICE and the Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) between October 2023 and May 2024, our team at American University assessed whether a peer support program designed and implemented by ICE via this directive could be reliably and credibly evaluated.

We determine that ICE’s peer support program can be evaluated for two primary reasons: the program has a clearly defined logic model and theory of change making its goals testable and the program has been under implementation for over 10 years, which provides enough data to design a forward-looking impact evaluation. Through discussion with the DHS team, we were able to narrow down two pathways that are testable and of the highest priority to stakeholders at DHS. These two pathways examine the efficacy of the peer support program in the following ways: 1) efficacy of peer support program training in producing desired outputs; and 2) efficacy of increasing utilization of peer support programs on reduced impacts from workplace stressors. The design and implementation of any evaluation of the peer support program based on either or both proposed pathways requires close collaboration between practitioners at DHS and researchers.

The impact of such an evaluation aligns closely with the DHS strategic plan 2023-2027 by strengthening the homeland security enterprise and championing this critical workforce. An evaluation of the program would aid in informing comparative assessments and the continued refinement of existing sister peer support programs within the Department of Homeland Security’s other components.

Full Report