COSIG CONFERENCE BROCHURE.pdf - Drexel University College ...

Fidelity to Autonomy Principles
1. Both the Lodge and the Sponsoring Agency endorse full autonomy as the
ultimate goal.
2. A system is in place which adjusts autonomy commensurate with Lodge
performance.
3. The Lodge is dependent on resources from a single source.
a. If yes, a plan exists to diversify.
Yes No
Satisfaction
Although choices are often limited by an under-developed community mental health system, the
Fairweather philosophy is based on the assumption that Lodge members participate voluntarily.
One of the implications of voluntary participation is that adherence to the principles,
implementation of the practices, and even the production of desirable outcomes, are meaningless
unless the participants are satisfied that their basic needs are being met.
Most surveys of the needs/wants/desires of people with serious mental illness produce the same
general results with respect to the BIG 3 (not always in the same order): a “nice place to live,” a
“good job,” and friends. It is a given that a Lodge provides housing, but is it a “nice place to
live?” Does the employment provided meet the standard of a “good job?” Are the other
participants really “friends?” And does allegiance to the autonomy principles and a low staffing
ratio actually produce empowerment? The most direct way to answer these questions is to ask
the participants.
However, one limitation of satisfaction surveys is that some people always express satisfaction,
even while planning to leave the program, and others will complain bitterly for years but never
contemplate leaving. (This phenomenon is not exclusive to mental illness.) It is important,
therefore, to measure retention -- a less direct, but potentially more telling strategy for measuring
satisfaction. So we add:
Proposed Outcome Measure #15:
The percentage of participants, at a given starting point, still participating at a certain benchmark.
Public Interest
The taxpaying public has a legitimate interest in the cost-effectiveness of any program supported
with public funds. So even though it is an imperfect measure of Lodge success, and not
necessarily tied to the Lodge mission, we add:
Proposed Outcome Measure #16:
Number of days of in-patient psych hospitalization as percentage of participant-days.
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