How to Develop Outcomes

OCFS has been incorporating evidence and outcome-based practices into it's own operations for several years. If you have a contract with OCFS it is likely that you are familiar with outcome-based contracting. Outcome-based contracting is the provision of funding to achieve predefined demonstrated benefits for a specified population. It shifts the focus of contracting from services provision to the impact or results of those services. The important concept in outcome contracting is not, how many referrals, training sessions, home visits, support services, or other activities are provided, but what happens to people as a result.

If you want to explore evidence and outcome-based planning, program development, service delivery and evaluation, the questions below will assist you in determining the attainment of outcomes required to assess the degree of change in behavior, attitudes, skills, or knowledge of the targeted population of an intervention. In addition, an outcome-based program requires you to clearly link the components of the program with those changes. The development of that causal link between program design and the outcome is what is known as a logic model. There are several different approaches for creating logic models or for developing outcome or results based programs. Fundamentally, they all take users through similar logical steps necessary to implement programs where it is possible to measure outcome attainment.

To guide practitioners through a process to assess outcomes, the following questions are an excellent starting point. The questions were gathered from Getting To Outcomes and are applicable to both program development and/or county/community planning for any issue.

1. What are the underlying needs and conditions that must be addressed and what resources are available (NEEDS/RESOURCES)?
2. What are the goals, target population, and desired outcomes (GOALS)?
3. What best practice or evidence-based models are available to achieve the goals (BEST PRACTICE)?
4. How does this intervention "fit" with other interventions that are already being offered (FIT)?
5. What organization capacities are needed to implement this intervention (CAPACITIES)?
6. What is the plan for this intervention (PLAN)?
7. How will the quality of implementation be assessed (PROCESS EVALUATION)?
8. Is the intervention working (OUTCOME EVALUATION)?
9. What Continuous Quality Improvement strategies are needed to improve the intervention over time (CQI)?
10. If the intervention (or parts of the intervention) is successful, how will it be sustained over time (SUSTAIN)?

At the RAND website you can download Promoting Accountability Through Methods and Tools for Planning, Implementation, and Evaluation Manual. Authored by Matthew Chinman, Pamela Imm, and Abraham Wandersman, this manual's ten-step process enhances practitioners' skills while empowering them to plan, implement, and evaluate their own programs. This manual was originally geared for substance abuse programs, but is applicable and useful for developing outcomes for any program or for county/community planning. The manual's text and worksheets address needs and resources assessment; goals and objectives; choosing programs; promoting good program "fit"; capacity, planning, process, and outcome evaluation; continuous quality improvement; and sustainability.