What kind of evaluation is this? Process or outcome? Please explain why. Scott, R. (2000). Evaluation of a mobile crisis program:...

An outcome evaluation examines the changes created by a program, while a process evaluation looks at how the change (or changes) was created. The study by Scott (2000) examined the effectiveness of a mobile crisis unit that handled 911 calls. The study looked at mostly outcome variables but included a process variable as well.

The researchers studied the demographic variables, hospitalization rates, and arrest rates of 73 psychiatric emergencies treated by the mobile care unit....

An outcome evaluation examines the changes created by a program, while a process evaluation looks at how the change (or changes) was created. The study by Scott (2000) examined the effectiveness of a mobile crisis unit that handled 911 calls. The study looked at mostly outcome variables but included a process variable as well.

The researchers studied the demographic variables, hospitalization rates, and arrest rates of 73 psychiatric emergencies treated by the mobile care unit. They also measured the costs of these interventions and compared all of these variables to 58 psychiatric emergency situations treated by the police in 1995. The researchers also collected data about consumers' and police officers' satisfaction with the program. They found that the mobile unit was able to handle 58% of the cases without hospitalization, compared to 28% of the cases handled by the police, a difference that was significantly significant. The costs per case were 23% lower in the mobile unit than the police unit, and both consumers and police rated the mobile crisis unit in a positive way using a Likert scale. The arrest rates between the two groups did not show a statistically significant difference.

Many of the variables measured were related to outcome. For example, the number of hospitalizations, the cost per case, the arrest rate, and the police and consumer satisfaction scores were all outcome variables because they related to the effectiveness of the program in different ways. However, the data related to the demographic variables was related to a process measure because it was about the way in which the mobile health unit served the community.