Showing papers on "Service provider published in 1983"

Management of Human Service Programs

Abstract: Covering the most important issues facing managers and administrators in human service agencies in the 21st Century, this thoroughly updated and revised edition is the most current text on the market. The authors provide an overview of the managerial and leadership functions that a successful manager or administrator in the human services needs to understand. Practical in its approach, the book introduces students to the theory and practice of managerial and leadership functions and provides important guidelines for working within agencies. This text is useful for readers already in the workforce as managers and administrators, as well as for students who will be entering human service agencies.

Flexiform: A Model for Professional Service Organizations

Abstract: This paper proposes a conceptual model in response to the lack of structural designs for professionals and professional organizations. The proposed model satisfies the unique role-creation, negotiation, and client/customer interface within the operations of professional organizations. The emerging structural form can best be described as a flexiform type. The unique features of the flexiform structure are presented, and implications and future research focus are discussed.

Distinctive features of rural environments: a frame of reference for mental health practice

Abstract: The expanding literature on the delivery of health and human services in rural environments is replete with assertions about the "differences" between rural and urban practice [ 1-6]. Researchers, service providers, and policymakers have all assailed the urban bias of the dominant models, structures, and strategies for service delivery and have testified to their inappropriateness for a rural environment. It has been argued that successful practice in small towns and rural communities requires a unique set of skills and knowledge (or at least a reordering of skills). Further, it has been maintained that traditional preservice programs for mental health providers have an urban bias. Much of this rhetoric, however, has been ambiguous and abstract and has not led to a clear articulation of those aspects of rural practice that are unique. Most work in this area to date has been speculative or based on the personal observations of individual practitioners. Empirical verification of any "differences" remains, for the most part, a goal to be achieved.

The National Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology

Abstract: This chapter will describe the development of the National Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology and will provide a perspective for its position in professional psychology. Since the Register was initiated in 1974 it has quickly become recognized as a significant and major professional resource. Its rapid growth reflects both its timeliness and its acceptance by the profession and other relevant groups.

Quality of service in special service paratransit: the users' perspective

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to develop measures of quality of service in special service paratransit and To gauge the importance of various service attributes to users of these services. A set of service attributes was compiled, and the attributes were categorized into eight aspects of service quality. These eight aspects are reliablity and on-time performance, comfort, convenience of making reservations, extent of service, vehicle access, safety, driver characteristics, and responsiveness to the individual. Questionnaires were mailed to elderly and handicapped users of these services; the respondents were asked to rank each aspect and its corresponding attributes as to importance in achieving service quality. The questionnaire results were analyzed by using psychometric scaling techniques. The results of the analysis indicate that not all types of users place the same importance on different characteristics of these services. Users younger than 65 years old place considerable emphasis on service reliability and extent of service. Wheelchair users believe that satisfactory vehicle access is extremely important. Users older than 65 years old believe that safety is of paramount importance. The most important attributes of service quality from the standpoint of all users are then developed.

A Model for Organizing an Ethical Analysis of the Discharge Planning Process

Abstract: This paper presents a model for identifying, clarifying and analyzing the ethical dilemmas inherent in the discharge planning process of the chronically impaired older person from an acute care hospital to the community or an institution. From the myriad of moral quandaries that patients, families and service providers face in the process, this paper will address two categories of questions. The first concerns the conflict between provider paternalism and client autonomy. The second question involves distributive justice and the allocation of scarce resources. Two cases at different stages of identification, assessment and disposition process will be examined in order to identify the morally relevant facts and persons, possible alternatives and competing values and ethical principles.

The determination of social need

Abstract: For the purposes of this study, social need is defined as need at an aggregate level, as expressed in statements of the form "Community X needs provision Y". The assessment of social need is of central importance in the determination of resource allocation, and "needs studies" are a major tool of social planners and researchers. Social indicators are also seen as being useful for determining social need. An examination of the literature relating to resource allocation reveals that there are some inadequacies in the way social need has been conceptualised, and that it has often been understood from within an essentially positivist perspective, as having some sort of independent existence and as being objectively measurable. Further conceptual exploration leads to an alternative formulation, where the emphasis is on the act of definition of social need, rather than on need per se. A model of social need statements is proposed, based on three different forms of need definition which are referred to as population defined need, care-taker defined need and inferred need. In any particular case of assessing the need for a specific service, or the needs of a particular community, there may be differences between these three forms of need definition. Several propositions are developed suggesting factors which may be significant in influencing judgements of social need, and which may lead to differences between population defined, caretaker defined and inferred need statements. These factors relate to the type of community, the type of provision or service, and the design and methodology of the needs study. An exploratory research study was designed to investigate these propositions about factors which may affect need judgements. Three different communities in southern Tasmania were selected, and the "needs" for four different forms of social provision were studied in each area. The overall "needs" of each community were also investigated. The research was undertaken in order to deter-mine a picture of population defined, caretaker defined and inferred need for each study area. Several different methodologies were used: a household survey, a survey of caretakers (service providers and opinion leaders), analysis of census data, analysis of service statistics and newspaper monitoring. The results of the research clarify the differences between the three forms of need statement. They indicate some of the factors which may be significant in contributing to these differences, and in affecting the way social need is defined. It is concluded that the proposed model of need statements represents a potentially useful framework for the study of social need, and on the basis of the research results the model is used to derive a number of suggestions for the design, assessment and analysis of needs studies. A frame-work for community development, based on the model, is also proposed, and further research questions arising from the study are identified.

Strategies and techniques for serving the disabled assault victim: A pilot training program for providers and consumers

Abstract: This article describes a newly developed training program on sexual assault and disability which was conducted by Moss Rehabilitation Hospital in Philadelphia. The purpose of this program was to provide information on the total range of medical, psychological, social, and criminal justice concerns in the area of assault of the disabled. Previews training efforts are reviewed as well as the background and content of the present program. Workshop evaluation material is presented which indicates that this training program was extremely well received and that service providers consider assault of disabled people a significant area which should be given increased attention.

Family Violence and Service Providers: Implications for Training:

Abstract: Norman Ostbloom and Sedahlia Crase outlined a seesaw model for conceptualizing abuse causation and intervention." This model utilizes two aspects of the family that are ever-present: resources and stress. A functional family has resources that counteract their stressors; in a nonfunctional family the balance is tipped and the perceived resources are not adequate to meet the demands placed on the family. Violence occurs when this imbalance is present in families that have a predisposition to act violently under stress. Children and wives, because they tend to be weaker physically than husbands and parents, are often the targets of such tendencies to lash out physically. Furthermore, cultural norms that condone family violence may make abuse-parent to child, spouse to spouse, or some form of reciprocal violence-a seemingly acceptable way to handle an overbalance of stress. The seesaw model has been supported by empirical work. Gelles outlined three factors associated with family violence.' Specifically, violence is related to social stress in the family and to such stressful events as pregnancy and unemployment. 6 Social isolation, another factor, may various human service professionals. Although these service providers encounter numerous cases of family violence, their training in how to deal with violence is often deficient. It has become apparent that programs to train service providers in methods of dealing with domestic violence are sorely needed. This article offers program implications for such training.

Designing intervention programs for infants at risk: Considerations, implementation, and evaluation

Abstract: There are few syntheses of the burgeoning literature on intervention programs for high risk infants. It is the thesis of the present paper that this problem arises, in part, from lack of a suitable design and evaluative framework. Six intervention programs were selected as representatives of this field and their essential features are summarized. Building on these data, and drawing from human service administration and evaluation literataure, a model which can be used in the design, implementation and evaluation of intervention programs for infants and/or theirfamilies is then presented and discussed. It is suggested that application of this model will aid researchers, service providers and administrators involved with high‐risk infant programs by providing a framework suited to both ongoing and comprehensive evaluations.

Regulating the Quality of Psychotherapeutic Services

Abstract: This essay begins with the apparent paradox that mental health services are more lightly regulated than medical services The latter are typically subject to detailed licensure while the former, at least in Canada, are not This is so despite consumer information problems in choosing and evaluating service providers, and despite potentially adverse third-party effects The essay reviews the policy options available for regulating quality: on the output side, malpractice, criminal liability, administrative proscription of particular procedures, and government subsidization of particular services; on the input side, certification, licensure, public sector job specifications, and government subsidization of training inputs The authors argue that information about the relationships of training, service, and outcome, even among experts, is so imperfect and controversial that all available options are seriously flawed, especially licensure The authors conclude that much less frequently employed policy instruments may be as far as the government can prudently move in attempting to influence quality in the market for psychotherapeutic services These include multiple certification regimes, government subsidization of services, and training programs or administrative proscription of procedures at the fringe of this market

Service Level Management.

Abstract: Ricardo Mansur Mestrado Administração (concentração Controladoria) e Finanças. MBA em TI e Telecomunicações. Especializações em Negócios, Governança e Certificado Itil, Vasco, Governança de TI e Telecomunicações. Experiência em grandes corporações em Governança de TI, ROI, Convergência Tecnologica, Gerenciamento de TI, ERP, Business Intelligence, Segurança da Informação, Mobilidade, Missão Crítica, e-business Web Services, Supply Chain Management, CRM. Coordenador do curso Governança em TI da FIT. Diretor Técnico da NetCorp Enterprise Consulting. Autor do livro Governança de TI Metodologias e Melhores Práticas. ricardo.mansur@gmail.com

Conducting state and local health needs assessments. Designs and strategies.

Abstract: A comprehensive set of five needs assessment techniques designed to facilitate informed decisions about mental health services planning at the state or local level are presented. These include: (1) estimating the size of the target population based on statistical extrapolations from prevalence rates or inferences from indirect indicators; (2) surveys of institution-based populations; (3) surveys of service providers; (4) client-targeted surveys; and (5) surveys of key informants. Each technique is discussed in terms of its unique design considerations, strengths and weaknesses, the phase's association with its application, and estimated resource requirements. Mental health needs assessments can be conducted in a cost-effective manner, especially important in an era when rational decisions about the allocation of scarce resources are essential.

Quality of service in special transportation for the elderly and handicapped

Abstract: Special transportation for the elderly and handicapped is provided by a number of different types and sizes of organizations. Examples of different types of providers include private, non-profit social service agencies that primarily provide service for their own clients, transit authorities that operate a demand-responsive service to meet Federal requirements, and taxi companies that have purchase of service agreements with municipalities. This report describes the third year of a three-year study of the effect of the size and type of organization on the service provided. In the first year, economies of scale in special transport was investigated; in the second year, the effect of coordination on provision of special transportation was studied; and in the third and final year, a methodology to measure quality of service in the provision of transportation for the elderly and handicapped was developed. The methodology was used to develop quantitative measures of service quality. These measures were then used to determine the effect of size and type of organization on quality of service provided. This study developed three different measures of quality of service for special transportation for the elderly and handicapped. Two of the measures were indices of quality in which the index is composed of eight aspects weighted by their relative importance to quality. The aspects are: reliability; comfort; convenience; extent of service; vehicle access; safety; driver characteristics; and responsiveness or ease of dealing with the office. Each aspect is made up of attributes of service (e.g.: reliability includes attributes related to wait time and on-time performance). For the first index, the weights were developed from responses to a survey of a panel of experts. For the second index, the weights were developed from responses to a survey of elderly and handicapped people. The third measure used what the authors call production function or inout utilization analysis and was based on data from providers on the resources they use to produce the service. The three measures were applied to forty-two actual providers of special transportation in the Chicago region. Statistical analysis of the forty-two providers indicate that quality tends to increase as the size of the provider increases and that private providers (either for-profit or not-for-profit) tend to provide a higher quality of service than public providers.

Results of a parametric cost analysis of differences between urban and rural transportation services for transportation-disadvantaged persons

Abstract: It has been difficult in the past for local transportation service providers serving transportation-disadvantaged persons to accurately understand what their services should or will cost. This information is important for localities that contemplate the initiation, expansion, or evaluation of transportation services that differentiates among the various types and levels of service is important for federal, state, and local program managers because many use this information to apportion and distribute funds among local projects. A portion of the results from a study conducted by Ecosometrics, Inc., for the Administration on Aging, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is presented. The differences in costs of transportation services for the elderly in urban and rural areas are evaluated. Nevertheless, many of the services included in the study serve other transportation-disadvantaged groups; thus the results are applicable to multiclient services as well. Further, the parametric cost analysis performed in the study has analytical value beyond the differences in costs in urban and rural areas. The findings presented in the paper include (a) brief review of the literature on the differences in costs between urban and rural transportation services for the elderly, and (b) a report on the results of the parametric cost analysis performed during the study by using secondary data.

Measuring transportation system effectiveness

Abstract: This paper attempts to develop a strategy for measuring effectiveness in the delivery of transportation services within multimodal systems. It is one example of the kind of technique which utilizes a few reliable measures and is therefore more appropriate for the regular evaluation of system effectiveness. The strategy is applied in an analysis of system performance in Atlanta, Georgia for both existing and proposed modes. A principal concern is the determination of the distribution of services among areas whose residents have significantly different socioeconomic characteristics. Results indicate differences in service delivery which are helpful to decision-makers and/or service providers.

Higher-level protocols are not necessary end-to-end

Abstract: The higher-level communication protocols in computer networks, such as belonging to the OSI Transport through Application layers, are usually considered to have an end-to-end significance, that is the entities executing the protocol reside at the two respective ends of the connection, close to the application users. This question of end-to-end significance was in particular an issue in the discussion of the meaning of acknowledgements in the Transport layer, and in the distinction between the OSI Network and Transport layers. The OSI protocols are developed for the interworking of "Open Systems". It seems that an Open System may be, in particular, a distributed computing system which presents to its environment, for example through a gateway, the protocol behavior defined by OSI. In this case the Open System would use internally, possibly over a local area network, specific protocols, which may or may not be structured according to the OSI Reference Model, but which are different to the protocols defined for OSI. In this case the OSI higher-level protocols would be executed between the entities in the environment of the Open System (e.g. system of user A1) and the gateway of the Open System, which is not end-to-end, as indicated in the figure below. The purpose of this contribution is to point out that this situation can be considered normal (i.e. end-to-end significance is irrelevant) provided that the OSI services have a property, which we call in the following "concatenation property". A service specification has the concatenation property if two service providing subsystems may be concatenated such that the system (consisting of the concatenated subsystems) provides a service which has the same logical properties as the original services. (Clearly, the performance of the concatenated service would in general be lower). It is important to note that we assume that the services of the non-OSI system (e.g. service provider B) are logically identical to those defined for OSI (e.g. service provider A). In this case the concatenation entity has a straightforward function (see below). In the case that they are different, some adaptation may be performed which has, however, an impact on all users and could sometimes result in quite complex gateway functions. The OSI Transport service has the concatenation property to a large extent. It is sufficient to use a concatenation entity that generates service requests to the service provider B for each service indication received from service provider A (with same parameter values). A problem arising, however, is one of addressing. It is necessary that the addressing space within the service provider B be foreseen by the addressing conventions used within the service provider A (and inversely) such that a user connected to the service provider A may select an address which identifies a user connected to the service provider B. It is then necessary that all service indications generated by service provider A destined to users connected to service provider B be generated over the interface to the concatenation entity, and similarly in the opposite direction. Another problem is related to error reporting. It seems that a distinction between connection aborts generated by the user or service provider, respectively, is not possible in the manner defined for OSI. It seems that the services specified for the other higher layers of OSI have similar concatenation properties. We can see two conclusions from the above discussion: (1) If services have the concatenation property the question of end-to-end significance is irrelevant. Gateways may be constructed which realize the concatenation of two or more distributed system services. (2) The service specifications of OSI are the main documents on which the construction of OSI gateways is based. These specifications are therefore essential, not only as a basis for checking the consistency of several protocol layers within the OSI hierarchy, but also as as basis for interworking between existing systems according to OSI.

Determining the Learning Needs of the Older Adult In A Rural Community: Perceptions of the Service Provider:

Abstract: Perception of learning needs of older adults is examined on a community-wide basis. Two hundred seventy-five service providers in a rural location with a high concentration of older people (age 60+) were queried about types of needs, obstacles to learning, and program development. While it was found that instrumental needs are generally recognized among service providers, perception of those needs and associated aspects of learning are based on occupational orientation. Age of the service provider and number of contact hours were not related to perceived needs and problems of learning. The findings are discussed in terms of an expanding context of community involvement in providing educational services to the elderly.

The Selective Providers: Organization and Distribution Effects of Public Service Provision

Abstract: The purpose of this article is to describe some of the problems and possibilities of the field of research covering the relationship between public bureaucracy and its clients and, on the basis of this description, to discuss some questions which arise and their importance to theory formation. The questions discussed are chiefly related to the conditions which affects clients' ability to handle their relationship with public bureaucracies in accordance with assumed or explicitly formulated political goalhese effects are discussed in relation to ideals of social equality and the satisfaction of clients' needs.

Regional Planning of Mental Health Services: An Illinois Case Example

Abstract: Now that Reagan has ended a twenty-year pattern of federal involvement in setting mental health policy priorities, states must develop models for implementing and maintaining services to the mentally ill. The Illinois model of regional offices which plan and monitor programs is described. A case example showing how one such office developed services in a minority community is given. Examples of the work of other offices illustrate the flexibility of this model in meeting special community needs. With the Reagan administration's shift of the federal mental health funding to a block grant to each state, we need to look more closely at models for state roles in the mental health delivery system. Illinois provides a timely example because of its history of funding mental health services in the community and because of its relative lack of reliance on federal dollars. By 1980 half of the mental health catchment areas in the United States received federal funds (Neigher, et al., 1982). Only a third of the catchment areas in Illinois received federal funding, but all had some state-funded mental health services. This paper will briefly review the structure of services in Illinois from the 1960s to 1983. Illinois used a model of regional state offices to promote continuity of care between stateoperated hospitals and voluntary community services and to facilitate monitoring and accountability of state funds. The work of one such regional office in developing the delivery system in a minority community will be considered as a case study. To highlight how regional offices can tailor their work to the specific needs of the community, examples will be given of the work of two other offices. The changes instituted in early 1983 will be described and their potential limitations discussed. Finally, the applicability of the Illinois regional model for the current national situation will be discussed. Under Reagan's new federalism, the states have assumed responsibility for federal mental health, health and social service block grants, all at reduced funding. States should be considering models that can take into account the differing needs of various regions and communities and confront competition among various service providers for decreasing

Routes to the future of urban public transit

Abstract: This article discusses some of the managerial and technical changes needed to assure that the transit services needed in cities of the future will be available. There include diversification of the types of services provided, reductions in the scale of both service delivery and management bureaucracies, enhancement of the role of private providers, improvement of service efficiency, more productive negotiation with organized labour, service pricing in recognition of costs, and systematic management of travel demand. Factors limiting the potential role of new transit technology are discussed. Finally, the need for transit operating and management institutions to change, to become more responsive to markets, and to invite other, lower-cost providers to enter those markets is suggested. (Author/TRRL)