Discussion: Using a Logic Model to Focus Interventions and Achieve Desired Outcomes
In the discussion this week, you will begin to build a program using a logic model.
Imagine yourself as a social worker attempting to address the problem you identified last week (Week 4).
Use the logic model table in the learning resources to present your information. If you have problems with the table, read my previous post about how to make the table work in your textbox.
In this post, I am taking each element of the Walden instructions and providing details and examples for completing each prompt thoroughly and succinctly.
- Walden instruction: Post a completed logic model (in table format) for a practitioner-level intervention based on the problems and needs that you identified last week. Post a completed logic model (in table format) for a practitioner-level intervention based on the problems and needs that you identified last week. Link the entries across the table (see the examples below).
- In the table, describe the types of problems, the client’s needs, the underlying causes of problems and unmet needs. Then describe interventions that would lead to a change in the presenting conditions. Identify the short- and long-term outcomes that you think would represent an improved condition.
How to respond to the first two prompts:
First, orient your reader by naming the program and describing the intended clients or participants.
Enter this at the top of the text box:
- List a name for the program that you proposed in the Discussion for Week 4.
- Identify the type of clients or participants you would select for your program.
Second, enter information about your plan to address the problem in a table like the one below. If you need help with the table, see my other message.
Problem
Needs
Underlying Causes
Intervention Activities
Outcomes
Problem: enter the problem you identified in the discussion for Week 4. Remember that the problem defines what’s wrong.
Since this is a table format, be as brief as possible while providing enough detail to help your reader understand the issue.
Example of problems:
1) homes, businesses, and infrastructure damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Walden
2) lack of resources for basic needs during clean-up and rebuilding.
Needs: enter the items or services that your designated clients or participants (in #2, above) need to mitigate, resolve, or reduce the impact of the problem
Example of needs: shelter from the heat, bottled water, prepared meals during recovery from storm damage, extensive reconstruction assistance
Underlying causes: in this box, enter factors that contributed to the problem or are making the problem worse.
Example: poor construction of homes, businesses, and infrastructure due to local poverty
Intervention activities: enter a list of activities in this column that you will do to meet the needs. Be careful not to list actions that the client will take or goals they hope to achieve.
Keep your focus on what you, personally, as a social worker can do to meet the need, such as arranging day shelters, obtaining fresh water, and obtaining meal delivery services, coordinating volunteer groups from other areas to assist residents in repairing their homes.
There should be a 1:1 connection between the needs you identified and your intervention activities.
Outcomes: Enter 1-2 expected results that are short-term (nearly immediate) and 1-2 expected results that are longer-term (that is, outcomes that would occur as the needs are met) into this box. There should be a 1:1 correspondence between the expected or hoped-for outcomes and the interventions.
Example: reduction in heat-related disorders, disease, and food-borne illness; adequate sanitation and nutrition; community building during cleaning and rebuilding.
Your logic model would look like this:
Problem
Needs
Underlying Causes
Intervention Activities
Outcomes
Homes destroyed or damaged by Hurricane Walden
Temporary shelter
Portable meal service to provide nutrition for residents without power
Walden City lacks disaster response services
Poor quality housing due to poverty
Arrange services from World Central Kitchen provide one hot meal per resident and aid worker per day until power is restored
Write an emergency appeal to Blue Moon disaster services to provide water, hygiene items, and assistance with repairing residences (estimated 2 weeks)
Short-term outcomes:
Adequate nutrition
Safety from elements and heat
Long-term benefits:
Reduced risk of food-borne illness, hunger, and illness due to lack of sanitation
Improved relations in the community as people are assisted with repairs
General format for the table: You should keep your table concise and focused enough so that it is understandable to someone unfamiliar with the topic, but not so long that it becomes overwhelming.
_______________________________
Third, beneath the table you developed, write 1 to 2 paragraphs that elaborate on your practice-level model outline and cite resources that inform your views.
How to respond to this prompt:
Describe your practice-level model by providing the information listed below. You may have to use your imagination and clinical judgment for some of these:
- Describe the initial status of the problem. A common error in explaining a problem is assuming everyone else knows what it is. Include enough details to prevent confusion and misunderstandings with these questions:
- Briefly state the problem’s impact on the client(s) or participant(s), when and where it happens (if applicable), how frequently it happens, and/or how severely it affects them. (2-3 sentences).
- In 1-2 sentences, describe two data collection methods you would use to gain information about the problem before you begin your intervention and whom you would ask for information.
- Justify the intervention
Explain why your choice of interventions is relevant and would have a meaningful effect on resolving or reducing the problem. To show that your selected intervention activities are likely to be successful, support your rationale for choosing each intervention with a citation from academic journals or official government or organization records. Personal communication is acceptable if the person speaking is authorized to provide information or is an expert on the issue. (Provide one sentence to justify your choice of intervention and cite one source for each intervention activity.)
Example: Smith and Jones (2024) observed that providing clean water and a meal had significant effects on residents’ ability to recover from natural disasters. World Central Kitchen and Blue Moon Disaster Relief are arriving this week to begin serving meals from open-air kitchens (Chef José Andrés, personal communication, September 14, 2024; email from Disaster Repair Coordinator from Blue Moon Disaster Relief Services).
- Describe two or more methods you would use to monitor the effects of the intervention(s) on clients, participants, and others who would be affected by it, such as concerned community members, staff, supervisors or other stakeholders. Methods for measuring change might include screening tools, interviews, focus groups, or observations of specific behaviors or events, to name a few (your choice). The handout on data collection methods from the Week 4 assignment may be useful for this question (2-4 sentences).
- Using APA format, cite your references in a list beneath this section.
Resources:
- Dudley, J. R. (2020). Social work evaluation: Enhancing what we do (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press.
- Chapter 6, “Needs Assessments” (pp. 115–147)
- Luck, K. E., Doucet, S., & Luke, A. (2020). The development of a logic model to guide the planning and evaluation of a navigation center for children and youth with complex care needsLinks to an external site.. Child & Youth Services, 41(4), 327–341. https://doi.org/10.1080/0145935X.2019.1684192
- University of Kansas Center for Community Health and Development. (n.d.). Developing a logic model or theory of changeLinks to an external site.. In Community toolbox. https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/overview/models-for-community-health-and-development/logic-model-development/main