| Session Title: Consumer and Family Member Involvement in Evaluating Federally-Funded Initiatives |
| Multipaper Session 729 to be held in Hanover Suite B on Saturday, November 10, 9:35 AM to 10:20 AM |
| Sponsored by the Collaborative, Participatory & Empowerment Evaluation TIG |
| Chair(s): |
| Cindy Crusto, Yale University, cindy.crusto@yale.edu |
| Abstract: This session will highlight how consumers and family members of children served by three federally-funded system of care initiatives have been integrated in the evaluation of each. The first paper will describe family member participation in all aspects of evaluation decision making, data collection and management, and continuous quality improvement processes. The second paper will compare a consumer-led needs assessment that was conducted in an urban community with an evaluator-led needs assessment that occurred in the same community. The benefits of engaging consumers in evaluation process along with some of the struggles encountered will be discussed. |
| Facilitating Family Member Involvement in the Evaluation of a Children's Mental Health Initiative |
| Cindy Crusto, Yale University, cindy.crusto@yale.edu |
| This paper will present the evaluation plan of a federally funded system of care initiative for children 11 years and younger with severe social, emotional, and behavioral health challenges and their families. A guiding principle of the federal funder and the statewide initiative focuses on family-driven practices and includes the participation and perspectives of family members at all levels of the initiative's development, implementation, and evaluation. The paper will focus on how family members of children with behavioral health challenges have been integrated into the evaluation process, including participation in evaluation decision making, collection and management of data, and involvement in the initiative's continuous quality improvement process. Strategies and lessons learned for increasing meaningful participation of family members and negotiating their roles as evaluation team members will be presented. |
| Comparison of a Consumer Led and an Evaluator Led Needs Assessments |
| Joy Kaufman, Yale University, joy.kaufman@yale.edu |
| This paper will compare a consumer-led needs assessment that was conducted in an urban community with an evaluator-led needs assessment that occurred in the same community. In the first assessment, 6 parents of children receiving services in the community were trained in all aspects of focus group assessment including protocol development, facilitation, data coding and analysis and data feedback. The second assessment was completed by a university-based evaluator. The presentation will highlight aspects of the parent training and review the methodology and results from both needs assessments. The presenter will also discuss the benefits and struggles that were encountered during each assessment. |