Goal #2: To Improve the Quality of Mental Healthcare by Elucidating the Impact of Mental Health Stigma on Ethnic Minority Groups

DNP Scholarly Program Evaluation

The pursuit of quality mental healthcare remains an agenda for many governments and healthcare agencies across the globe. Quality improvement measures in mental healthcare have long been centred on resource allocation, with efforts skewed towards resource expansion and addressing identified barriers to service provision. The DNP project sought to address the stigmatization of mental healthcare in ethnic minority groups. This project was premised on the quality improvement initiatives in mental healthcare and is aimed at providing recommendations that will see knowledge expansion and subsequent reduction of stigma on mental health illness across ethnic minority communities. This paper seeks to evaluate the effectiveness of this project and detail how data will be analyzed and the results utilized.

Evaluation Models

Evaluation models provide a systematic way of using data to answer questions about a program. These models focus on the several objects of the project to ascertain its effectiveness in answering its intended question (Follwell et al., 2021). Several evaluation models exist. The goal-based model, postulated by Michael Scriven, remains suitable in evaluating the DNP project on the impact of mental health stigmatization in ethnic minority groups.

The Goal-Based Model

The goal-based evaluation model focuses on the goals and objectives of the project. It assesses the project outcomes against the stated objectives. In this regard, the stated objectives form the metrics upon which the program is evaluated. The evaluators’ role, in this respect, is to gather and analyze data on how the program outcomes best conform with the objectives and give a recommendation based on this conformity (Follwell et al., 2021). A critical question asked when this model is used is whether the program attained its goals.

Rationale for Choosing the Goal-Based Model

The goal-based model seeks to assess the conformity of the program outcomes with the stated objectives. This model is best suited to evaluate the project on quality improvements in mental healthcare through elucidation of the impacts of mental health stigma. This is because this model interrogates the impacts, effectiveness, and efficiency of the project in answering the research question. By gathering data on how mental health stigma impacts communities and individuals, this project can make recommendations that inform quality improvements in mental healthcare. The success or failure of the project will be determined by how well it addresses the stated objectives. As Alhaj (2019) notes, the goal-based approach in evaluating programs is impact-based and useful when the project prospect is to change organizational processes. In this project, the outcomes are expected to inform aspects of mental healthcare that result in quality enhancement.

Evaluation of Objectives

Scholarly projects often seek to address gaps in contemporary medical practice. Lee et al. (2020) note that the effectiveness of scholarly projects is determined by how best they answer clinical questions and the recommendations they give for improving clinical processes. In their setting, projects usually define the clinical questions they seek to answer. For instance, the quality improvement in mental healthcare project sought to identify barriers to mental healthcare and how mental health stigma impacts patients with mental health illnesses. The success of the project will be evaluated based on how it addresses these project goals and the methodologies it utilizes to address them.

Goal #1: To Identify Barriers to Quality Mental Healthcare

The resolve to enhance the quality of mental healthcare among ethnic minority groups has been impeded by several factors. One of the ways to address this is to identify individual barriers to quality mental healthcare in these communities. Saade et al. (2023) note that the traditional problems of healthcare disparity and poor access to healthcare that affect ethnic minority groups are often compounded in mental healthcare. Identifying individual barriers to mental healthcare among ethnic minority groups is thus fundamental in quality improvement measures for mental healthcare among members of this group. This goal will be evaluated based on data review. The objectives to effectively meet this goal are to locate literature on barriers to mental healthcare, analyze data obtained from these resources, and consolidate these findings to elucidate individual barriers to mental healthcare among ethnic minority groups.

Objective #1: Locating Literature on Barriers to Mental Healthcare

Several studies have been done on mental healthcare. Resources that detail specific bar