Blog 4- Abbi Herrold easily

This week in class we discussed situations in which e-mental health may be superior to traditional care in addition discussing program evaluation. We went into depth about the program logic model (PLM) as well as the four step model of program evaluation. For example we could evaluate "Operation Reach Out" an app designed to aid in suicide prevention by storing emergency contacts and information about a person's mental health history. The input for this program might include the cost to create the app, cost to advertise the app, hiring people to monitor the app, hand having people available to tech support for the app.This may also include computers, smartphones, and software used to create the app. The output might include  adapting to different software (android vs iphone), finding local resources to be provided on the app, training staff how to use technology, etc. The target population may consist of teenagers and young adults, or anyone who is in frequent use of applications on their smartphone. The short-term outcomes could include teaching people how to prevent suicide, raising awareness in the prevalence of suicide, being able to communicate with others about suicide, and being able to use the app efficiently and as intended. The long term outcome could include lower rates of attempted suicide and less death as a result of suicide. I feel as if the goal of reducing suicide via an application may be a slightly overachieving goal, but perhaps it is possible with the right team, proper use, and consistent re-evaluation.

I see many ways in which the program logic model and four-step model of program evaluation would be practical. As a future clinician I could sit down with a patient and 1) diagnose them and determine if whether my primary goal is to manage their symptoms or return them to normal daily functioning, 2) figure out what the best way to treat this patient may be ( Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, medication, etc.), 3) determine it the treatment in which I have implemented seem to be helping, making things worse, or showing no difference?, 4) decide if this treatment will be sustainable for long-term use or may other methods be more efficient? I could then evaluate this by asking my patient some questions via a survey or short interview in addition to feedback from other mental health professionals.