Friday, 14 January 2005 - 12:00 PM

This presentation is part of: Poster Session I

The Young Women’s Transition to Independence Project: The Development of a Consensus Building Process

Purpose: To present a case study describing the a community consensus building process to plan for and develop intensive case management services for young women aged 16-25 with alcohol and/or drug involvement with the aim of facilitating their transition to independence. Methods: This formative evaluation utilized a non-experimental, longitudinal design that incorporates qualitative components consisting of semi-structured individual key informant interviews and focus group interviews. The focus groups provide the perceptions, impressions and insights of the experiences of the participants; and are combined with data gleaned from key informant interviews with coalition members to highlight the experiences of the consortium in reaching a consensus. The study period for the project ran concurrently with the consensus-building portion of this project. Data was collected in four waves at three-month intervals timed to coincide with the writing of quarterly reports for the funding source. Supplemental quarterly narrative reports were presented to participants to solicit ongoing feedback. This ongoing input loop was utilized to ensure the authenticity of the voice of participants and allow for the use of this information to inform decisions in the process Results: Analyses are based on summaries of fifty-one (51) individual interviews conducted with key informants during the first year of the project and the results of three group interviews conducted with all of the participants who were present at the monthly general membership meetings in January, May, and August of 2003. Implications for Practice: The project served as a demonstration of a meaningful consensus building process. Specifically, the project was able to: 1) reach consensus on a definition of the target population, an operational philosophy on treatment, and shared principles and values to guide the process; 2) develop a case management model as a system of care for the target population; 3) facilitate a resource assessment process; and 4) provide networking opportunities to develop a sense of community among service providers who would not have had the opportunity to interact with each other otherwise.

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