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Efficiency in behavior-changing social programs: the case of in-home child abuse prevention.
Abstract
Publicly funded behavior-changing programs--specifically, an in-home child abuse prevention program--are widely perceived as inefficient. To know whether these perceptions are valid and to improve efficiency where necessary, administrators and policy makers must know what efficiency is, how to gauge the efficiency of programs, what knowledge is needed to improve program efficiency, and how to overcome organizational obstacles to the use of that knowledge. To elucidate some of the issues and problems involved, a study examined the efficiency of a prototypical nationally mandated, publicly funded behavior-changing program and discussed the implications of the findings for behavior-changing programs in general. In-home child abuse prevention programs attempt to prevent the repetition of abuse and neglect of children referred to children's protective services agencies, without placing the children in foster care. These programs provide an excellent example for analysis because they are perhaps the most important child abuse prevention programs in the United Sates, and they possess many of the features typical of behavior-changing programs. (This issue of Administration in Social Work contains 11 articles on efficiency and the social services.)
Journal
(1991)
vol15
no1-2
pages105-18
Categories
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Evaluation and Information Management
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Accountability and Efficiency
