James Knickman & Paul Jellinek Four Lessons from Evaluating Controversial Programs

Children and Youth Services Review.

The research was aimed at determining the effects of arraigning clinical services to the middle school and high school students in light of the change of the high-risk behavior as well as the utilizing the basic health care services. There were 19 sites that were established in selected schools through a non-random selection process and the observation, monitoring and evaluation was done with several adjustments made in order to see the social impact of the availability of clinical services.

What is the impact of availing basic health care services like clinics in middle school and high school on their high-risk behaviors?

BACKGROUND

A strong evaluative approach was applied in the determining of the impacts of the basic health care clinics on the behavior of the youth and also to study the variance in their behavior as the years progressed. The approach was taken in the face of the often too high expectations that are put on the evaluation process and there was need to highlight the challenges that can face the evaluation process especially in light of controversial programs as was the case here. There was a set of selected 19 schools that would be used for the study and the clinics established within those institutions. The initial evaluation intended to look at the change of social behavior of the students within the selected schools against those that were within the region and not participating in the program but this was seen to threaten the continued participation of the students. This was hence abandoned and a comparison against the national average was instead adopted.

HYPOTHESIS

There is a relative change in high-risk behavior among the middle school and high school students with the introduction of the basic health care clinics within their schools.

MEASUREMENT OF VARIABLES

Dependent variable: The change in high-risk behaviors

Independent variable(s): the basic health care clinics within the schools.

Control variable(s): non-participating schools within the region.

RESEARCH DESIGN:

There were 19 sites that were established in selected schools and the students encouraged to use these centers. In these centers, the issues of sex education, HIV / AIDS, use of condoms and contraceptives...

The participation by the students was voluntary. The behavior patterns of the students were studied and a comparison with the national average was taken.
SAMPLING

The sampling method used here was a non-random selection since there were targeted schools that the researcher wanted to have participate and evaluated. This was purposefully done to have control over the participating region and avoid variances that might arise like cultural differences, geographical diversity and population consistency that might ultimately affect the validity of the data.

INSTRUMENTATION

The data was collected by recording the number of students who used the sites and also through non-participatory observation where data on the subsequent change in behavior after the intervention by the independent variable, which is the basic care clinics within the schools.

DATA COLLECTION/ETHICS

The participation was a voluntary one hence the collection of data was also deemed to be from willing and conscious participants hence observed the ethical standards. The change in behavior was also observed in general and anonymously hence never exposed any of the participants to undue social pressure that they may have not required.

DATA ANALYSIS

The type of analysis that was used here was the exploratory data analysis method. This is the method that approach that seeks to know the previous relationship that existed and determining the changes that have been experienced in the variables (Jeffrey L., 2013). Here there was an extensive exploration of what the high-risk behaviors were before the intervention of the clinics and also an analysis of the extent of change within the schools with the sites established, relative to the national average.

AUTHOR'S CONCLUSIONS

The observation and subsequent analysis found out that there was a significant reduction in the high-risk behavior among the schools that properly utilized the sites that were established. It was concluded that the clinics improved the access to basic health care services as well as the positive impact of the services therein to the sexual behaviors of the students.

CRITIQUE

Possible Threats to Internal Validity

The first threat to internal validity is the halo effect, and this is more so bearing that it was non-random…