Читать книгу Social Work Research Methods - Reginald O. York - Страница 89

Here are a few parts of the service system that could serve as the focus of one part of a program evaluation. You should select one of these questions and see what you can find in the information available to you at your agency for this program.

1 This program should be serving people in the target population. Important characteristics of this population might include poverty, having young children, being pregnant, being at risk for delinquency, facing death or dying, having marital problems, and so forth.How would you characterize the target population?Does this agency seem to be serving this population? Do you have any data that confirm it? Do you have informed opinions of staff that would support this conclusion?

2 Services should be accessible to those in need. In other words, prospective clients should be able to take advantage of what your agency offers. For example, employed persons may have a difficult time going to your agency before 5:00 p.m. If so, does your agency have service hours after 5:00 p.m.? Certain persons may have transportation problems. Does your agency facilitate transportation in any way?

3 Clients should be appropriately screened at intake to ensure that services are being used by those most in need. What does your agency do to ensure this? Is there any evidence available to you that would suggest that this is true?

4 The program should be documenting outcomes for the program (e.g., higher grades in school, lower depression, higher employment, fewer acts of delinquency, improved marital relations, etc.). Does the agency collect data to evaluate client outcomes?

5 Clients should be appropriately terminated from a service when the need has been met. What does the agency do to ensure that this happens?

6 Services should have an impact on indicators of need, such as rate of child abuse, rate of delinquency, and so forth. Does the agency have data on this?