A naturalistic inquiry of a community-based organization that has initiated a process to integrate compliance monitoring, quality assurance and program evaluation activities

The emergence of community-based services for people with disabilities has been accompanied by increased demands for accountability by community-based organizations (CBOs). Three forms of accountability are compliance monitoring, quality assurance and program evaluation. Most CBOs utilize independent approaches to these accountability components which tends to result in duplication of effort and information gaps.; St. John's Community Services (SJCS) is a multi-state organization that provides services for people with developmental disabilities. SJCS has initiated an endeavor to integrate quality assurance, compliance monitoring and program evaluation. In that the delivery of services to individuals with developmental disabilities affects the health, safety and quality of life of over one million individuals and involves the expenditure of billions of tax dollars, questions with inherent importance addressed by this dissertation are what process does SJCS follow to develop its integrated system (Quality Systems), and what are the lessons learned?; A naturalistic inquiry that yielded a case study was conducted to address the questions. The inquiry found Quality Systems is comprised of two main components: (1) organizational standards, and (2) measurement. Standards include SJCS' benchmarks as defined by its mission, core values, guiding principles and service delivery protocol. Measurement encompasses compliance monitoring, quality assurance and program evaluation methods geared to measuring organizational performance relative to defined standards.; The Quality Systems process has been comprised of four phases: (1)  conceptualization, which includes initial reasons and preliminary goals for the system, and the formation of an approach for its development; (2) standards development, which is the establishment of organizational standards for performance; (3) instrumentation , which has entailed the development of data collection instruments and procedures, and automation; and, (4) implementation, which includes the initial execution of Quality Systems and future plans. It has been a complex and time consuming process but one that has clarified and refined SJCS' standards for quality and expected outcomes, and has resulted in a comprehensive measurement system that serves to ascertain the organization's performance, and to enhance decision-making and program improvement.