The provision of consistent high quality home- and community-based services to children with disabilities living in rural and frontier areas is a challenge. Distance, weather, geographic terrain (mountains, canyons), and shortages of pediatric early interventionists are among the challenges to ensuring appropriate and equitable services.…

Positive behavior support (PBS) is an empirically driven approach to improve quality of life influenced by the science of behavior analysis. Recent discussions have evolved around PBS, behavior analysis, and their relationship within education and human services fields. To date, few data have been offered to guide behaviorally oriented…

The Optimal Treatment approach to needs assessment consists of comparing the most desirable set of services for a client with the services actually received. Discrepancies due to unavailable resources are noted and aggregated across clients. Advantages and disadvantages of this and other needs assessment procedures are considered. (Author/RL)

Designed program using variety of engagement techniques and service components for homeless and marginally housed elderly. Clients (n=132) averaged three favorable outcomes. Service delivery was conceptualized as three-stage process based on differential effects of variables at each stage. Strongest predictors of outcome were number of service…

This report presents an assessment of Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (DHEW) services delivery to American Samoans residing in California, Hawaii, and American Samoa. The evaluation includes analyses of human services needs, resources, and delivery. The effectiveness of human services delivery was assessed using interviews with Samoan…

Analyzed five-year experience of neighborhood-based, volunteer geriatric health outreach program developed by consortium of health and social agencies. Found outreach program enhanced network of natural community helpers through organized program in which Street Health Workers provided support to older adults and families. (Author)

The study reports on the incidence and prevalence of developmental disabilities in Iowa, in conjunction with estimates of the needs of individuals with developmental disabilities and their demand for services. An introductory section outlines the organization of the report and distinguishes among three types of demand for services: potential…

The General Accounting Office (GAO) was asked to determine who is being served by the Food Stamp Employment and Training Program (FSE&T program), what services are being provided through the program, and what is known about the program's outcomes and effectiveness. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) does not collect nationwide data on…

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to explore how medical care is delivered to older people in assisted living (AL) settings and to suggest ways for improving it. Design and Methods: We present a review of the limited research available on health care for older AL residents and on building testable models of better ways to organize primary…

This report identifies factors that have an influence on the successful institutionalization and transfer of innovative uses of telecommunications. It examines which factors promote or deter the institutionalization of demonstration projects in the public service field, as well as alternative strategies for institutionalization and innovation…

The consumer of a service is of primary importance when defining groups most concerned with program impact. Program effectiveness for the consumer may be increased through the use of certain guiding principles based on the extension of existing quality assurance and program evaluation methodologies. (Author/RL)

Among 161 Hispanic clients in the community mental health system of Seattle-King County (Washington), the dropout rate (after 1 session) was lower, and number of therapy sessions was greater for those who received services from Hispanic staff or at a Hispanic community mental health center than those who received services from non-Hispanic staff…

This paper addresses the processes by which state agencies regulate services for individuals with developmental disabilities and explores whether the regulatory process can be directed to issues affecting the quality of life of people receiving developmental services. Limitations of regulations include the unpredictability of long-term effects,…

This paper analyzes the case file of an adult male labeled as having mental retardation. The focus is on exploring the power dynamics that underpin services. Using Foucault's treatise on discipline as an analytic tool, the paper examines the mechanisms through which a defective identity is constructed, thereby legitimizing social control.…

The experiences of a group of evaluators evaluating a multisite integrated human service delivery system illustrate many design and measurement considerations in the preimplementation and implementation phases of evaluation. The reemergence of human service integration approaches will make such evaluation issues increasingly common. (SLD)