Low Cost Needs Assessment for a Rural Mental Health Center

Abstract

An inexpensive needs assessment was conducted using volunteer university students as telephone interviewers. The procedure and findings are described in terms of the literature, and the applicability of the low‐budget approach to other settings is discussed.

The survey of Need to guidance in high school students of theoretical branches

“…In the field of professional counseling, needs assessments have been used in various practice setting including schools (Cohen & Angeles, 2006), universities (Harrar, Affsprung, & long,2010), mental health agencies (MacDevitt, 1987), and correctional facilities (Laux et al ,2008).The needs of various demographic groups have also been examined to help identify their unique counseling needs including children and adolescents (Drefs, 2002;Kroll, Harrington, &Bailley,2000), refugees (chung &Bemak,2002), rural clients (MacDevitt & MacDevitt, 1987), and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans gender people (smith, McCaslin, Chang, Martinez, &McGrew,2010).…”

Systematic Need Assessment: A Primer

“…While there are various models of need assessment (MacDevitt & MacDevitt, 1987;Orthner, Smith, & Wright, 1986), need assessment is in fact bound by four general parameters. First, the target, or unit of analysis, must be determined; second, a method to contact the target must be specified; third, some measurement scheme must be developed; and fourth, data must be to be interpreted to decision makers.…”

“…Need assessment, defined by Rossi and Freeman (1982, p. 90) as the "systematic appraisal of type, depth, and scope of problems as perceived by study targets or their advocates," has sporadically been addressed in the counseling literature. Indeed, a review of the past 10 years of this journal located only three articles (MacDevitt & MacDevitt, 1987;Newton, Angle, Schuette, & Ender, 1984;Skible, 1986) specifically addressed to need assessment, perhaps because need assessment has tended to be associated with large community-based programs, such as in mental health and vocational rehabilitation. Need assessment techniques are, of course, equally applicable to such settings as schools and residential halls, indeed virtually any setting where programs could benefit from development of clear goals, documentation of a rationale for existence, and determination of service priorities.…”