14 Cultural Competence Training, Assessment, and Evaluation of Cultural Competence, and Evidence-Based Practices in Culturally Competent Agencies

Introduction This chapter will provide students with information on how agencies can assess and implement practices that are culturally competent. continued on next slide

Introduction The term assessment–training–evaluation cycle is used to describe this process of assessing the agency, providing training, evaluating the impact of training, and ultimately adopting those practices.

Assessing Agency Cultural Competence Typically, evaluations of agency cultural competence have involved the use of checklists, as well as surveys of practitioners and persons in the community who use an agency's services. It should include an evaluation at the practitioner, consumer, agency, administrative, and policy levels.

Implementation Of Agency Cultural Competence Cultural competence goes beyond mere sensitivity or awareness and focuses on the need to have actual knowledge and skills related to interactions with persons from cultures that are different from our own. continued on next slide

Implementation Of Agency Cultural Competence Cultural competence is an aspect of agency operation that is best infused throughout the entire process of service provision.

Cultural Competence Training in Large and Small Agencies An agency's cultural competence educational format will be specific to minority groups in that jurisdiction. Pre-service training is any of the initial training that employees receive prior to their working in their specific job duty. continued on next slide

Cultural Competence Training in Large and Small Agencies New practitioners should be culturally competent as early as possible to ensure effective participation in jurisdictions that contain diverse minority populations.

Training Beyond The Classroom Training beyond the classroom and using ill-structured problems in developing cultural competence PBLA contends that most problems that practitioners will encounter do not lend themselves perfectly to textbook descriptions and/or to the parameters of specific and often sterile policy. continued on next slide

Training Beyond The Classroom Training beyond the classroom and using ill-structured problems in developing cultural competence PBLA trains staff to utilize their own sense of professional discretion, ethical bearing, and sound judgment.

Components of the Ill Structured Problem The problem is not easily solved. Staff in training initially lack and must obtain information to solve the problem. Staff in training must consider a variety of facts and issues. continued on next slide

Components of the Ill Structured Problem All learning occurs through the problem-solving process. Learning that occurs has a real-life context. Staff in training learn a process that he or she can apply to future problems.

Beyond The Training Individual staff recognition for utilizing culturally competent practices When performance information is used to reward individuals, these measures can hold individuals accountable for certain work activities and related goals and, as a result, create an incentive for achieving results. continued on next slide

Beyond The Training Individual staff recognition for utilizing culturally competent practices This is to demonstrate the importance of linking policy and individual performance reviews to the goals and objectives that guide a criminal justice agency into the future.

Evaluation Research And Cultural Competence In The Agency Research and evaluation is a critical dimension of criminal justice programs. Conducting an adequate evaluation requires one to formulate clearly the treatment model and reasonable program goals and specific objectives related to client needs. continued on next slide

Evaluation Research And Cultural Competence In The Agency There are three basic types of evaluation: Implementation Process Outcome

Implementation Evaluation Aimed at identifying problems and accomplishments during the early phases of program development for feedback to agency staff continued on next slide

Implementation Evaluation These evaluations involve informal and formal interviews with administrators, staff, and community members to ascertain their degree of satisfaction with the program and their perceptions of problems.

Process Evaluation Refers to assessment of the effects of the program on clients while they are in the program, making it possible to assess the institution's intermediary goals continued on next slide

Process Evaluation Involves analyzing records related to the following: Type and amount of training provided Attendance and participation of staff in meetings Number of staff who complete the training Staff evaluations of instructor proficiency in training

Outcome Evaluation Involves quantitative research aimed at assessing the impact of the program on long-term treatment outcomes continued on next slide

Outcome Evaluation Such evaluations are usually carefully designed studies that compare outcomes for a treatment group with outcomes for other less-intensive treatments or a no-treatment control group.

Program Quality and Staffing Quality Evaluative transparency When an agency's evaluative process allows for an outside person to have full view of the agency's operations, budgeting, policies, procedures, and outcomes continued on next slide

Program Quality and Staffing Quality Staff-related information provides a richer analysis of agency operations and also provides additional transparency to the day-to-day routines that occur.

Feedback Loops and Continual Improvement Stakeholders in agency evaluations include the agency personnel, the community in which the agency is located, and even the offender population that is being supervised. continued on next slide

Feedback Loops and Continual Improvement Other authorities can ensure that programs are developed as intended and have sufficient resources to implement activities and meet their goals and objectives.

Community Harm with Ineffective Programs Community harm with ineffective programs, separating politics from science in the evaluative process The evaluation process is a feedback loop into the initial assessment process, demonstrating to agencies that their programs are (or are not) working. continued on next slide

Community Harm with Ineffective Programs Assessment–training–evaluation cycle Process whereby assessment data and evaluation data are compared, one with the other, to determine the effectiveness of programs and to find areas where improvement of agency services is required

Research Evaluation for Effectiveness of EBPs The highest quality research support depicted in this schema (gold level) reflects interventions and practices that have been evaluated with experimental/control design, and with multiple site replications that concluded significant sustained reductions in recidivism were associated with the intervention.

Conclusion We must be able to specifically and concretely assess how well an agency addresses its ability to respond to a diverse multicultural society. It must be determined whether services are sufficient or in need of further improvement. continued on next slide

Conclusion Goal setting within the agency should be interlaced with cultural competence as a key consideration.