Am J Psychiatry 1976; 133:1300-1305
Copyright © 1976 by American Psychiatric Association
Can program evaluation be saved from its enthusiasts?
J Zusman
Program evaluation--the use of scientific techniques to measure the value
of an agency's work--has become the focus of major attention and enthusiasm
in mental health service planning and administration. However, the author
points out that completed program evaluation studies are few in number and
provide no evidence of great impact on the operation of programs or
agencies and that unrealistic enthusiasm for program evaluation can lead to
unrealistic rejection when performance fails to reach promise. He concludes
that program evaluation should be applied only when it can have an impact,
i.e., in a limited number of carefully selected cases.
