NCJ Number
82810
Journal
Evaluation Review Volume: 6 Issue: 2 Dated: (April 1982) Pages: 267-277
Date Published
1982
Length
11 pages
Annotation
A quantitative approach for conducting a process analysis of a social program is explained and applied to the evaluation of the functioning of a diversion program established to act an intermediary between the juvenile court and the youth service agencies in Memphis, Tenn.
Abstract
The Memphis-Metro Youth Diversion Project, funded by LEAA, is a brokering agency designed to coordinate and organize the community's social service delivery system for juveniles in need of help. The project's success depended on the effectiveness of its relationships with both the court and the youth-serving agencies in the Memphis community. The evaluation used an expectancy-value approach to measure the perceptions of agency staff members regarding desirable and actual characteristics of various agencies. All the diversion project personnel, the administrators of the Memphis and Shelby County Juvenile Court, the intake counselors and probation officers of the court, 30 representatives of the brokering youth services agencies, and the diversion project's advisory board completed the study questionnaire. Respondents generally agreed regarding what was valued or not valued as characteristics of youth-serving social agencies. For example, respondents agreed that having confidence in the program's director was a desirable program characteristic. Findings also indicated that both the court and agency personnel would rather deal with and through the diversion project than directly with each other. Thus, the diversion project is successfully operating as an ombudsman, intermediary, or clearinghouse in the community. The study findings have resulted in intragency and interagency workshops for confronting and dealing with differences in perceived and valued characteristics of different agencies. This quantitative approach is a highly successful procedure for addressing issues that directly affect a community's ability to redirect or expand existing social service resources. Eleven references are listed.