Measuring service delivery in a placement prevention program: An application to an ecological model

In child welfare, there are numerous outcome studies, while the number of process studies have paled in comparison. The few process studies that have been conducted are primarily case studies and the findings are not applicable to other types of programs. Based on the limitation in the current knowledge base, the Service Delivery Tracking Log was developed by a family-based prevention program to assist workers in documenting various service elements and in assessing treatment fidelity. The program under study followed ecological principles of practice as defined by Whittaker, Schinke and Gilchrist (1986), which framed the content and the structure of services. When caseworkers used the new service instrument instead of narrative case notes to document services delivered, researchers and program administrators were able to assess, quantitatively, the extent to which these principles were enacted, and where the program had drifted from service tenets. The service instrument is presented and described, and descriptive analyses illustrate potential use to determine treatment fidelity and implement the program evaluation process within a child welfare context. (C) 2003 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.