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Local
Processes of Outcome Evaluation: A Survey of CMHS Grantees
Data
Analysis: Stakeholder Involvement in Selcting Outcomes
All but one of the participating sites considered stakeholder involvement in the process of selecting outcomes to be important. One site chose not to respond to this question, believing it to be irrelevant to their situation. They had adopted the outcome measures used in the national evaluation and did not offer local stakeholders the option of participating in a process of selecting outcomes. One site, which involved an inter-agency advisory consisting of parents, service providers, schools, and juvenile justice agencies in lengthy discussion regarding the use of outcomes rated stakeholder involvement in the selection process as important. They noted that some of the outcome measures adopted by their site were predetermined by the national evaluation and their use of another state's tracking system. Three sites considered stakeholder involvement very important in the process of selecting outcomes and fifteen considered stakeholder involvement crucial to the process (see Table 2).
The stakeholders identified by the CMHS sites included parents, neighborhood residents, service providers within mental health, agencies outside of mental health including juvenile justice, child welfare, and education, and taxpayers. For example, the broad range of stakeholders identified by an urban grantee which rated stakeholder involvement as crucial included parents, recipients of services, provider agencies, schools, juvenile justice, human services and child welfare agencies, city recreation, family advocates, child advocates, and a disabilities law agency. One site commented that stakeholder involvement, "is just how we do things"; another commented that stakeholder involvement is crucial because their system of care is built on the premise of mutual benefit for the individuals and agencies involved.
Although nineteen sites considered stakeholder involvement important to the process of selecting outcomes, one site which considers stakeholder involvement very important and four which consider it crucial report having no vehicle currently developed to facilitate this involvement. One commented that although they would anticipate doing this, there is not a systematic way of involving stakeholders at this time. Another commented that there is a "growing discussion of how stakeholders can be involved." One of the sites which has adopted the measures for the national evaluation anticipates using established stakeholder relationships to better focus outcome measures on the specific needs of the communities within this site. Another site anticipates involving stakeholders as services are expanded."
An urban site which rated interagency stakeholder involvement as crucial described that although they adopted the outcomes of the national evaluation, stakeholders were involved in determining which outcomes were most important to their specific information needs. The process of outcome measurement at this site requires collaboration from both juvenile justice and the school system because their outcome data comes directly from those agencies. This site has found that the stakeholder agencies working together in the system of care are extremely interested in documenting the level of interagency participation. As a result, they have begun to collect information on the number of interagency contacts for the children they are serving. When aggregated, they hope this information will help them better understand the process of stakeholder participation.
One respondent expressed concern that the process of stakeholder involvement is "time consuming and somewhat frustrating to the stakeholders", describing a situation in which people had been working hard together for eight months and "not a lot has happened yet." This respondent supports stakeholder involvement, but cautions that stakeholder burnout can occur if progress toward goals is not visible. The strategy in this system has been to move from large group meetings to smaller subcommittees in an effort to remedy burnout.
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