NCJ Number
157386
Date Published
1992
Length
41 pages
Annotation
This monograph presents an overview of various types of needs assessment for substance-abuse services.
Abstract
The report includes a brief history, discussions of issues and problems, and a sketch of approaches and models. It also provides practical guidance for the State Alcohol and Drug Agency practitioner faced with decisions about whether and what to do in the name of needs assessment. One chapter advises that the topic of formally estimating and assessing need has been the subject of intermittent discussion and debate for more than 20 years. Another chapter begins a reformulation of needs assessment by examining a basic set of issues and problems. It advises that there are a number of alternative and possibly competing reasons or motives for undertaking formal needs assessment, including to improve program planning and resource allocation, to generate information for advocacy purposes, to respond to external mandates, and to justify decisions already made as a form of ex post facto accountability. An array of various functions is proposed for formal needs assessment. One chapter describes the purposes and logic of a set of 12 basic alternative models or approaches to service needs, demands, and problems; selected advantages and disadvantages of each model are listed. The concluding chapter summarizes, consolidates, and extends the guidance mentioned or implied earlier in the report. The appendixes contain a set of selected suggested readings, a list of national data sources of possible relevance to needs assessment, and a list of interviewees consulted for the report.