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Building the Knowledge Base of Nonprofit Management:
A Searchable Database
Evaluation in Care Programs: With Illustrations from Homemaker-Chore n California
Abstract
The purpose of social service evaluation is to generate information
decisionmakers need to improve program operations over time.
Maintenance or care programs, one major kind of social services
activity, have unique informational requirements. Identified are types
of information needed & methodology for acquiring it, illustrated
by the Homemaker-Chore Program in Calif (Final Report of the
Homemaker-Chore Study, Berkeley: U of California School of Social
Welfare, 1977) which covers five counties in the San Francisco Bay
Area. It is established that maximum service delivery is made more
possible through minimization of administrative costs. The importance
of client preferences in determining type & amount of service
delivery is stressed. Clients in the Homemaker-Chore Program were
asked what services they needed, keeping in mind that for budget
reasons, additional services would result in certain reductions. It
was found that once a service worker entered the home, clients already
had a direct chance to express needs. Quality of service provider in
terms of time allotment, concern, & variety of providers was
assessed with home interviews of "several hundred" clients,
in the form of simulation games to determine the relative preferred
proportion of time/provider competence for each service. Modified HA.
Journal
(1978)
vol2
no4
pages469-478
Categories
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Evaluation and Information Management
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Program Evaluation Strategies
