An Evaluation of Community Outreach and Training Efforts: Experiences from a National Multi-Site Project

This session will provide a framework for evaluating outreach and training efforts designed to increase referrals to the Early Detection and Intervention for the Prevention of Psychosis Program (EDIPPP), an initiative funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The evaluation design, questions, and methodology will be discussed as part of this presentation. A review of the tools and protocols will be provided and results from the first year of the evaluation will be presented. The qualitative findings will highlight the facilitating factors and impediments to implementing and replicating community outreach and training efforts based on the experiences across five sites. The quantitative findings will focus in large part on the results of the regression analyses used to test the relationship between clinical program referrals and the various outreach and training efforts.

The evaluation framework and findings have broad implications for the public health community including the potential to accelerate learning about the value and impact of specific and targeted training and community outreach activities. This presentation will assist practitioners in identifying opportunities for assessing and strengthening their mental health outreach efforts designed to increase awareness of services and referrals to existing programs.