A Feasible Evaluation Approach for Community Organizations: An Evaluation of the Healthy Relationships Program with Vulnerable Youth

Utilizing feasible methods for the evaluation of programming is essential, and this is particularly true for community-based settings that seek to evaluate the effectiveness and value of their implemented programs. However, there is a gap in the literature regarding feasible research practices with vulnerable youth. This dissertation presents the pilot evaluation and implementation of a feasible measurement tool for community-based organizations to evaluate a relationships, mental health, and violence-prevention program, the Healthy Relationships Program – Enhanced (HRP-Enhanced) for vulnerable youth. Chapter One comprises a review of the literature regarding the importance of community-based programming, an overview of the HRP-Enhanced, and feasible evaluation methods. Study 1 (Chapter Two) involved piloting a retrospective pre-then-post survey that we developed at the Centre for School Mental Health. The participants in our studies completed the HRP-Enhanced in various community-based settings, such as child protection/welfare care, mental health service organizations, and youth justice settings. After piloting the survey, we made revisions based on the quantitative and qualitative data collected from the survey and participant interviews. Study Two (Chapter Three) used the revised measure to explore the impacts of the HRP-Enhanced on youth, predominantly through qualitative insights gained through scenario questions from participating youth. Results suggested that the program successfully increased youths’ knowledge and skills about healthy relationships, mental health, and help-seeking. Overall, this research contributes to the broader literature on feasible evaluation for program evaluation in community and social service settings, providing considerations about the balance of collecting rich data and utilizing feasible research processes.