Application of Community Health Project - Case Study Example

Application: Community Health Project, Part 3—Outcomes and Evaluation After the implementation of the Cognitive-BehavioralTherapy to help in offering counseling services to persons convicted of neglecting and abusing children, there will be a need to evaluate the program and its outcomes so as to determine its sustainability. The Determination of the success of a counseling program has long been a concern for all counselors. This paper seeks to evaluate outcomes of the program so as to determine its sustainability and determine possible ways of improving the program in areas where it might be unsuccessful. Application: Community Health Project, Part 3 – Outcomes and Evaluation Introduction What is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy? Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is a form of Leadership theory or model that is used as a psychotherapy treatment that is structured to work within a limited time and can be helpful in treating a wide range of various psychiatric disorders in both children and grownup (Whitfield & Davidson, 2007). Application of the Therapy in the Program The therapy can be applied in the psychological treatment of child abuse and neglect offenders who seem to be suffering from severe bouts of depression that end up causing them to involuntarily subject children under their care to neglect and child abuse. The application of Cognitive - Behavior therapy as a leadership theory model be of great benefit as it will also double up as treatment in the treatment of children who have suffered from both neglect and child abuse. Description of the model and Processes that will be used in Evaluation of the Project The main model that will be applied and used to carry out the program’s evaluation is a Meta - model that has been carefully selected after having been carefully scrutinized using the House 1978 taxonomy evaluation model. The model seeks to ask a series of sex questions before a model of evaluation can be chosen, these questions are (Mines, Gressard & Daniels, 1982): 1. The first question asked in House’s 1978 taxonomy evaluation model is what is the main purpose of the said evaluation? 2. What are the questions that are intended to be answered by the evaluation? 3. What are the general assumptions that the evaluation will be making as it is carried out? 4. Who is the evaluation’s intended audience? 5. What methods can best be applied and be used in obtaining answers to all these questions asked? 6. Does the evaluator or counselor have the necessary technical capabilities and knowledge that would be relevant and beneficial in helping him carry out the stated evaluation? What are the Criteria that will be used to Indicate Whether the Project Was Successful or Not? The success of the programs implementation will be based on its effectiveness as evaluated on four main critical criterions. These Criterions are: Time criterion, Monetary Criterion, effectiveness criterion and client satisfaction criterion. Time Criterion The average duration of the therapy time period has been set at an average of 12 weeks although the therapy sessions may last for up to 20 weeks depending on the severity of patient’s condition. The sessions are set to last for an average of about 45 minutes although they can extend to a maximum of one hour. This is to ensure maximum concentration on the therapy by both the patient and the therapist and avoid burn outs on the part of either party. This time period can be reduced in the event that the client displays signs of experiencing difficulty in concentration, is fidgety or extremely restless or if the client is socially anxious and is finding it difficult to sit in a room with the therapist. In the event that a patient is socially anxious, the therapist can start of by creating shorter sessions, which would be, lengthened with time as the patient gets to be more and more comfortable with the therapist (Simmons & Griffiths, 2009). Time Criterion Project Objective If the client displays considerable improvements within this duration of time, then this will be considered as success on the part of the program and will go a long way towards promoting the attainment of Healthy People 2020 Objectives. The objectives in Healthy people 2020 are to try and attain at least a 10% reduction in the levels of nonfatal child maltreatment by the year 2020. These statistics currently average at about 9.4 victims per every 1,000 children who are currently aged below the age of 18 years, these statistics were reported in the year 2008. In order to attain this goal, the program will be designed to try and target a rate of 8.5 child maltreatment victims per every 1,000 children who are currently 17 years of age and below (Healthy People 2020). Monetary Criterion The use of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy has been proven to be more cost effective as compared to other methods of therapy offered to patients such as the sole use of therapy drugs like nefazodone. When combined with drugs, the success rate has been known to rate at around 85% as opposed to the 55% rate that is achieved by the use of therapy drugs alone. These findings were found when studies were conducted on 680 patients. (Rupert, Blecke & Renflow, 2006). With the increased rates of success in treatment, patients will be taking a shorter time in receiving the treatment which will directly translate to cheaper costs of treatment. Monetary Criterion Project Objective The extra funds saved could then be used to further expand the program so as to meet the Healthy People 2020 Objective of a 10 percent reduction in cases of child maltreatment deaths by the year 2020. The current rates for child maltreatment deaths according to data collected in 2008 stand at 2.4 deaths in every 100,000 cases of the children sampled. In order to achieve the 10% reduction, the program will focus on trying to reduce this level to around 2.2 deaths per every 1000 children (Healthy people 2020). Effectiveness Criterion This criterion will be achieved if the project manages to attain all the goals that have been set prior to its implementation. Effectiveness Criterion Project Objective The project should be able to achieve a success rate of at least a 10% reduction in child abuse and neglect prevalence rate statistics, in the state of Ohio. This will be in tandem with the United States’ National Healthy People 2020 objectives (Healthy people 2020). In order to reduce the current high rates of children’s exposure to violence, statistics collected in 2008 show that, the program should seek to attain an exposure rate of 54.5 percent baseline against the current 60.6 percent base line. If this is attained, there will be an effective reduction in children’s exposure rate to violence of about 10% by the year 2020 (Healthy People 2020). Client Satisfaction Criterion The program should be readily acceptable by all patients who will be undergoing through it so as for it to be successful. It is easier to collect evaluation data from satisfied clients as supposed to collecting data from unsatisfied clients. Appropriate Methods of Evaluation Data collection The most appropriate method of data collection for the program would be the use of forms and questionnaires to obtain information from the therapists participating in the administration of the program. The data would be collected directly from the psychotherapists are they come into direct contact with clients and hence are best suited for the task of data collection. This will also help ensure that the forms and questionnaires are completely and correctly filled so as to avoid wastage if filling is left to clients who might not have the relevant know how on how to fill the forms correctly resulting in incorrectly filled forms (Phillips & Stawarski, 2008). Rationale of Using forms and Questionnaires One of the Key benefits of using forms and questionnaires is that a person filling in a questionnaire enjoys a greater feeling of anonymity; because of this a person is more inclined to provide honest answers to the questions. This method is also quite inexpensive and less time consuming as compared to other methods of data collection such as conducting interviews (Boswell & Cannon, 2007). What are the Types of Data that require to be gathered from the Survey and Questionnaires? Some of the types of data that require to be gathered from the survey include: Age of the Respondent: This is crucial as it will help out in planning the implementation of future surveys. Location: The survey will need to determine which geographical locations in Ohio seem to be experiencing the highest rates of both neglect and abuse of children. Race: The survey will need to determine whether children of certain races seem to suffer from higher cases of maltreatment and abuse as compared with the other races. Gender of the Offender: This will be used to help determine which gender has the most number of persons who maltreat and abuse children. Number of Sessions taken for Successful Completion of Treatment: This will be helpful, when it comes to calculating average duration of a treatment period. The information obtained will be used in the betterment of the whole program. Average Income: This data will be used in the determination of which social class reports the highest numbers of maltreatment and abuse of their children. Clients’ comments: This will be useful in obtaining honest opinions from the clients concerning the effectiveness of the program. What are the Possible Challenges that Might Affect the Program? One of the main possible challenges that might be experienced in the program is that collection of data by using questionnaires and forms is that observations are often limited to the answers that are provided in the questionnaire or form. This causes the whole process to become rigid as once the questionnaires have been printed and distributed, the original questions must be maintained throughout the project (Brown, 2000). How can This Challenge be overcome? The problems arising from this challenge can be solved by the use of online forms and questionnaires whose questions can be easily changed and adapted to suit the client, demographic area or even to provide new insight on the program. How can the Intervention Be Sustained over Time? I would link with lobby organizations to try and lobby for the passing of legislation that would seek for the adoption of the program into the local rehabilitation process. Offenders would then be required by law to undergo the program and this will enable the program to help in reducing the rates of maltreatment and abuse of children by an average of 10% or more by the year 2020 (Happy People, 2020). What are the Vital Elements required to keep the Program Going Successfully? The key, vital element required to ensure the sustainability of the program is adequate funding. This can be achieved once the program is adopted into local rehabilitation processes as it will receive funding from the state. Another vital element that would be of great importance to ensure the sustainability of the program would be efforts should be made to encourage therapists to use cognitive – behavioral therapy in conjunction with the administration of medicine. This would ensure better results and promote the sustainability of the program (Rupert, Blecke & Renflow, 2006). References: Boswell C. & Cannon S. (2007). Introduction to nursing research: incorporating evidence-based practice. Sudbury, Mass.; Toronto: Jones and Bartlett Publishers. Brown, J. (2000). Using surveys in language programs. New York: Cambridge University Press. Healthy People 2020 Summary of Objectives, Retrieved on June 30th, 2012, from: http://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topicsobjectives2020/pdfs/Injury.pdf. Mines, R., Gressard, C. & Daniels, H., (1982). Evaluation in the Student Services: A Metamodel Phillips, P. & Stawarski C. (2008). Data collection: planning for and collecting all types of data. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Rupke, S., Blecke, D. & Renfrow, M. (2006). Cognitive Therapy for Depression. Retrieved on May 30th, 2012 from, http://www.aafp.org/afp/2006/0101/p83.html. Simmons, J. & Griffiths R. (2009). CBT for beginners Los Angeles; London: SAGE. Whitfield, G. & Davidson, A., (2007). Cognitive behavioral therapy explained. Radcliffe, cop. Read More