HOMELESS SOLUTIONS PROGRAM

Outcome Evaluation on the Effectiveness of Marylands Homeless Solutions Program

DEPARTMENT

INSTRUCTOR NAME

March 9th 2023

Methods Description

This an outcome-based evaluation seeking to assess Marylands Homeless Solutions Programs (HSP) effectiveness in realizing its intended objectives (Schalock, 2013). The HSPs concept map indicates that the program seeks to reduce the number of homeless people in the state, increase participants awareness about financial literacy, and increase participants access to mental health professionals. This evaluation pursues three objectives: to assess whether the HSP has effectively contributed to reduced homelessness in the state of Maryland, to determine whether participation in the program increases knowledge about financial literacy, and to determine whether participation results in improved mental health for participants. The variables of interest for the first objective are homelessness rates and the number of HSP program beneficiaries who have managed to secure and maintain stable housing. The variables of interest in objective two are knowledge about budgeting, borrowing, saving, and investing (Dewi et al., 2020). More specifically, the evaluation seeks to determine whether the number of homeless people in Maryland has declined as a result of the HSP, whether the participants report improved mental health, and whether program participants are more knowledgeable about budgeting, borrowing, saving, and investing as a result of taking part in the program.

To realize its objectives, the evaluation adopts a pre-post interventional research design, which involves measuring variables of interest before and after an intervention in the same group of participants (Aggarwal & Ranganathan, 2019). The basic premise of the pre and post-test design is that a variable of interest is measured before an intervention is administered and again after, allowing the evaluator to take note of trends and measure the extent of change at different points in time (Aggarwal & Ranganathan, 2019). The pre-post design is more appropriate for studying changes in knowledge and mental health status as it provides a means to look at where a participant starts and comparing it to where they end. The pre-post-test design is the most appropriate for this particular evaluation as it provides a means to assess how participants mental health status as well as knowledge and attitudes about financial literacy change over time as a result of taking part in the HSP. Further, the design provides a means to compare homelessness levels before the start of the HSP and after to determine whether the program has been effective in reducing homelessness in the state.

The HSP commits to reducing homelessness by providing funding and other technical support to continua of care to support homeless service programs and shelters in local communities. To assess the programs effectiveness, the evaluators will select three homeless people crisis shelter homes that have benefited from HSP funding over the past three years to take part in the study. To ensure similarity among shelter homes, the evaluators will only consider homes that have been in existence for between five and ten years, are of comparable size in terms of beneficiary numbers, and have the HSP as their only source of funding. This will eliminate the effect of other contextual and organizational factors that could affect how participants fair in the home. The three homes will be selected conveniently based on their proximity to the evaluator to cut down on costs.

Upon obtaining the relevant approvals to carry out the study, the evaluator will select ten participants from each home who were admitted into the...…literacy. The outcome of interest is knowledge about budgeting, borrowing, saving, and investing. Five interviewers will be engaged to conduct the interviews with the thirty HSP participants (10 from each of the three shelters). The face-to-face interviews will be guided by an interview guide and take between 25 and 30 minutes to complete for each participant. The guide will contain seven questions spanning around the process of developing budgets, the benefits of budgeting, strategies for proper saving, and investment options available when one has little capital.

The interviews will take place at the shelters where the participants are based. Data will be collected twice at the start of the evaluation and at the end of the sixth month. This form of pre and post-test design provides a means to study changes in participants knowledge and attitudes towards financial literacy, which is crucial in ensuring that one maintains a stable home and avoids mental health issues. The interviewers will record participants responses in an audiotape that will be transcribed and coded to identify salient themes pertaining to budgeting, saving, and investing. To enhance accuracy, the data will be coded using proprietary qualitative software. The codes will then be used to identify salient themes, which will be summarized into a report detailing the levels of knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions around financial literacy. Improvements in knowledge and attitudes will indicate that the HSP has been effective in enhancing financial literacy among participants.

In conclusion, this evaluation seeks to assess how well the HSP reduces homelessness rates in the state, improves participants mental health status, and increases financial literacy levels among participants. Using a mixed methods approach, the evaluation will contribute to the existing literature by showing whether…