THE EVALUATION PHASE OF SYSTEMIC FAMILY THERAPY*

The initial, evaluation phase of family therapy is of decisive importance within the systemic perspective. Contacting a therapist is always a complex action for a family. The therapist's evaluation must include the possibility that continued contact may influence the family negatively and limit their potential for change. If there appears to be a logical context in which continued therapy can be justified, it will be necessary to use the first three or four sessions to collect essential data and to organize them meaningfully. It is essential to clarify the circular interaction that is maintaining the symptom, as well as the presence of specific family structures and traditions, and the kind of relationships the family attempts to establish with the therapist. On the basis of this information, the therapist can build models of the family's functioning. These models, according to general system theory, make possible logical intervention in complicated, living systems, without distorting them by artificially splitting them into their component parts. Two models that are important to our treatment perspective—the phenomenological and the mythical—are presented.     

Method and Measurement in Sociology,fifty years on

In this article, we revisit Aaron Cicourel’s classic text Method and Measurement in Sociology. We consider the legacy and influence of the book in the context of the continued and urgent significance of such properly methodological inquiry. We examine, in particular, the ways in which Cicourel’s concern with decisions of measurement – as a situated, contingent and unavoidably practical accomplishment – makes a critical contribution to the understanding of measurement within sociology and serves as continued inspiration for the sociology of contemporary measurement practices in the context of proliferating regimes of institutional performance measurement and league tables, risk assessment and audit. We recommend a critical engagement with this text in the sociological examination of social inquiry – avoiding both overly subjective interpretations of social phenomena and the arbitrary application of crude categories to complex forms of organisation – and in sociology’s continued warrant to critically engage with the practices in and through which social reality is (re)produced.     

Ethical problems in program evaluation: Advice for trapped evaluators

This paper argues that ethical problems in program evaluation are increased when conflicting or incompatible evaluation models are applied concurrently. Three models are illustrated: an Amelioration Model, generating better information for a program's own decision makers; an Accountability Model, focusing on public data disclosure and citizen participation in evaluation; and an Advocacy Model, in which the evaluation is designed to advance the program's interests in the competition for resources. Ethical problems inherent in each model, and arising from combining models are presented, along with case examples and discussion. The authors suggest several directions that program evaluators can consider to reduce their vulnerability to ethical problems.     

The evaluation and monitoring of a Medicaid second surgical opinion program.

The evaluation of newly implemented and controversial programs often present real problems for the evaluator. When a program is accompanied by a legislatively mandated evaluation, the issues become even more acute. The evaluator, wanting to impact on policy, must strike a balance between the adherence to principles of scientific inquiry, yet be responsive to the needs of policymakers. This paper describes the evaluation and follow-up monitoring of a recently established second opinion program for Medicaid recipients. The program was to terminate in 17 months unless extended by the Wisconsin Legislature. The evaluation found, among other things, marked reductions in the use of surgical services after implementation of the second opinion program. Based in large part on the evaluation, the program was extended with a provision for continued monitoring. The paper discusses the factors that contributed to the evaluation having a major impact on the decision to extend the program.     

The network dynamics of co-offending careers

Despite the long-standing acknowledgement that crime is a group phenomenon, little research treats co-offending as a dynamic network process. This study analyses the individual and network processes responsible for long-lasting criminal relationships using co-offending dyads from eight years of arrest records in Chicago. Results from proportional hazard models suggest that homophily with respect to age, race, gender, geographic proximity, and gang identity lead to sustained partnerships. Victimization increases the probability of continued co-offending, while the victimization of one’s associates dissuade continued collaboration. Supra-dyadic processes (centrality, transitivity) influence the likelihood of continued co-offending. Results are discussed regarding opportunities and turning points.     

Explaining how unexploded ordnance clearance enhances livelihoods in the Lao PDR

BackgroundFollowing violent conflict, the continued presence of landmines and unexploded ordnance pose a barrier to rebuilding livelihoods. Mine action removes these explosive remnants of conflict to enable communities to safely return contaminated land to productive use. There is limited understanding, however, of how, why, in what context and in what respects mine action contributes to livelihoods. Yet, such information is required for effective resource allocation, checking underlying program assumptions, understanding benefits and potential harms.MethodsThe evaluation was undertaken in the Lao People's Democratic Republic. It used an interpretive case study design and applied the principles of realist evaluation. Program staff and local government authorities were interviewed (N = 37) and program beneficiaries. In total, 38 individual interviews with program beneficiaries were conducted and eighteen focus group interviews (9 with males, 9 with females), each with 6–9 participants.ResultsThe evaluation identified two main mechanisms through which the program ‘worked’: (1) communication pre- and post-clearance and (2) the delivery of the product (cleared land).ConclusionThe realist approach helped to refine the program theory, highlighted the role of self- and task-efficacy and community communication, assisted in identifying contextual factors that influence outcomes and suggested a revision of expected outcomes.     

The use of evaluation models for decision making: Application to the community anti-crime program

Evaluations are typically designed to provide useful information, including measures of program effectiveness. Although this information is intended to be useful, the general literature on evaluations suggests that instances in which evaluations are explicitly used for decision making are rare. This article discusses the use of decision-theoretic evaluation models, and their applicability in practice as well as in principle. A case study is presented from the evaluation of LEAA's Community Anti-Crime Program, in which a decision analysis based on a decision-theoretic evaluation model influenced a programmatic decision which arose during the conduct of the evaluation.     

Avoiding evaluation cooptation. Lessons from a renal dialysis evaluation.

An evaluation of the impact of terminating contracts to transport low-income patients for renal dialysis demonstrates how evaluators may become apologists for management and conduct studies too narrow for effective decision making. The evaluation found that patients continued to receive treatment; their death rates had not increased. Changes in their economic and emotional status were not studied; consequently, the evaluators erroneously concluded that the clients had not been seriously harmed. The article reviews the process the evaluation used. The authors conclude that to avoid cooptation, evaluators need independent information available through conducting and analyzing pilot studies and meeting with program constituents. To avoid overly narrow studies, the next level of management should participate in their design. To use the information effectively, evaluators need to see themselves as advisors rather than technicians.     

Reviews

A multitude of influences have affected the development of social work education, one of the earliest of which was the settlement movement in British inner cities. This article explores the early impact of the settlements on social work education and presents the results of a survey of current settlements and their relationship with UK social work. Ideas from the settlement movement have continued to fertilise British social policy and community development practice but their numbers and influence have waned. In contrast, British social work and social services organisations exert a major influence on settlements both directly and indirectly. As part of the longest established sections of the voluntary sector within the UK, the settlement movement's survival may also offer suggestions about the organic development of welfare organisations which are of wider relevance in a rapidly changing social environment.     

Image repair in President Bush's April 2004 news conference

As the war in Iraq heated up in March and April of 2004 and casualties continued to climb, President George W. Bush's reputation continued the downward spiral it had experienced during the past year (from 71% approval to 49%) as more and more voters questioned his policies and fitness for office. He responded to this situation by holding only his third prime time press conference on April 13, 2004.     

Gamesmanship for internal evaluators: Knowing when to “hold 'em” and when to “fold 'em”

This article discusses the ethical conflicts between an internal evaluator's altruistic social reform motivation and an organization's practical survival motivation. The internal evaluator might encounter (a) pressure to downplay negative and emphasize positive findings; (b) reinforcement for nonthreatening, routine evaluation activities; (c) greater interest in making the evaluation unit visible than in using evaluation results; or (d) reduced access to privileged information.     

Prerequisites of EAP Evaluation:

This chapter's main contention is that EAP evaluators, coordinators and administrators need to spend more time in thoughtfully planning EAP evaluations as such activities directly influence the quality of any subsequent evaluation. The chapter outlines four prerequisites to be considered in this regard. These are: (1) a sincere commitment to evaluate the program, (2) answering the why, when, and how of the evaluation; (3) the goals and objectives of the EAP require specification; and (4) information should be in retrievable form. These prerequisites are discussed within the context of a cooperative planning process between the administration, the EAP coordinator and EAP evaluator(s), and are described as to how they may directly influence the EAP evaluation.     

Adapting the jury trial for program evaluation: A report of an experience

A portion of the graduate program in clinical community psychology at SUNY Buffalo was subjected to a jury trial as a form of program evaluation. The theory of the trial as evaluation, the problems of implementation, and a posttrial evaluation are discussed. The trial, while time-consuming, especially in its pretrial phases, has the potential for presenting a dramatic picture of a program through the medium of human testimony. The jury was able to arrive at clear decisions on questions put to it, with a high degree of confidence. Decision makers accepted some of the jury's conclusions, and subjective evidence suggests that many of the controversial issues which generated the trial were resolved for the group by the procedure. The posttrial evaluation revealed limitations, such as evidence which was not presented at the trial. The experience proved useful for purposes of interdisciplinary education, providing another lens through which the evaluation problem could be viewed.     

Revealed versus hidden attributes as determinants of percieved product quality

Consumers' quality perception being interpreted as an overall product evaluation process, attribute importance is introduced as a mediating variable between the quality judgment and informational value of cues. Furthermore, all product attribute being classified into two different categories, revealed vs. hidden attributes, it is hypothesized that extrinsic cues can influence consumers' product evaluation only on the hidden quality attributes but not on the revealed quality attributes.     

Childbearing Strategies Among the Uighur Urban Educated Elite in Ürümqi

Uighur families in Ürümqi, the capital of Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region in Northwest China, have undergone tremendous changes since 1949 and the start of People's Republic of China era. In the first decade of the PRC era Ürümqi experienced tremendous population growth among both the Han and Uighur population as well as going through an intense industrialisation process initiated by the central government. As urbanisation and industrialisation have continued until the present Uighur families have responded to these changes by initiating childbearing strategies that take into account government policy as well as their own interests. William Goode's convergence theory of family characteristics has helped conceptualise how families across diverse cultures change their decisionmaking strategies over the course of the transition to modernity. Uighur couples have had increasingly fewer children over the decades, based on factors they share in common with other modernising societies such as the late age of marriage, the increased power of women to regulate their births, the expense of raising children, and the difficulties of finding childcare. Goode's theory, however, does not account for the influence of a strong state which has proved to have a major influence in the decision of many Uighur couples to stop at one child.     

Correlates of honor ratings in a clinical clerkship employing a faculty forum evaluation system

5he purpose of this study was to determine whether or not suspected variables affected a surgery clerk's chances of being awarded an honor rating. Findings indicated a significant relationship between a student receiving an honor rating and his or her preceptor's predetermined level of student advocacy, the number of completed patient interview and physical examination write-ups, and final examination scores. There was no significant relationship found between honor ratings and the preceptor's status, the sequence in which the student was discussed or the length of time spent discussing the student at the final evaluation meeting, or the number of clinical faculty present at the meeting. These results lend support to the faculty forum evaluation approach, but suggest a need for further scrutiny of some influencing variables to ensure all students are fairly considered and honor ratings judiciously awarded.     

Comparative influence of political, cost/benefit, and statistical information on administrative decision making.

The influence of three types of evaluation information was studied in simulated decisionmaking situations within a community mental health center setting. Twelve administrators reviewed one of two decision problems (direct services or indirect services funding) and were then presented political, cost/benefit and statistical information. After each presentation, the administrators rated the importance of each type of information for decision making. Only the cost/benefit data were rated as significantly influencing their decisions. The influence of each type was not dependent upon the decision problem, nor to length of time in administrative positions. The results were interpreted in terms of “who says what, how, and to whom. ” If evaluators desire a greater impact on the decision making behavior of community health administrators, they should consider employing a pay off-based evaluation strategy and providing cost/benefit information.