Possibilities of Using Quantitative Analysis to Evaluate Effectiveness in Social Work: The Case of Social Technologies for Providing Social Assistance to Families with Children
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14515/monitoring.2023.5.2410Keywords:
social work, prevention of social orphanhood, case management technology, crisis situation, welfare families, quality assessment, internal consistency of the measurement scalesAbstract
Measuring the effectiveness of social work is a relevant applied task given the continuous growth of interest in the assessment and development of professional standards and other aspects of the provision of social services. Studies show that the evaluation of social services might sometimes produce significantly different results, depending on the methods of measurement and the choice of an empirical object as a source for evaluation.
The purpose of the article is to combine academic and practical aspects in evaluation of the effectiveness of the provision of social services using quantitative methods. This approach has not yet become common in social work research but is actively employed by practitioners and government agencies. Using the example of a study on evaluating the effectiveness of case management technology as a method of social orphanhood prevention, the author attempts to understand how the quality of social work practices can be assessed.
The article describes the process of work in accordance with the case management technology and the methodology for collecting and analyzing data to evaluate the technology, then presents the results of its quantitative assessment. The analysis confirmed the internal consistency of the scales used to assess the state of families, and also revealed a statistically significant difference in the dynamics of the state of families at different stages of work. The conducted research on assessing the effectiveness of case management technology might be useful for developing methodology and standardizing assessment, improving the quality of social services and expanding opportunities for their provision.
Acknowledgements. The study was supported by the Russian Science Foundation (grant No. 22-28-20490 “Family on the edge: the limits and possibilities of socio-technological intervention in the prevention of social orphanhood”).
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