Programmatic Quality (before and after a CTRS)

I had the wonderful opportunity to attend the “Programmatic Quality: Before and After the Introduction of a Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist (CTRS).” It was presented by Carolyn McDowell, M.Ed., CTRS on Wed. Sept. 21, 2011 at the American Therapeutic Recreation Association’s 2011 annual conference in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Carolyn had presented the effects of creating a CTRS position for a day program that served adults with developmental disabilities. She covered the restructuring of the program, satisfaction surveys (prior to) and (after) a CTRS, and the justification for a CTRS position.
I’m very pleased with what Carolyn has been doing!

Penn-Mar Human Services in the Baltimore area has been providing services for consumers since 1980.

Carolyn was hired as a CTRS in 2012. The day program was previously described as, “oh, that is a place where they do arts and crafts.”

Carolyn didn’t want the day program to be described this way. She took time to survey consumers, families, and staff.

Previously consumers were passively sitting all day. Some of the consumers would participate in a preferred activity such as a book or puzzle. There weren’t any real activity programming being provided for the consumers. They were sitting around in an activity room (that looks like a warehouse).

Carolyn was specifically hired to quality assurance. She helped to assure quality programs were being provided for this program. The new programs consisted of: social skills training, expressive arts, physical fitness at the gym, and a self-selected activity time. There are also community outings too.

In one year (from 2010 to 2011) surveys showed that consumers were more actively engaged in programs. Carolyn claimed that they’re not where they want to be yet, but they have made positive changes.

I think what Carolyn is doing for this population is wonderful. She is helping assure that consumers are receiving quality programs that could help the consumer to develop skills that could help them to obtain a job.

The benefits (as evidenced by 2011) surveys show improvement in a one-year timeframe!
Here are some of the take-home lessons that I received from this session:
Develop a satisfaction survey for the patients/ customers/ clients/ students/ consumers who you’re providing services for. I think a simple rating scale would be appropriate (“0” meaning not happy at all to “5” being very happy with numbers in between.
Questions could focus on several areas of programming, including:

Social, physical, cognitive, leisure, spiritual, time of group sessions, schedule, group setting/ environment, etc. Naturally questions should reflect the population being served. These questions should also be worded so the consumers taking the survey would understand it.

I had the opportunity to do something similar to what Carolyn has done while I was working on my graduate degree in Recreational Therapy while taking a consulting course at Indiana University.

I surveyed patients and staff about programs at a residential treatment facility for teens with offending issues in 2004. I regret to say I don’t have these survey results here right now. Several of the teens wanted more activities during group times opposed to watching t.v. and movies. They wanted more physical fitness activities too. Here was one of my surprise findings. Several of the direct care staff who oversees patients didn’t feel comfortable with providing group activities due to lack of experience, training, and other reasons.

I developed an Activity Training Program that taught the direct care staff how to lead group activities. I enjoyed providing the training session the most! And I felt the staff at this program got a lot of benefits from the training too. I should have done a follow-up on the training.

You may want to develop a satisfaction survey for your setting to assess your own setting. Develop improvement plans, Implement them and evaluate the outcomes. It sounds like the Rec. Therapy APIE process to me.