Creation of an Evaluation Plan for an Existing Mental Health Intervention - Research Paper Example

? Community Evaluation Plan Community Evaluation Plan Introduction Policies related to mental health has offered a direction for mental health through definition of values, principles, vision and objectives in establishment of a substantial model in order to achieve set objectives. Therefore, these policies are expected to have a plan entailing the strategies and activities that should be implemented in order to achieve the goals of the policies. In this case, the substantial policies have plans which are developed through an inclusive process, whereby the content focuses on the best practice principles and appropriate definition and conditions. Nevertheless, the government is accountable to their citizens for their policies, plans, and appropriation of public funds, hence creating the need to assess and make relevant changes in a situation where the results are not desired. The plan describes expected outputs, targets, and indicators, which are exploited in assessment of the policy, and plans that have undergone a successful implementation. The paper will elaborate creation of an evaluation plan for an existing mental health intervention. Evaluation planning is substantial in identification of issues that are based on choosing appropriate research methods. In fact, evaluation method is determined through the frames of the expected results, financial resources, and the accessible skills in a situation (Anderson, 1999). Modules described relate to the design, which include the experimental, quasiexperimental, and non-experimental; thus, this explains different kinds of economic evaluation that can be used and data collection techniques. Therefore, five main steps can be applied in an approach for preparation and conducting an evaluation plan for an existing mental health intervention. Step One: Clarification of the purpose and scope of the evaluation Evaluation is used as a tool for decision making, whereby the policy makers are expected to clarify the idea related to kinds of decision that the evaluation will assist them to make and the significance of information that is required in decision making prior to designing the evaluation process. Therefore, the evaluators are expected to understand the significance of information in order to provide reports and recommendation through the relevant language, form, and technical details (Rossi, Lipsey & Freeman, 2004). Step Two: Identification of the evaluators and funding for the evaluation Planners guarantee that there is appropriate distribution of resources allocated by the government for conducting the evaluation based on different priorities, and in a situation without allocated resources relevant strategies are developed in order to gather funds from other sources, such as local and international donors. Therefore, the amount of money that is available and knowledge of allocation to expenditure items are vital to facilitate designing and implementation of necessary strategies for the evaluation. In this case, an evaluation requires decision related to conducting an evaluation in respect to the evaluator in terms of whether the evaluation will be done by specific individual or multispectral team from the government or an external agency. There is a need to determine the required skills needed by the evaluators in the process of hiring external evaluators: for instance, a tender can be put to request the universities or research institutions in order to acquire evaluators. Step Three: Assessment and management of ethical issues The government is considered a significant defender of human rights; thus, there is a need to ensure that there is high vigilance for ensuring that there are stringent ethical practices to be observed in the process of evaluation. The ethical practices should be observed in situations where the patients and their families are involved in the process of evaluating a mental health plan. Therefore, there should be stern observance to the procedures that are used to gather informed consent and protection of confidentiality and anonymity of the participants. Step Four: Preparing and implementing the operational plan for the evaluation There should be clear operational plan in the process of evaluation, which should be detailed through the method used in evaluation, in terms of the period and forms of research design and data to be collected. There is also need to assemble a team for undertaking the evaluation depending on the size and scope of evaluation such as field workers conducting surveys, skilled interviewers, statisticians and people with significance understanding of the mental health policy, and making plans on those who can interpret results and derive coherent recommendations. Therefore, policy recipient should be able to identify the basic evaluation questions that can assist in maintain and obtaining necessary information in order to take ownership of their results (Roberts, Cummings & Nelson, 2005). Step Five: Analysis of Evaluation data, unintended outcomes and reporting of results There is a need to collect, analyze, sort data through actions, such as mere counting or conversion to the percentage, by collating themes in qualitative research by applying complex computer programs. The results, conclusions and recommendations acquired from the evaluation taking into account situations for the subjects should be clear. Moreover, the governments are accountable for population, whereby the evaluation may be of equal relevance and significant. Evaluation Designs Time-Trend analysis of Observational Data: This is a form of an evaluation design where the evaluator compares the results for the study population before and after implementation of the program; thus, the evaluation design in straightforward and easy to implement, though not as robust as other designs. Therefore, the design has its main limitation that involves the difficulty in distinguishing the casual effects of the program from the effects of the entire time trends. Difference-in-Differences Design: This is a design that involves comparing the things happening in different assumptions, whereby making assumptions concern the trends are treated the same in comparison groups. Therefore, data collected annually is documented for the benefit of the programs and assessed in order to utilize results that are influenced by changes in the social and economic context. Synthetic Control Method: This design involves modification differenced in a framework in order to establish certain evaluation programs that are suitable in the intervention programs. Therefore, these produces are relevant for comparing of the groups that entail crude units, which are fundamentally allocated the equivalent credence. Using Descriptive Statistics for Inference: This design involves an evaluation framework applied to monitoring the effects of the intervention programs through a collection and report, which describes in information or statistics. Therefore, the descriptive data assists the policy makers in monitoring progress, in the process of bench marking, whereby serving as warning and indicator of failure in the implementation process. Moreover, there are web tools that are used in providing an effective and efficient way to offer descriptive data concerning the intervention programs (Wolff & Pogorzelski, 2005). Conclusion The paper has explored the process of creating an evaluation plan for an existing mental health intervention, whereby key elements of the policy are developed and restructured in the process. Five steps have been identified in developing an evaluation plan, and it is monitored in order to ensure that the implementation process continues in accordance with set objectives, timetable and budget while assessing the realization of the outputs. However, in situations where the plan is not being implemented according to intentions, the reasons for failure are determined and objectives are assessed in order to determine the degree of accomplishment at the end of the intervention program. On the other hand, there are numerous way of conducting the evaluation that has been identified, whereby the appropriateness of the design depends on the availability of human and financial resources, the question to be and duration. Moreover, the qualitative and quantitative research are used as significance ways of evaluating an existing mental health intervention, whereby there are appropriate appraisals and in depth research, for instance the experimental designs that are randomly controlled. References Anderson, A. J. (1999). An impact evaluation model and quality improvement mechanism for mental health programs in developing countries. International Journal of Psychosocial Rehabilitation, 4(2), 55-64. Rossi, P.H., Lipsey, M.W. & Freeman, H.E. (2004). Evaluation: A Systematic Approach, Seventh Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Roberts, E., Cummings, J. & Nelson, K. (2005). A review of economic evaluations of community mental health care. Medical Care Research and Review, 62(5), 503-543. Wolff, N. & Pogorzelski, W. (2005). Measuring the effectiveness of mental health courts: Challenges and recommendations. Psychology, Public Policy and Law, 11(4), 539-569. Read More