Journal article
Navigation and Engagement: How Does One Measure Success?
Journal of drug issues, Vol.33(4), pp.777-800
10/2003
DOI: 10.1177/002204260303300402
Abstract
At first glance, substance abuse treatment outcomes appear fairly easy to measure. Typical outcome measures include successful program completion, reduced drug use and illegal activity, and improved employment or school status. However, ethnographic examination of an adolescent treatment program shows that traditional outcome measures may differ from clients' experiences in treatment. While observing an outpatient adolescent treatment program and interviewing the clients, the authors documented the lived experiences of the youth and analyzed the cases comparatively. In this paper, two contrasting cases are presented to illustrate the complexity and contradictions between traditional outcome measures and perspectives on success held by clients and counselors. The concepts of navigation and engagement are applied to explore these perspectives of success. At the end of the article, some implications of these experience-based concepts for programs are considered, based not only on youth interviews, but also on our interviews with counselors. Finally, a general model that ties outcome evaluations more directly to the details of program experience is developed.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Navigation and Engagement: How Does One Measure Success?
- Creators
- Heather Schacht ReisingerTrevor BushM. Alejandra ColomMichael AgarRobert Battjes
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Journal of drug issues, Vol.33(4), pp.777-800
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- DOI
- 10.1177/002204260303300402
- ISSN
- 0022-0426
- eISSN
- 1945-1369
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 10/2003
- Academic Unit
- Internal Medicine; Center for Social Science Innovation
- Record Identifier
- 9984359579902771
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