Development of an outcome monitoring system for crisis telephone ...

Development of an Outcome Monitoring System
9
Program Logic Model for Tel-Aide Outaouais
Client needs. As shown in Table 2 and similar to DCO, the client group for which
the crisis telephone services of TAO are intended to serve are persons in the community who
are experiencing suicidal crisis, acute or ongoing emotional distress, social isolation, severe
and persistent psychiatric difficulties, or interpersonal conflict. Telephone services by
volunteers at TAO are intended to provide them immediate access to assistance, an
inexpensive alternative to professional services, confidentiality, non-judgmental aid,
assistance with coping with emotional distress and/or a psychiatric condition, assistance
coping with traumatic life situations, and information and referral to services in the
community.
Inputs. Human resources for the services include 4.5 FTE staff, and 58 part-time
volunteers. In addition to personnel, other resources required to operate the service are:
offices for full-time regular staff, call centre facilities and equipment, instructional and
training resources, and office supplies.
Service activities. Also similar to services offered by DCO, service activities of
TAO include answering calls, determining appropriate referrals for callers, responding to
requests for services, coordinating emergency response and referrals when necessary,
documenting calls according to TAO reporting procedures, training and supervising
volunteers, and publicizing TAO services.
Outputs. Table 2 specifies a variety of outputs associated with crisis telephone
services that include the number of calls, number of hours of services provided to callers by
volunteers, number of training sessions provided to volunteers, number of referrals made to
community agencies, and number of different public education activities provided by TAO
staff.
Short-term outcomes. Unlike the DCO PLM, the TAO PLM identified only shortterm
outcomes. These short-term outcomes were: decrease in distress level, decrease in
problem severity, decrease in suicidal intent, increase in effective use of health services,
decrease in feeling of isolation, decrease in requests for professional services, and increase in
savings to the health care system.
Validation of Program Logic Models Based on Research Literature
In the literature review examining research on the quality and effectiveness of crisis
telephone services conducted for this project, twenty studies were identified (Lebel & Aubry,
2004). Findings in these studies suggest that callers perceived the assistance they receive
from crisis telephone services as being useful and as having responded to their expectations.
They also viewed the telephone counselors as being competent and as having provided them
with good referrals. Callers also reported being satisfied with the ease of accessibility of
crisis telephone services and perceived these services as a worthwhile alternative to
traditional services for addressing their problems.
Centre for Research on Community Services