What's the PROOF intervention works and is worth the time, effort, and money

Too often many people in the helping professions have the attitude that they are doing a good thing which should not require documentation or accountability, let alone measurable outcomes. Too often and too easily
data is manipulated, just as it often is in advertising, with the intent of selling a product or service being a higher priority than objective information on what works, what doesn't, and what really IS the cost
benefit ratio. These times are hopefully coming to an end. It is a disservice to the intended beneficiaries of the intervention and it is a disservice to those who are paying the bill...and really, it is a disservice to the intervention provider who isn't required to hone his or her skills and provide the right therapy at the right time.

It is too easy to write objectives in such a way as to show goals and objectives being met. It is too easy to say progress is being made; but withholding or simply not gathering crucial information that might give an indication if that progress has been a result of the intervention or perhaps other variables such as maturation or...(?).

One of the only ways to have a clear indication that real progress is being made is to compare against truly objective scores resulting from objective norm referenced assessments determined from direct observation and testing. These include assessments such as a Battelle, or Bayley, or an IQ score. There are many other assessments which can and will give you a standard deviation and Z score which will provide you with a better understanding of REAL progress. There are also other assessments which approach this level of integrity, validity, and reliability. There are also some assessments that while on the surface and through research, demonstrate a fairly high level of validity and reliability, unfortunately when in the hands of or reported by individuals with a high motivation to skew the results, they often lack good integrity. This can include the assessments previously mentioned.

Another fairly concrete way to look at progress is to look at real outcomes, outcomes based upon specific criteria, such as recidivism and employment; however, there are common misrepresentations in this data as well such as low recidivism back into a juvenile justice system while the same youth end up on an adult system (hardly a real success) or low unemployment rates but high underemployment and many people who have simply stopped looking for work or by statistical manipulation have been removed from the data.

So what to do? Assure the best assessments possible, and verify results on a random basis. Provide and pay for services which provide the best average results and the best average cost benefit ratio.