Deck 8: Improving How Programs and Practice Work

Question 1

Agency BBB provides services to support children and families in the community. Agency administrators are excited about the emergence of evidence-based practices that significantly improve client functioning, and therefore order manuals that detail the interventions so the emerging best practices can be replicated. One-year later administrators are disappointed that the evidence-based practices are not producing the intended results. According to the text, what may be an issue with the implementation of the evidence-based practices?

A) Clients are resistant
B) Agency did not invest time and resources that enable the practices to work as intended
C) Agency transitioned too abruptly from traditional practices and service goals
D) Stakeholders in the community represented resistant factors

Answer 1

B

Question 2

In the last vignette, agency BBB places importance on using evidence-based programs and practices. There are many methods for determining evidence-based practices, many of which may or may not produce the intended outcomes for clients. According to the text, what are the best sources for identifying evidence-based interventions?

A) Quasi-experimental and experiential designs, plus clinical practice
B) Survey and observational research, plus clinical practice
C) Political Stakeholders
D) Clinical practice and descriptive designs

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Tom is a social work administrator for the Department of Veterans Affairs. His responsibilities include monitoring clinical programs and staff members. Currently he is reviewing the cultural, racial, and ethnic characteristics of staff members. What standard is he evaluating?

A) Staff Heterogeneity
B) Staff Homogeneity
C) Staff Diversity
D) Internationality

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Helen provides services to clients in a teenage parenting program. She wants to obtain evidence that the program's interventions are effectively addressing the clients' problems. What important implementation issue is being acknowledged in this vignette?

A) Linking the intervention to the clients problems
B) Is the program implemented as intended
C) Feasibility and utility
D) Client Satisfaction

Question 5

The quality assurance team of a private, not for profit agency is evaluating the quality of three programs. They are carefully completing the evaluations, in part because the agency's accreditation entity mandates sound evaluations. Identify the following condition that can contribute to the "easiness" of program and practice evaluations.

A) Standards of quality are clearly defined and measurable
B) There are a limited amount of outcomes for each program
C) The use of secondary data
D) Standards of quality are obtuse

Question 6

There are a number of accrediting entities including but not limited to Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF), Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), and Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO). As for academics, CSWE is responsible for accrediting undergraduate and graduate programs of social work. What does CSWE generate?

A) Professional values that reinforce the goals and objectives of a social work education
B) Student referral sources and program advertisement
C) Professional standards that are critiqued and evaluated by social work programs
D) Professional standards that educational programs are expected to adopt and implement

Question 7

Social work administrators are debating the merits of using open-ended versus close-ended questions in a client-satisfaction survey. There are positive and negative connotations for both types of questions, and overall the team wants to develop a solid measure. According to the text, how many open-ended questions are typically included in a client satisfaction survey?

A) Zero open-ended questions
B) One or two open-ended questions
C) Approximately half of the questions are open-ended
D) Most of the questions are open-ended

Question 8

Practice accessibility is an issue that affects many stakeholders including administrators, practitioners, and perhaps most importantly clients. What can result is that an agency will miss opportunities to generate revenue, social workers struggle to meet productivity standards, and clients do not get their service needs met. According to the text, how can an agency address the issues of accessibility?

A) Follow-up on no-shows and early dropouts
B) Provide wrap around services
C) Recruit target populations that are accessible
D) Nothing, client interest always outnumbers the availability of services

Question 9

Juan is generating clinically based evidence for his practices at a court diversion program. Over the years, he has observed a large amount of anecdotal evidence for the efficacy of behavioral interventions. As such, he is planning a group design to gather explanatory evidence for the interventions. What is a "rule of thumb" Juan can use to determine if he provides enough detail about the interventions in the evaluation report?

A) Clients' are able to self-administer interventions
B) Ability to persuade important stakeholders
C) Interventions can be replicated in other agencies
D) Clients' are able to critically consume the evaluation

Question 10

In regards to the vignette presented in question #9, Juan finds explanatory evidence that the behavioral interventions produce positive outcomes. Further, he finds that the clients who benefit the most from the program report that the social workers facilitate a milieu of caring and acceptance. What type of accessibility is being described in this question?

A) Physical
B) Diversity
C) Psychological
D) Cultural