The Measurement Group

Improving outcomes in health, behavioral health & social services through applied social research

Evaluation of Programs for Older Adults

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The Measurement Group works with a range of programs that address the needs of an aging population.

  • TMG evaluates programs designed to increase access to quality care for all groups of older adults.
  • TMG works with programs addressing medical, social, and support needs of the elderly.
  • TMG evaluates workforce development programs that increase the number and skills of providers working with older adults.
  • TMG evaluations document the processes of innovative service models so that successful programs can be replicated.
  • TMG evaluations measure outcomes at the individual, program, and systems levels.
  • TMG evaluations document the implementation of best practices in services for older adults.

Selected Examples

The Archstone Foundation, through its Elder Abuse & Neglect Initiative, funded projects throughout California to develop, implement, and disseminate strategies for providing services to identify, prevent, and minimize the impact of elder abuse and neglect.

Two initiatives of the Hartford Institute at New York University, Resourcefully Enhancing Aging in Specialty Nursing and Nurse Competence in Aging, work with specialty nurse associations to improve nursing competencies in caring for older adults.

The Hartford Gerontological Nursing Initiative used a variety of strategies to increase the supply of geriatric nurses and the quality of care they provide by enhancing geriatric nursing training programs (funded by the John A. Hartford Foundation).

Evaluation of Mental Health Programs

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The Measurement Group works with a range of mental health programs for underserved populations. Our senior staff are strongly committed to evaluating and disseminating effective mental health service models.

  • TMG evaluates programs designed to increase access to quality mental health services.
  • TMG works with programs specializing in treatment for persons with mental health and other co-occurring disorders.
  • TMG evaluates programs that aim to increase the capacity of service providers to meet evolving needs in mental health.
  • TMG evaluations document the processes of innovative mental health services so that successful programs can be replicated.
  • TMG evaluations measure outcomes at the client, program, and systems levels.
  • TMG evaluations document the implementation of best practices in mental health.

Evaluation of Programs for Substance Use Disorders

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The Measurement Group works with a range of substance abuse treatment and prevention programs. TMG was awarded the Distinguished Contribution Award from the California Association of County Alcohol and Drug Program Administrators for its work in establishing and evaluating innovative models of service care throughout the State of California.

  • TMG evaluates programs designed to increase access to quality substance abuse treatment and prevention services.
  • TMG works with programs specializing in treatment for persons with co-occurring substance abuse and other co-occurring disorders.
  • TMG evaluates programs that aim to increase the capacity of service providers to provide state-of-the-art substance abuse interventions.
  • TMG evaluations document the processes of innovative substance abuse services so that successful programs can be replicated.
  • TMG evaluations measure outcomes at the client, program, and systems levels.
  • TMG evaluates substance abuse programs for general and specific populations, including women, families, and youth.

Selected Examples

PROTOTYPES implemented an innovative process improvement project to strengthen access and retention in substance abuse treatment, as part of the Network for the Improvement of Addiction Treatment (supported by a partnership of CSAT and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation).

Since 1990, The Measurement Group has worked with a number of community-based programs to evaluate and disseminate model substance abuse treatment programs for women and children (various federal, state, local, and private funders).

Two rural-frontier counties in Northern California (Lassen & Plumas) collaborated to develop an integrated substance abuse prevention and treatment system for adolescents and their families (funded by CSAT).

Evaluation of Healthcare Programs

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The Measurement Group works with a range of healthcare programs for high-need and vulnerable populations. We specialize in the evaluation of programs that provide direct services, as well as initiatives for building infrastructure and affecting systems change.

  • TMG evaluates programs designed to increase access to quality healthcare services.
  • TMG works with programs specializing in treatment and prevention of major health conditions such as HIV/AIDS, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.
  • TMG evaluates healthcare workforce development programs that aim to increase the capacity of providers to meet evolving needs.
  • TMG evaluations document the processes of innovative healthcare programs so that successful programs can be replicated.
  • TMG evaluations measure outcomes at the patient, program, and systems levels.
  • TMG evaluations document the implementation of best practices in healthcare.

How is program evaluation like tennis?

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Image courtesy of nixxphotography at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Image courtesy of nixxphotography at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

How is program evaluation like tennis?

I’ve been playing tennis on and off for as long as I can remember. I took a long break while my son was younger and my free time was a lot more limited. Now that I’m an empty nester and working on some fitness goals, it seemed like a good time to pick up my racquet again. But once I got on the court, I discovered that not only was I pretty rusty, my recall of how to hit basic strokes was off — even though I’d had plenty of practice and repetition in the past.

So how is program evaluation like tennis? It’s the issue of “drift.” With my tennis game, I was hitting my forehand shot how I thought I remembered it was supposed to be done. However, I quickly discovered with a new instructor that I had a lot to re-learn! In evaluation, we design protocols and procedures for collecting data, we train our data collectors, and off they go. However, without regularly checking in with data collectors, doing refresher trainings, and conducting data quality assurance, it’s all too easy for people to drift in how closely they follow data collection procedures. Moreover, if a project has multiple data collectors and each drifts with respect to protocols in different ways, there is no longer a consistent protocol being followed. This can lead to systematic differences in how data are collected by different people.

How to minimize data collection drift? Open and frequent communication, monitoring, and periodic training for data collectors. All are important parts of the evaluation process to maximize data quality. It’s important to ensure that everyone involved has a consistent understanding of how to implement data collection, how to address unexpected situations as they come up, and to make adjustments to make sure our measurement tools are working as intended – just like the tennis player who wants to make sure she hits the ball where she wants it to go instead of into the net.

PS – I recently read a blog asking how statistics are like knitting (and of course I can’t find the link to share here, sorry). The upshot of that post was that you get better with practice. The same can be said about program evaluation – and tennis.