A survey of program evaluation practices in family-centered pediatric rehabilitation settings

•The respondents’ rehabilitation centers do not engage in all forms of evaluation.•Few centers have an employee whose primary responsibility is evaluation.•Less than one in five survey respondents have formal training in evaluation.•There is a need to incorporate family-centered behaviors into evalu...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Evaluation and program planning 2014-04, Vol.43, p.1-8
Main Authors: Moreau, Katherine A., Cousins, J. Bradley
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Canadian
Evaluators
Family-centered service
Paediatrics
Pediatrics
Perceptions
Program Evaluation
Project evaluation
Quality of care
Quality of service
Rehabilitation
Rehabilitation Centers
Survey
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:•The respondents’ rehabilitation centers do not engage in all forms of evaluation.•Few centers have an employee whose primary responsibility is evaluation.•Less than one in five survey respondents have formal training in evaluation.•There is a need to incorporate family-centered behaviors into evaluation activities. Program evaluation is becoming increasingly important in pediatric rehabilitation settings that adhere to the family-centered service (FCS) philosophy. However, researchers know little about the specific evaluation activities occurring in these settings or the extent to which evaluators/service providers uphold FCS in their program evaluation activities. Through a questionnaire survey, this study aimed to document evaluators/service providers’ perceptions of the level of program evaluation occurring in their Canadian pediatric rehabilitation centers. It also investigated the extent to which evaluators/service providers perceive program evaluation practices at their centers to be consistent with the FCS context of Canadian pediatric rehabilitation settings. The findings suggested that the amount of evaluation activities occurring within the respondents’ centers is variable; that the majority of individuals working in program evaluation do not have formal training in it; and that the respondents’ centers have limited resources for evaluation. The study also showed that staff members believe their centers’ evaluation activities are somewhat consistent with FCS philosophy, but that improvements are needed.
ISSN:0149-7189
1873-7870
DOI:10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2013.10.002