GOAL AND OUTCOME IN SOCIAL WORK HEALTH CARE PRACTICE: THE USE OF GOAL ATTAINMENT SCALING.
Item
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Title
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GOAL AND OUTCOME IN SOCIAL WORK HEALTH CARE PRACTICE: THE USE OF GOAL ATTAINMENT SCALING.
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Identifier
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AAI8312369
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identifier
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8312369
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Creator
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ROCK, BARRY D.
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Contributor
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Phyllis Caroff
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Date
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1983
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Social Work
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Abstract
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This study examines issues of accountability and quality assurance in social work practice in health care settings. A literature review is followed by a description of a pilot project in quality assurance using outcome measures and an analysis of the data generated. The review of the literature is organized around the three major components of quality assessment in the social work and health care fields: structure, process and outcome.;The outcome area is the least developed, especially in social work, yet it potentially offers a strong form of accountability--the monitoring of end results of client improvement. An individualized approach to outcome appraisal is recommended, especially as operationalized in the highly flexible method of goal attainment scaling, which relates outcome to the achievement of the initial goals of intervention.;In an effort to add the dimension of outcome to an existing process and structural accountability system of a large social work department in an urban, teaching, medical center; the method of goal attainment scaling was introduced. On a pilot basis, a selection of social workers, under the guidance of a committee, carefully scaled individual goals for patients and families and operationalized expected outcomes in behavioral terms. A rater interviewed patients and/or families upon discharge and followed-up by telephone one month after discharge, to determine the degree of attainment of goals.;A data analysis is presented which examines these scores in relation to patient and worker characteristics; as well as correlations of outcome with process, as determined by a peer review instrument which has been employed on an ongoing basis in this setting. The overall findings suggest that expected levels of outcome were achieved on a sample-wide basis by discharge; expected levels of outcome were exceeded at one month follow-up. Although there were organizational costs to this pilot, an accountability system which adds the component of outcome evaluation can strengthen the data base available for making administrative and planning decisions for the improvement of social services.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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D.S.W.
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Program
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Social Work
