NCJ Number
180410
Journal
Aggression and Violent Behavior Volume: 5 Issue: 2 Dated: March/April 2000 Pages: 159-175
Date Published
2000
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This article profiles the Growing Up FAST: Families and Adolescents Surviving and Thriving Diversion Program as an example of a logic-model-based approach to the development, implementation, and eventual outcome evaluation of a juvenile crime prevention program.
Abstract
The Growing Up FAST diversion program was developed according to a logic-based evaluation model (Julian et al., 1995; United Way, 1996). This type of evaluation model organizes programmatic events into levels of inputs, activities, outputs, and outcomes. Program activities are believed to be causally linked to initial, intermediate, and longer term outcomes, which are causally linked to one another. The logic model's unique contribution to research concerned with combined formative and summative evaluation models is its incorporation of the notion that short-term and longer term outcomes are causally linked to one another as well as to their impact on the situations the program is meant to address. In this article, program outputs that contribute to initial outcomes are presented in a detailed description of five interrelated programming levels. Descriptive data on youth and families who have been referred to this program also are provided, as well as descriptions of the outcome measures being used with these families. With such logically derived initial and intermediate outcomes, Growing Up FAST is believed to exemplify a crime prevention program that is family based and can be reliably evaluated for outcomes early in its implementation. 71 references