Discussion: Planning a Needs Assessment-Peer Response

Discussion: Planning a Needs Assessment-Peer Response

ORDER NOW FOR AN ORIGINAL PAPER ASSIGNMENT: Discussion: Planning a Needs Assessment-Peer Response

Planning a Needs Assessment-Peer responses
You need to write a separate response for each peer’s posting each response needs to be supported with at least two references.

To begin the discussion of needs assessments, it is important to identify exactly what a needs assessment is. According to Royse & Padgett (2016), “Needs assessments are broadly defined as attempts at estimating problems that exist within a community or a client population.” Special Olympics does not at this time appear to be a problem for the individuals served but more for the community that does not understand them which in turn poses a problem for a client population. There is information that will need to be acquired for instance the age of the population, the background, the socioeconomic status of the individuals, etc. There are many ways in which on can get information such as the Census Bureau. According to Royse & Padgett (2016), “At a minimum, census data can provide you with estimates of the population in portions of the city, county, or state that your agency services and at a minimum you can compare this information against your agency’s clientele to see if certain demographics are being served by your agency.” The needs assessment should be done keeping in mind that the population being served are already vulnerable individuals within the population and ensure that them and their confidentiality are being protected at all times. People fear what they do not understand and they can become judgemental. According to Calley (2009), “A needs assessment identifies and prioritizes the clinical needs of a population. Conversely, an asset map identifies existing strengths (e.g., community organization and cohesion) and resources in the target region (e.g., community organizing practices, social service organizations). The results of the needs assessment and the asset map can be compared to see where identified needs can be addressed using existing resources. ”

Needs assessments can be a major part of ensuring programs are effective and try to assist the individuals that are utilizing these programs. According to Calley (2009), “Comprehensive clinical program development in mental health counseling involves design, implementation, and evaluation. It therefore requires broad-based planning that takes a tremendous amount of work. It also requires scientific, business, and clinical knowledge and skills. Because mental health counselors are often responsible for program design as well as administration, it is essential that they be competent in comprehensive program development.”

References:

Calley, N. G. (2009). Comprehensive program development in mental health counseling: Design, implementation, and evaluation. Journal of Mental Health Counseling, 31(1), 9-21. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.library.capella.edu/docview/198672063?accountid=27965

Royse, D., Thyer, B. A., & Padgett, D. K. (2016). Program evaluation: An introduction to an evidence-based approach (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning. ISBN: 9781305101968.

2nd Peer Posting

Reasons for needs assessments pertaining to determine whether existing interventions are known to or are acceptable to potential clients and interventions and resources to address the problem that exist in adolescent substance program completion (Royse, Thyer, & Padgett, 2016). Types of needs that are applicable to the hypothetical adolescent substance abuse treatment retention program includes accessibility, awareness or availability of services, and acceptance of the services offered with the program. More specifically with accessibility, substance abuse treatment with adolescents can be court mandated due to probation or the like and the program may or may not be accessible to the program participants. Considerations of these needs include the location of the program and participants access to reliable transportation, the cost of services, hours of operation, and whether the participants speak a language other than English or not, and past participant reviews or what potential participants may have heard about the program. Potential sources of information for the needs assessment can include probation officers and other legal personnel, school officials, parents, participants, and community groups who are concerned about or have expressed needs, felt needs, and comparative needs for effective adolescent substance abuse treatment programs. The needs assessment could be conducted with multicultural awareness and sensitivity to those who have unmet needs by collecting data from a “needs” and “wants” perspective by involving stakeholders in the needs assessment process and by being mindful of perceived differences in those two perspectives (Royse, Thyer, & Padgett, 2016; Calley, 2009).

References

Calley, N. G. (2009). Comprehensive program development in mental health counseling: Design, implementation, and evaluation. Journal of Mental Health Counseling, 31(1), 9–21.

Royse, D., Thyer, B. A., & Padgett, D. K. (2016). Program evaluation: An introduction to an evidence-based approach (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.

You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.

Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.

Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.

The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS

Discussion Questions (DQ)

Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.
Weekly Participation

Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.
APA Format and Writing Quality

Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.
Use of Direct Quotes

I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.
LopesWrite Policy

For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.
Late Policy

The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.
Communication

Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me:
Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.