assignment 3

The Employee Assistance Program (EAP), established in 1989, is a program that is available for staff, and their family, at the University of Saskatchewan. Its purpose is to provide short-term counseling and other services to help alleviate stress and issues which may be detrimental to their work. There are one-on-one, group and online services available regarding family, health, nutrition, legal and financial issues. This program has a lot to offer the staff of the University, as well as the university as a whole. The university, who provides the funding for this program, will become a productive environment in which staff have somewhere to turn when facing issues that are impacting their ability to work effectively and efficiently.

Focusing the Evaluation

The focus of the current evaluation is to explore the effectiveness of these services. It will examine participants’ experiences and feelings about the program in order to determine whether they found the program accessible and useful.

The EAP has a mission statement that highlights a number of goals it hopes to achieve. It can be found on their website at www.usask.ca/eap/mission. Basically, the program sets out to provide support for employee problems, provide information and training to enhance functioning, and increase campus productivity by offering these services to employees.

Anyone who is looking into participating in this program would find this evaluation useful. Employees can review previous experiences in the program and determine if the EAP is something they might benefit from. Administrators of the EAP would also find this evaluation useful, as it will highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the program, and provide insight into ways in which the program might be improved.

The evaluation will seek to answer two main questions:
1. Are the available services an effective means of alleviating employee stress and other issues that are affecting their well-being?
2. Can these services be improved, and can additional services be provided?

Individual indicators will vary, depending on what aspect of the program the person had participated in. For example, participants who participate in nutritional counseling will develop a better understanding of nutrition. Questions that they answer before and after counseling will be an indicator of this acquired knowledge. Other indicators regarding the general effectiveness of individual programs will be self-reported levels of satisfaction with the program, and suggestions for future modifications. These questions will be addressed by utilizing a number of different research methods.



Collecting the Information
Method
Data will be collected differently, depending on the type of program a person has participated in. Some of the services are offered in group settings (smoking cessation), while others occur on a one-on-one basis (counseling). There are also a variety of different self-help tools available online (the Health and Wellness Companion).

Those who have participated in a group program will be asked to participate in focus groups. When they first contact the EAP, they will be asked if they would be willing to participate in a study. Each person who is willing to participate will be a part of two focus groups; one before they participate in the program and one when they are finished with the program. The groups will remain the same as the program in which they were a part of. They most likely would have developed a degree of rapport with each other, which may aide people in opening up regarding their experiences.

The first focus group will be used to get an idea of what issues the participants are currently having, and what they hope to achieve by participating. The second focus group will explore whether participating in the program had a positive impact on the issues that brought them to EAP. They will be asked to discuss their experiences, and suggest any ways n which the program might be improved.

Those who have participated in any type of one-on-one services, such as financial counseling, nutritional counseling, caregiving support services etc., will be asked to participate in an interview. The nature of the interviews will be very similar to the focus groups. There will be an interview before they participate regarding their expectations, and an interview after that will explore their experiences and suggestions for improvement.

Finally, anyone who participates in an online service will be asked to complete an online survey regarding their experience. All participants of the online services will be asked if they would be interested in participating in a study. If they agree, they will be directed to the online survey immediately after they complete the program session. They will be asked various questions regarding their happiness with the content, organization and the program in general. There will also be an open-ended question at the end of each survey that will ask participants what they liked and disliked about the program, as well as anything they would have liked to see included.

Using the Information
The data will be analyzed using a combination of quantitative and qualitative analyses. Quantitative analyses will be used to compare data that was collected both pre-and post-participation in the program. These analyses will determine whether there were any significant improvements based on participation. For example, as mentioned previously, an indicator of effectiveness of nutritional counseling would be acquired knowledge about nutrition. Participants will complete a survey about nutrition, and the pre- and post-participation results will be analyzed to see if there was a significant change. If knowledge regarding nutrition has significantly improved, then it can be concluded that the participants had learned something from the counseling they had received.

Reported levels of satisfaction will be analyzed, using basic descriptive analyses, to determine whether participants were happy with the program. However, a qualitative approach will be used for analyzing participants’ thoughts and feelings regarding strengths and weaknesses of the programs, as well as suggestions for changes. Qualitative statistical software will be used to identify common themes in participants’ responses in order to determine which areas of the program were best received, and which could use some adjustments.

Once this evaluation is completed, it will be posted on the EAP website (www.usask.ca/eap). Anyone who is interested in learning more about the program, thinking about participating, or thinks that a family member might participate, would benefit from reading this evaluation. It will provide an abundant amount of information specific to anyone who is wondering about the effectiveness of this program. By reading about others experiences, people will be able to make a more informed choice about becoming involved with the EAP themselves.