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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Zobeida Bonilla-Vega, MPH, Ph D¹, Melissa Marlowe, RN, MS¹, and Karin Downs, RN, MPH². (1) Massachusetts Department of Public Health, F.O.R. Families Program, 250 Washington Street 4th floor, Boston, MA 02108, 781-504-3959, bonillaz@marshall.edu, (2) Division of Perinatal, Early Childhood, and Special Health Needs, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, 250 Washington Street, 4th Floor, Boston, MA 02108

This presentation will share lessons learned from a qualitative evaluation of the F.O.R. (Follow-up, Outreach, and Referral) Families program, a home visiting program of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and the Department of Transitional Assistance to provide services to homeless families. This qualitative evaluation was conducted to (1) learn from families, program staff, and collaborators from sister agencies about best practices to provide services to homeless families, (2) define success from the perspective of program staff and families served by the program and thus inform the development of outcome measures, and (3) gather recommendations to facilitate the development of program tools such as a logic model and program protocols. Several challenges emerged during the course of this project, including the validation of benefits and contributions of qualitative methodologies to evaluation research, the ability to interview families who represented extreme or very difficult cases and therefore learn from their experiences, the complexities of working with multiethnic populations, and the difficulties of obtaining data on homeless populations. A process that consisted of obtaining feedback from key stakeholders and presenting the results to staff from agencies involved in the program served to identify mechanisms to address the challenges encountered. Key components of the program, the process of designing and conducting a qualitative evaluation, and the main findings of the study as well as the methodological challenges and benefits encountered will be discussed.

Learning Objectives:

• Discuss the contributions of qualitative evaluation to the development of grounded program tools such as logic models, screening methods, and outcome measures.
• Discuss the structural and cultural challenges associated with conducting qualitative research among homeless populations.
• Identify strengths and challenges of qualitative research in program evaluation.

Keywords: Evaluation, Participatory Research

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered

Handout (.ppt format, 674.0 kb)