Authors

Unknown

Document Type

Article

Abstract

The Office of Alcoholism Programs (OAP) is a segment of Indian Health Service (IHS) with the responsibility to aid Indians that are alcoholics or have an alcohol dependency. The subjects being studied are the community Indian alcohol programs in an attempt to find those that are more successful and those that are less successful in delivering services. Four objectives of the study were as follows: 1) development and implementation of a program review process; 2) ascertaining the level of performance of each program; 3) identification of delivery system problems; and 4) providing an updated profile of available resources and services. The intended audience for this report includes the OAP office staff, the regional/ area directors of alcohol programs and the onsite program directors. An instrument consisting of 170 questions, if appropriate, for each particular site, was developed. This instrument evaluated the various programs, based upon what experts in the field of Indian alcohol programs, and alcohol programs in general, felt were most effective and efficient for client care and case management. A second instrument was developed for on-site directors to determine contractual compliance with the OAP. Approximately 82.3% of the programs evaluated were in compliance with the ATGS objectives and the objectives evaluated in the delivery questionnaire. Of these, many programs were in need of some technical and monetary assistance to upgrade their programs. Approximately 17.8% were less than minimally acceptable on either or both of the evaluation instruments. A special class of programs -Class A - was considered well above average and should receive special recognition by the Director of OAP. These Class A programs would rank with the top programs in the non-Indian world. A second smaller group of programs was found to be low in all aspects of the evaluation and should receive special aid in the form of money, training, and supervision until the program reached minimal acceptability. A third category included those programs that were highly compliant with OAP guidelines, but low on efficiency and/or effectiveness. These programs should receive technical assistance in the way of training and some supervision, until optimal efficiency or effectiveness is achieved.

Publication Date

1983

Publisher

Indian Health Service, Staff Office of Planning, Evaluation and Research, Rockville, MD 20857 (E-43).

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