Evaluate Practice with Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities
Practice Behaviors:
9.1 – Select and use appropriate methods for evaluation of outcomes
9.2 – Apply knowledge of human behavior and the social environment, person-in-environment, and other multidisciplinary theoretical frameworks in the evaluation of outcomes
9.3 – Critically analyze, monitor, and evaluate intervention and program processes and outcomes
9.4 – Apply evaluation findings to improve practice effectiveness at the micro, mezzo, and macro levels
Evaluation is a key component to any program and as a social work student, it is important for me to use evaluation in my practices. Within my classes, I have had the chance to evaluate myself within my pseudo-interviews. During my practicum, I have been able to evaluate my progress and see what areas I need to work on. In all aspects of life, it is important to evaluate the effectiveness of everything so improvement and change can take place.
Evidence 1 (Class): During my Practice with Communities and Organizations (SOCW-455) class, I was able to write an organization evaluation paper based on Room in the Inn. One of my group members worked in Room in the Inn as their practicum so they had a good understanding of how the organization ran and what potential issues that they were facing. One of the issues that were presented was a disconnection between staff members and clients. Clients reported being treated unfairly and staff members expressed that they did not feel that clients were doing their share of the work. For the paper, my group and I were able to evaluate the issue, create a hypothetical intervention strategy and evaluate the success or failure of the intervention plan. To view this paper, please click here.
Evidence 2 (Field): After speaking with my task supervisor, she wanted me to create an internal evaluation tool to see how clients felt that the Resettlement and Placement (R&P) program assisted them. To be able to create a tool that accurately gathered the data that my task supervisor was looking for, I interviewed all the case managers at Bridge Refugee Services. I broke down the Resettlement and Placement program into five main categories and asked the case managers what information would help them improve the program. All of the case managers replied that they wanted to address changes that they could work on. For example, if clients did not like the bus system, there is not much that Bridge could do to assist in that arena, but we could help by providing more thorough bus training orientations. After consulting with the task supervisor, I was able to create a questionnaire that addressed the main issues within each category so that case managers would be able to update the current program to address the needed changes. To view this questionnaire, please click here.
Evidence 3 (Additional): For Interviewing Skills (SOCW-213), one of the assignments was to create a process recording for each major pseudo-client interview. In review of the transcribed interview, we were required to name the skill that was used and evaluate its effectiveness. If we felt that a specific skill could be improved, or the wording changed, we would write the verbatim correction of what we would have said had we the chance to change it. This evaluation of our skills helped to provide a basis for improvement in the following interview since I was able to visibly see what I needed to change. To view the process recording for the 10-minute interview, please click here.
Skills Used: Some of the main skills that I relied on for this competency was writing skills that I learned in my Critical Thinking in Academic Reading And Writing 1 and 2 (ENGL-101 & ENGL-102). I was also able to use the skills that I learned from Interviewing Skills (SOCW-213) when asking questions and creating the evaluation tool.
Knowledge Used: I relied on the knowledge that my Social Work Practice with Communities and Organizations (SOCW-455, Interviewing Skills (SOCW-213), and Critical Thinking in Academic Reading And Writing 1 and 2 (ENGL-101 & ENGL-102). All of these classes, and more, have helped me evaluate an organization, write an efficient paper addressing the issues, and also creating an evaluation tool through the use of interviews.
Values Presented: One of the main values that can be seen is that of integrity and competence. In order to be able to fully understand if services provided to clients are efficient, we need to have the integrity to see what issues may be present and be competent in addressing changes that are needed.
Cognitive Processes Used: When working on the assignments for class, I was able to illustrate the changes that I felt needed to be implemented based on the evaluation. I was also given the opportunity to practice creating an evaluation tool to assist in analyzing data from clients. These skills have helped me to develop the skillset to evaluate programs, myself and intervention strategies.
Affective Processes Used: I felt that the self-evaluation of my interview helped to show which areas that I could tell were lacking. For example, during my interview, I was able to examine what could have been done better and to integrate my corrections in the future.
Theoretical Foundation: Amplification Hypothesis says that attitudes are hardened or softened based on how people approach the topic. More confidence is related to hardened attitudes and uncertainty weakens attitudes. In relation to evaluation, if a person is confident and proud of their intervention strategy, they are less likely to be able to see any flaws or issues with it. Their attitude has hardened to believe that there is nothing that needs to be fixed. For every program or intervention, it is important to treat it with uncertainty since that will soften the attitude of pride and confidence that there is no room for improvement. In my personal experience, treating everything with a dose of skepticism has helped me to evaluate myself and practice goals and interventions.