Our Projects

Title: Evaluation of Positivity and Relaxation Training (PART) Mindfulness Curriculum at UMass Amherst
Partner: Office of Student Affairs and Campus Life
Funder: UMass Amherst
Summary: This evaluation is designed to better understand the experience of UMass students enrolled in PART courses and learn how mindfulness practice impacts students' well-being and stress. ​​Students complete an online questionnaire at the beginning of the semester and one at the end of the semester that asks about their feelings, physical and mental health, well-being, relationships, and health behaviors. CPE sought all permissions from the IRB, administered surveys, conducted all data analysis, and provided a report to the Office of Student Affairs and Campus Life with results.

Title: Evaluation of CoJourn program for first-year students
Partner: UMass Office of Student Affairs and Campus Life
Funder: UMass Amherst
Summary: Goals of this project are to understand how participating in the CoJourn program impacts student well-being and social connection. CoJourn is a semester-long program in which first-year students use compassionate judgment-free accountability partnerships to develop personal and professional goals and support each other in making meaningful change. The Center for Program Evaluation has sought permissions from the IRB, will administer all surveys to students online, will conduct all data analysis, and will provide a report back to the Office of Student Affairs and Campus Life.

Title: Pioneer Valley Outpatient Program
Partner: Behavioral Health Network, Inc
Funder: SAMHSA (H79SM085563-01)
Summary: The Center for Program Evaluation is partnering with Behavioral Health Network (BHN) to evaluate its two-year Community Mental Health Centers grant from SAMHSA. CPE staff are working collaboratively with BHN to evaluate a team-based model of care designed to improve client outcomes. CPE staff will be conducting semi-annual interviews with BHN clients in the team-based model of care, reporting their data to SAMHSA, and will compare outcomes of clients in the team-based program to clients in standard of care. CPE will also work with BHN to assess workforce satisfaction and retention.

Title: 988 Curriculum and Evaluation
Partner: Massachusetts Department of Public Health
Funder: SAMHSA  (H79 SM086047-01)
Summary: CPE staff are working with staff from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH) to evaluate the implementation of the state’s 988 suicide and crisis lifeline. CPE staff is tracking calls, call response times, screening for suicide and referrals made to behavioral health services.

Title: Massachusetts Comprehensive Suicide Prevention Program
Partner: Massachusetts Department of Public Health
Funder: Centers for Disease Control
Summary: The Center for Program Evaluation is providing evaluation services to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s (MDPH), Suicide Prevention Program for their current five-year Comprehensive Suicide Prevention Grant from the CDC.  The CPE team has worked with MDPH to develop an overall evaluation plan, developed data collection tools, conducted data collection, and will continue to share data with the MDPH team to guide their implementation over the coming years.

Title: Community Health Focus Groups
Partner: Communities that Care Coalition and Franklin Regional Council of Governments
Funder: SAMHSA
Summary: The Communities That Care Coalition brings together youth, parents, schools, community agencies, and local governments to promote the health and well-being of young people in Franklin County and the North Quabbin region. It is co-coordinated by the Partnership for Youth at the Franklin Regional Council of Governments (FRCOG) and Community Action Youth Programs. CPE staff partnered with the Communities That Care Coalition, FRCOG, and Early Childhood Mental Health Roundtable to assist in their community assessment and establish program evaluation measures regarding their State Opioid Response-Prevention in Early Childhood (SOR-PEC) grant awarded by SAMHSA.

Title: Assessment of needs of frontline service providers during COVID-19
Partner: Massachusetts Department of Public Health
Summary: CPE staff worked with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s (MDPH) Suicide, Violence and Injury Prevention Program (SVIPP) to implement a Needs Assessment among employees of front line service providers contracted or regulated by DPH, to better understand the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and related restrictions on their work and overall stress levels, and to determine additional support or training that MDPH could provide. CPE worked closely with SVIPP staff to develop the Needs Assessment tool, conduct online data collection and analysis and produced reports that SVIPP has used to implement changes in their programs.

Title: Understanding Health Needs of Older Adults in Franklin County
Partner: LifePath 
Summary: The CPE has partnered with LifePath, a nonprofit organization that focuses on senior citizens maintaining independence and quality of life, on their qualitative study investigating supports and barriers to healthy aging in Franklin County and the North Quabbin region. CPE staff supported LifePath in their development of focus group questions, transcription, and concluding report of themes, quotes, and recommendations for action.

Title: FRCOG Focus Groups
Partner: Franklin County regional Council of Governments
Summary: The Franklin County Regional Council of Governments (FRCOG) has contracted the Center for Program Evaluation to conduct a variety of key informant interviews and focus groups related to the Franklin County Community Health Needs Assessment and other FRCOG projects that range in topics from mental health, youth substance use, local resources for parents, healthy aging, and community protective factors for SUD recovery. CPE staff have developed interview and focus group questions in collaboration with FRCOG staff, have recruited participants, organized focus groups, facilitated focus groups, and shared back data in the form of formal reports to FRCOG.

Title: Health Needs Assessment, City of Brockton
Partner and Funder: Goddard Foundation
Summary: The Center for Program Evaluation is working with the Goddard Foundation to conduct a Community Needs Assessment in the city of Brockton, Mass. The Goddard Foundation will use this report to guide its future investments in grant resources and to assess the impact of its funding on overall community needs.

Title: Needs assessment and evaluation, Northampton Department of Community Care
Partner and Funder: City of Northampton, Department of Health and Human Services Commission
Summary: The CPE team is working with the Northampton DHHS and partners to design and conduct a needs assessment to support the launch of the Department of the Community Care’s community support programs.

Title: New England Center of Excellence in Vector-Borne Diseases
Partner: UMass Amherst
Funder: Centers for Disease Control
Summary: The CPE is providing evaluation support for UMass’s new Center of Excellence in Vector-Borne Diseases. Evaluation tasks include key informant interviews of regional experts in vector-borne disease, policy analysis, and assessments for student training and workforce development activities.