Evaluation of Design
The evaluation design used for the program is descriptive which aims to give an in-depth description of an issue. The design describes the recipients of a service, program characteristics and how they link to each other. Additionally, the design allows for the description of the utilization of the services provided by the program. The design also helps record the processes of a program, its outcomes and inputs. The descriptive design allows for the analysis of existing data to answer issues such as if the program is meeting the output targets, the participants of services provided in the program, and the characteristics of the participants in terms of attitudes, demographics, attitudes, history, pre and post test scores. The design also involves interviews relating to a program’s experiences from a systematically selected group of program participants (Chen, 2014). A before and after test of program outcomes enables the researcher to analyze if the program is working as intended. The descriptive design will be used to evaluate the program. The program’s main objective was to enhance cultural intelligence of health care professionals when treating war veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder at SCI Camp Hill State prison and improve the adoption rate of war veterans in the society. The researchers will evaluate the health outcomes of veterans by comparing the findings before the commencement of the program and after.
A successful program will help the general population of war veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder. Post-traumatic stress disorder is serious condition for war veterans and it often affects the health outcomes of these group (Wolf et al. 2015 p. 219). Most of these veterans often have diverse cultural needs therefore the health professionals should try to be sensitive and provide each patient with specialized care. Failure of health professions to treat patients with sensitivity often results to negative health outcomes. The veterans in prison are not in a position to access the appropriate healthcare services compared to the veterans who can utilize VA services and other government mandated services. The design allows the evaluators to document the outputs and outcomes of the program. The outputs of the program include the improvement of cultural intelligence of health officials treating veterans with PTSD at SCI Camp Hill. The second output is the enhancing of health outcomes of veterans caused by the cultural intelligence attained by healthcare professionals. The overall outcome of the program is attaining cultural intelligence for healthcare professionals. The method used in descriptive studies is analysis of existing data which questions such as: are we meeting our output targets? Who participates in the program services? What are the characteristics of participants in terms of demographics, attitudes, history and pre and post test scores? This process will be used to evaluate if the programs has achieved the outputs described above.
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The participants of the programs are 132 veterans with PTSD at SCI Camp hill. The participants in the study have a history of PTSD within the age range of 30-65. Most of these veterans are either African-Americans or Latin therefore their attitudes towards mental health differs. Most of these veterans feel like admitting to mental illnesses is a weakness hence the need for cultural sensitivity when dealing with them. Most of these veterans had PTSD and believed that most healthcare professionals did not care about their needs. The attitudes of these veterans and healthcare professionals is expected to change after the program. Healthcare professionals will be expected to provide individualized care to the war veterans with PTSD and veterans are expected to change their attitudes towards healthcare professionals and mental health. This will be a cross-sectional study since it will include a particular group of people at a particular given time and demonstrates cause and effect.
Sampling Strategy
The program uses 132 veterans from the SCI Camp Hill prison facility. The subjects are male between the ages of 30 and 65 and mostly from the lowest level of the poverty line. Twenty of these veterans enrolled in the program are disabled; these disabilities are mostly a result of the war. Stratified sampling is a probability sampling method where the population is separated into groups based on a certain characteristic and in this case the researchers will choose a sample of veterans from the prison population. Then within the group the researchers might select veterans with Post-traumatic stress disorder. The method is most appropriate for this kind of study since it gives precision compared to simple random sample (Wwagner et al. 2011 p. 14). The method is also time and cost saving.
Evaluation Needs
The resources available for the evaluation include the funds provided by the Veterans Association (VA). The finances will be integral in the program’s course. The facilities for the study will be provided by the SCI Camp Hill State Prison. The human personnel services required in the study will be provided by the Veterans Association, social workers, and health workers SCI Camp Hill States Prison.
Data and Collection Plan
Indicators
The first output of the program is enhancing the cultural intelligence of health professionals treating veterans with PTSD at SCI Camp Hill State Prison. Indicators are meant to measure the quality of activities conducted. The indicator for this output will be the number of healthcare professionals sensitized on the cultural needs of veterans with PTSD. An awareness rate of more than 95 percent will be considered a success for the program. That will be determined by asking the healthcare professionals questions to determine their proficiency. The second output is improving the health outcomes of veterans as a result of the cultural intelligence attained by health care professionals. The indicator for the second output will be measured after the completion of the program by evaluating the health of the veterans who participated in the program. This will be performed by asking the patients on how they feel. For many years, health care providers have worked to gather patient recorded outcome measures (PROMs). These measures of functionality and health condition is recorded by patients. PROM is a simple approach to capturing feedback from patients.
Data Collection
Quantitative measures utilize numbers such as percentages and rates (Bryman, 2017 p. 57). The measures are indicative of output and activity such as counts of the number of healthcare workers who attained cultural intelligence and the percentage of the veterans with positive health outcomes. The data on healthcare professionals’ cultural intelligence for dealing with veterans with PTSD will be collected eight weeks after the commencement of the program after they have participated in the cultural competency training. The data will be collected by the five members of the evaluation team. A researcher is required to manage the data collected during the research period. Data is required to be stored in a correct format and under suitable conditions that ensure it can be accessed and utilized by the evaluators and future researchers. The data collected for this program will be stored in a digital form so that they remain useable, comprehensible and accessible after the end of funding and long-term use. The preservation involves depositing the digital materials in a repository or archive in the project.
Table 2: Indicators and Program Benchmark for Evaluation
|
Outputs (from part 4/table 1) |
Indicator) (i.e. measure of output |
Benchmarks (if any) |
Collected by whom, when and how? |
| The program will improve cultural intelligence of health officials treating veterans with PTSD at SCI Camp Hill State Prison | The indicator for this output will be the number of healthcare professionals sensitized on the cultural needs of veterans with PTSD. An awareness rate of more than 95 percent will be considered a success for the program. | N/A | The data will be collected by five members of the evaluation team. The data will be collected after the four weeks competency program and eight weeks after the commencement of program. |
| Improving the health outcomes of veterans as a result of the cultural intelligence achieved by the healthcare professionals | 2. The indicator for the second output will be measured after the completion of the program by evaluating the health of the veterans who participated in the program. | 2. The second indicator measures health outcomes. This can be done using patient recorded outcomes (PROMs). This is an efficient method to measure health outcomes. | 2. The second set of data on the health outcomes of veterans is collected by healthcare professionals through patient recorded outcomes. The data is collected after the end of the program. |
References
Bryman, A. (2017). Quantitative and qualitative research: further reflections on their integration. In Mixing methods: Qualitative and quantitative research (pp. 57-78). Routledge.
Chen, H. T. (2014). Practical program evaluation . Sage.
Wagner, C. S., Roessner, J. D., Bobb, K., Klein, J. T., Boyack, K. W., Keyton, J., ... & Börner, K. (2011). Approaches to understanding and measuring interdisciplinary scientific research (IDR): A review of the literature. Journal of informetrics , 5 (1), 14-26.
Wolff, N., Mchugo, G., Shi, J., Huening, J., & Frueh, B. C. (2015). Screening for PTSD among incarcerated men: A comparative analysis of computer-administered and orally administered modalities. Criminal Justice and Behavior , 42 (2), 219-236.
