Appendix B
University of Missouri (MU) Extension NexGen Program Evaluation
Jennifer Glynn, Evaluation Consultant
As I understand it, your long-term goal is to evaluate the effectiveness of a variety of programs and services offered by multiple states aimed at addressing farm and ranch stress and suicide prevention. Currently you are working with three programs: QPR (Question, Persuade, Refer); Taking Care of You; and MHFA (Mental Health First Aid) for Youth and Adult (soon to add Teen). There are other programs used by other states and which Missouri might add in the future. As you think about moving forward, may I suggest you start by outlining the research questions you want to answer, data that can be used to answer those questions, and stakeholders interested in evaluation results. For example, I heard multiple evaluation questions swirling and multiple audiences you’d like to serve with this evaluation. You can lay these out in a table, to help you identify which questions to answer first, and also make sure you’re serving all key constituency groups:
Audience
No one data point or evaluation analysis is going to answer all of these questions. Luckily you seem to have a few different data sources available to you. I’m still learning about your data, but my sense from yesterday’s meeting is that they include: Research Questions Who is participating in these programs? How many people, and from what backgrounds? Why does Missouri have so many out-of-state participants? Which training is the easiest to complete? How well are they run? How much does it cost to run them? What do people learn in them? What’s the most cost -effective way to provide mental health support? Which program is most effective? Etc. Ask yourself, “what else do legislators want to know? What do administrators want to know?” and add to the table. • Basic participant data : Date of instruction, mode of delivery, counts of participants, etc. • Pre / Post Survey: A pre and post evaluation survey (administered to instructors? or to trainees? Is this only administered by MHFA?). This survey focuses on the effectiveness of the trainer, not the effectiveness of the program. (This was a little unclear to me) • My Extension Program Reporting System: A more detailed survey completed by some trainers containing qualitative quotes from participants. • Any other data sources ?
1
Powered by FlippingBook