1. Needs Assessment

2. Program Evaluation Types
Evaluation of Need
Evaluation of Process
Evaluation of Outcome
Evaluation of Efficiency

3. Programs for Class Discussion
Sexual assault companions
Mediation center in New River Valley
After school academic and activity center

4. What is a Need? Discrepancy between actual level and
An ideal
A norm
A minimum
A desired state
An expected state
A need is something that people must have to be in a satisfactory state (Scriven & Roth, 1990)
Posavac & Carey (2003) page 115
Discuss Nagy’s method of measuring job satisfaction

5. Analysis of Need Four Key Questions
What are we trying to accomplish?
Why do we think there is a need for our program?
Is there an actual need for our program?
Is our idea for a program practical?

6. Analysis of Need What are We Trying to Accomplish?
Do we have a particular need in mind or are we trolling for unmet needs in general?
Is the dog wagging the tail or is the tail wagging the dog?
What is the real goal?
To help others?
To help our agency survive?
To justify our job?
Royce et al (2001) pages 53-54

7. Analysis of Need Why Do We Think There is a Need?
Normative Need
Felt Need
Expressed Need
Comparative Need
Royce et al (2001) pages 53-54

8. Analysis of Need Is There an Actual Need for our Program?
Is there actually a problem or unmet need?
Are there existing programs trying to solve the problem?
Are their enough potential clients to justify a program?

9. Analysis of Need Is the Program Practical?
Will people participate in the program?
Are the barriers insurmountable?
Do we have the expertise?
Do we have the funding?

10. Resource Analysis Funding Staff Physical resources How much Number
Skills
Availability
Physical resources
Office space
Phones
Computers
Vehicles

11. Identifying Potential Stakeholders
Funding sources
Administrators
Staff
Community groups
Politicians
Businesses
Unions
Current, past, and future clients

12. Needs Assessment Methods
Existing data
Archival research
Surveys
Interviews
Individual
Focus groups
Nominal groups
Delphi technique
Royce et al (2001) page 63-64

13. Police Suicide Example

14. Our Basic Research Question
Do law enforcement personnel have higher suicide rates than the general public?
If so,
is it something about the people who go into law enforcement (e.g., demographics, personality)?
is it something about the job (e.g., stress, availability of guns, alienation)?
is it an interaction between the two?

15. Our Goals Establish law enforcement suicide rate
look at published research
look at media accounts
collect new data
Compare to national norms
general population
control for age, sex, race
Establish a profile of officers who commit suicide

16. Suicide Rates Determining Rates Calculating Rates
Department record approach
Death certificate approach
“Hmm, let me think” approach
Calculating Rates
Rate per 100,000
Proportionate Mortality Ratios (PMR)

17. At first glance, police have a high suicide rate
FOP Study (1995)
12 per 100,000 in general population
22 per 100,000 in law enforcement population
Newspaper Articles
300 police suicides per year
police rate twice that of general public

18. At second glance… Determining the Police Suicide Rate
FOP study
USA Today article
Review of published literature
obtained number of sworn personnel
computed suicide rates
Collection of new data from the Roanoke and New River Valleys
Review of newspaper articles

19. Our best estimate of the law enforcement rate is …. 18.1
Five sources
22.0 FOP study
16.3 USA Today
37.1 Media sources
18.6 Published research
10.0 Roanoke Valley
Studies weighted by
size of department
number of years over which data were collected

20. Comparison to population is a bit more tricky (1996)
Overall
11.7
Sex
male 19.3
female 4.4
Race
white 12.7
black 6.5
Race by sex
WM 20.9
WF 4.8
BM 11.4
BF 2.0
Age 25-54
WM 25.6
WF 6.3
BM 13.5
BF 2.9

21. The PMR Comparison! Proportionate morality ratios
General population 152
White, males
Law enforcement rates are not higher when compared to the proper control group

22. Expected Law Enforcement Suicide Rate for Ages 25-54
suicide % in law
rate enforcement WM WF BM BF
TOTAL
PMR (18.1/21.89)

23. Summary
The police suicide rate of 18.1 is higher than the rate found in the general population
This higher rate can be completely accounted for by sex, race, and age
After accounting for these demographics, the police suicide rate is lower than that of the comparable general population
Police-specific interventions will probably not yield significant decreases in police suicide