ABSTRACT
As part of the Kentucky Education Reform Act, school-based Family Resource/Youth Service Centers were commissioned to address those poverty-related issues that attenuate children and youths' coming to school prepared to learn. The centers had flexible mandates and were to adapt their service profiles to local urban, suburban and rural communities. A variety of grounded, inductive qualitative strategies were employed in an implementation evaluation that yielded profiles or domains of program elements, and descriptions of implementation strategies and impact on participants. These program descriptors were considered accurate by program personnel, formed the basis for training new program coordinators, and have served as reliable predictors of educational outcomes for program participants, thus affirming the utility of the qualitative evaluation approaches.
Subject(s)
Family Health , Poverty , Program Evaluation/methods , School Health Services/organization & administration , Social Work/organization & administration , Adolescent , Adult , Child , Child, Preschool , Data Collection/methods , Female , Humans , Interprofessional Relations , Kentucky , Male , Research DesignABSTRACT
The present article focuses on critical issues in the provision of service coordination to children and youth with serious emotional disabilities (SED) and their families, particularly those concerns most relevant to program organization and administration. Perspectives and issues gleaned from a review of evaluative data, focus group discussions with service coordinators and their supervisors, and clinical and administrative experience within a statewide SED initiative are considered in three areas: (1) roles, responsibilities, and relationships; (2) organizational context; and (3) training and supervision. Recommendations for enhancement of child, youth, and family mental health service coordination are provided.
Subject(s)
Adolescent Health Services/organization & administration , Child Guidance Clinics/organization & administration , Community Mental Health Services/organization & administration , Patient Care Planning/organization & administration , Adolescent , Adult , Affective Symptoms/epidemiology , Affective Symptoms/therapy , Child , Family Health , Humans , Interpersonal Relations , Kentucky/epidemiologyABSTRACT
This article provides an overview of essential principles and procedures of program planning and evaluation. The relevance of these concepts to the task of health and nursing care is discussed in terms of three primary evaluation domains: (1) estimating need and designing evaluable programs; (2) determining the extent of program implementation; and (3) assessing program-related outcomes. The article has relevance for nurse managers concerned with programmatic decision making and accountability.
