Evaluation plan
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Evaluation plan
The Setting Introduction
The setting for the projection is the San Quentin State Prison. The most popular prison in California was opened in 1854. It is a correctional center serving both as a detention center and execution center for those sentenced to death (Tikkanen, n.d). The center has imprisoned and after prison programs. The prison offers counseling sessions, which include inmate group therapy and individual counseling. There are nine groups in group therapy, each containing 30 inmates recruited by word of mouth without forcing. Counseling strategies are primarily through communication and encouraging social interaction. Individual inmate counseling involves interviewing and evaluating individual inmates to identify suitable treatment and counseling services (Frisch, n.d). The inmates in this session help to reduce stress by equipping them with assignments and counseling.
Mindfulness Meditation and Art Therapy Programs
Mindfulness meditation is a program identified to help reduce mental health problems such as anxiety, depression, stress, and other compulsory behaviors. It is a practice that involves concentrating on present experiences without making any conclusions. The program requires about 15-30 minutes of practice in a very silent place (Bauer-Wu, 2020). This therapy is useful in various fields and effective in inmates with conclusions about drug abuse (Bowen et al., 2006). This technique does not give room for judgment; therefore, it is associated with reduced stigmatization. Many individuals are involved in criminal activities because of stress, anxiety, depression, and anger. Other individual turns to use of abusive substances because of the inability to deal with various mental health issues (Williams-McGahee, 2015). Sentencing also contributes to a given percentage of mental health issues such as depression and stress. This therapy has been proved to deal with stress, depression, anxiety, and other maladaptive behaviors.
Art therapy a technique apply art in healing various mental conditions of individuals. Art therapy helps clients heal by realizing their emotions (Akila & Nandagopal, 2015). This program is essential for inmates who do not often express their emotions and personal issues verbally. Many inmates lack trust in individuals, which makes them unsocial, resulting in difficulty in identifying their emotions (Gussak, 2007). By participating in art therapy, inmates can express their hidden feelings, resulting in the healing of souls, emotions, and minds. Art therapy also helps identify thinking errors in an individual and the possible skills required for improvements (Breiner et al., 2012). This knowledge helps to heal the inmates and also reduce the rate of recidivism. The mindfulness meditation program is intended to reduce the rate of mental health disorders and reduce the use of substances in inmates. Art therapy is intended to help identify hidden emotions of inmates and equip them with various art skills.
Research questions
RQ 1. How severe are the symptoms of various mental health disorders?
RQ 2. What is the importance realized from the programs?
RQ 3. What are the problems related to the programs that need to be addressed?
RQ 4. What improvements should be made?
RQ 5. Were the programs effective in achieving their aim of implementation?
Evaluation Design
The quantitative design will be used in the evaluation of the proposed programs. Evaluation of the mindfulness meditation program will be monthly in three months through multiple series design. The design will include 10 participants from the clients taking the program, and the other ten participants from the institution proved to have mental issues but not included in the program. The participants will be inmates only because they are likely to experience the same lifestyle, and the only difference may be the ability to take part in the program initiative. There will be a pre-test, mid-test, and pro-test comparison. At the pre-test, the data will be collected from the facilitators’ analysis in identifying inmates with mental issues. All inmates with issues will be identified, but only 30 of them will be allowed to participate in the program at a time. Therefore the 10 participants for the comparison group will be selected from the group waiting to join the project after completing the first group. The pre-test will comprise the initial condition and symptoms requiring cognitive treatment. The mid-test will deal with the noted improvement in the condition and symptoms and expression of positive living changes. The post-test will examine the effectiveness of the program. Mid-test and pro-test data will be collected through a survey, interview, and analysis of the symptoms, and the result recorded according to the score on the improvement scale. Multiple series design is effective for this program because it provides proof of a change in performance at different intervals.
Evaluation of art therapy will be monthly at the beginning and the end of the month, in three months through a one group time-series design. The one group time-series design will include fifteen participants selected five from the three sessions of 20 clients in each. The art therapy evaluation will not have a comparison group. This therapy is mainly for those inmates who are difficult to share their emotions and are less social. Getting reliable information from the comparison group might be difficult because of the untrusting and unsocial nature of the intended group. The first month’s pre-test data will be from the facilitator’s findings through symptoms analysis. Data collection for other subsequent tests and pro-test will be through interviews, surveys, and reviews of the facilitator recordings. The result will be recorded according to the score on the improvement scales. The one group time-series design is effective for data collection because it provides information on improvement.
Methods of Evolution
The program evaluation will involve both formative and summative evaluation methods. Formative evaluation will deal with how effective the procedures are applied in the programs, activities implemented, and timeline assigned for each program session. There will be an evaluation of clients’ experience as they participate in the program. The purpose of formative evaluation is to collect and analyze data according to the program’s progress to identify any improvement that should be made to make the project more effective. The evaluation will help identify any problem the clients may be experiencing and enthusiasm factors. The method will also help people involved in the program to maintain track of what is required.
Formative evaluation will help answer the following questions: Are the facilitators carrying out the program’s procedures and activities as required? Is the attendance of the program consistent? If not, what might be the problem affecting the consistency of the attendance? Do the clients love the program, or are they forced to participate? Are materials provided enough for the programs, especially the art therapy program? Are there any ethical issues between the facilitators and the clients? Has the project met the target set? Are project procedures and practice focused on achieving the goals of the programs? Is there any improvement to be made? The evaluation will involve frequent interviews with the facilitators, clients, and other stakeholders, such as correctional officers. It will also involve a review of the records on the progress of the project. There will also be questionnaires administered to the participants and stakeholders during the progress of the project.
The summative evaluation method will deal with the result of the program. The method will evaluate the effectiveness of the outcome achieved from the projects. This method will address the achievement of the plan’s objectives. The questions that will be answered through summative evaluation are; did the projects achieve their targeted improvements? What are the impacts of the programs on the clients? What are the impacts of the programs on the prison institution in general? The summative evaluation will examine the behavioral change of inmates who participated, change in mental illness symptoms compared to the beginning of the programs, the rehabilitation state, and whether the participants live the acquired change. Both the formative and summative evaluations will be used to determine the continuation of the prison institution programs.
Evaluation Measurements
In evaluation measurements, a 5-point Likert Scale will be used to record the outcome of the programs. The measurement will be through observation, interviews, and surveys. The use of multiple methods will help get more accurate and reliable data for measurements. The participants in evaluation measurements will be inmates from the programs. 10 participants will undergo evaluation measurement from the mindfulness meditation program, and 15 participants will represent the art therapy, program groups. The selection of the participant will be random but strictly inmates. The inmate recruited to participate in measurement evaluation will be those with severe symptoms of mental health issues and those whose detention exceeds the time required to complete the program.
There will be a formal structure in measurement by interview whereby there will be a topic organized into various subtopics. For example, in the mindfulness meditation program, the main topic will be the programs. The subtopics will include the program’s significance to the participants, improvement to be made, and the problems recorded in the implementation of the program. There will be the use of the same questions for all individuals who will participate. The same structure will be applied to the art therapy program. After the interview, the answers will be categorized on a Likert Scale.
Measurement through observation method will be majorly in art therapy sessions because most clients in this group are less social; therefore, they may not respond to interviews as required. In this method, there will be the development of a protocol to be recorded in the procedure. There will be an observation of program procedures, the clients’ reaction as they take part in projects, the effectiveness of the time, any improvements on clients, and the programs’ effectiveness. The result from observation will then be categorized on a Likert Scale.
The survey method will be used at the end of the programs. An open-ended question paper will be given to the selected participants to be filled. The questions will be about the programs’ effectiveness, the possible improvements to be made, and the problems encountered in the programs. The survey will help get information from those individuals who shy out in speaking. The answers given will be analyzed, then categorized on the scale. Data from the three methods will be combined to be categorized on the scale to give more compound evaluation measurements for the programs.
Anticipated Results
These programs’ anticipated results are generating inmates who are free from stress and other mental health issues. There should also be an improvement in the social aspect among the inmates, which will help reduce crime because an individual who participated in the program is expected to understand society’s importance and that crime is not good. Inmates from the programs are also supposed to acquire skills that help them deal with life, such as problem-solving skills.
Dissemination Plan
Dissemination of the programs is essentially talking about the effectiveness of the programs. Dissemination happens after analysis of the results from the research conducted. Plan dissemination is important because showing how effective the programs are, the institution in the setting and other institutions may implement the others’ programs to benefit. There will be various ways to disseminate the programs, which include compiling the findings in a report form, through conferences, and publishing on media platforms.
Written report dissemination will be given to the institution in the setting. A report will be well organized with a briefing about what the report entails in the executive summary situated among the report’s first pages. The executive summary is essential for those who might find it difficult to read the whole document, but reading the summary will give a clear picture of the report. The report will be given to the prison institution for evaluation of the effectiveness of the projects.
In conference presentation dissemination, there will be interaction with individuals working in the department of rehabilitation programs. The findings on the programs’ effectiveness will be discussed in detail to enable the inclusion of mindfulness meditation and art therapy in their rehabilitation programs. There will also be sharing of the data on the social media platforms so that as many people as possible could acquire knowledge concerning the effectiveness of mindfulness meditation and art therapy in mental health and its effectiveness in inmates. Dissemination information will include facts about the findings and the positive changes the program brought to various individuals.
References
Akila, L, K., & Nandagopal, C. (2015). An Introduction in Art Therapy and Creativity in Organizations. (IS15Chennai Symposium) ISBN: 978-1-941505-23-6. https://silo.tips/download/an-introduction-to-art-therapy-and-creativity-in-organisations#
Bauer-Wu, S. (2010). Mindfulness meditation. Oncology, 24(10). https://www.cancernetwork.com/view/mindfulness-meditation
Bowen, S., Witkiewitz, K., Dillworth, T. M., Chawla, N., Simpson, T. L., Ostafin, B. D., … & Marlatt, G. A. (2006). Mindfulness meditation and substance use in an incarcerated population—the psychology of addictive behaviors, 20(3), 343.
Breiner, M. J., Tuomisto, L., Bouyea, E., Gussak, D. E., & Aufderheide, D. (2012). Creating an art therapy anger management protocol for male inmates through a collaborative relationship. International journal of offender therapy and comparative criminology, 56(7), 1124-1143.
Frisch, P. (n.d). Inmate Counseling and Therapy: Eight Years Inside San Quentin State Prison. https://orgonomictherapy.com/inmate-counseling-therapy/
Gussak, D. (2007). The effectiveness of art therapy in reducing depression in prison populations. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 51(4), 444-460.
Tikkanen, A. (n.d). San Quentin State Prison. https://www.britannica.com/topic/San-Quentin-State-Prison
Williams-McGahee, P. (2015). Mindfulness Meditation: A Practical Intervention in addressing stress and anxiety in inmates.