For fifteen years, CARE team members have provided evaluation services and technical assistance on the provision of behavioral health services in S.C. In 2001, CARE team members provided evaluation services on a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant, Measuring Outcomes of Residential Treatment for Emotionally Disturbed Children. This grant was a collaboration of state agencies including SCDMH, S.C. Department of Disabilities and Special Needs, the Continuum of Care and private behavioral health providers. Evaluation services from the CARE continued on various projects including a SAMHSA grant, Evaluation of the State Incentives Grants for Treatment of Persons with Co-Occurring Substance Related and Mental Disorders and SCDHHS’s Evaluation of the PRTF Waiver. Currently, CARE is evaluating implementation of SAMHSA’s SBIRT curriculum in USC graduate health training programs and a second SAMHSA grant, Palmetto Coordinated System of Care, to assess the effectiveness of wraparound services to prevent placement of children in residential treatment facilities.

The CARE team has a long history of collaborating with state agencies to evaluate systems of care to improve the health of various populations such as the elderly and disabled, veterans, children with behavioral health issues, populations with co-occurring disorders, and under- and un-insured populations. In addition to the grants/contracts mentioned above, the team has collaborated with the Lieutenant Governor’s Office on Aging to evaluate its CMS grant, Systems Transformation Grant funded (2005-2010) on the impact of aging and disability resource centers (ADRCs) across the state; the South Carolina Hospital Association (SCHA) on a Duke Endowment-funded project, AccessHealth, to evaluate the impact of collaborative networks of care for under- and un-insured populations; and the Live Well Kershaw grant funded by a state proviso to evaluate the impact of safety net collaboration in Kershaw County to meet the needs of the under- and un-insured populations.

For a majority of our past and current evaluations and other projects, our team has emphasized use of qualitative methods, including focus groups, interviews and surveys to gather perspectives of projects’ key stakeholders. These methods are used to understand the context for quantitative data findings— to “tell the story.” The above grants all included some type of qualitative evaluation component, primarily interviews and focus groups. Other collaborations for which the CARE team provided qualitative evaluation methods include S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control’s (SC DHEC) Maternal and Child Health Title V Needs Assessment to provide direction to the agency’s Maternal Child Health Bureau for its five-year Title V block grant application. Currently, the team is also providing qualitative evaluation services to the S.C. Children’s Trust’s HRSA grant, Maternal Infant and Early Childhood Home-visiting (MIECHV) Program to improve maternal and child health outcomes and to the S.C. Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy’s Office of Adolescent Health grant to increase the capacity of organizations’ and to expand communities’ provision of teen pregnancy prevention programs.

In the past ten years, the team has increased its expertise and use of quality improvement methodologies and tools. Quality improvement and evaluation methods have much in common and their integration is becoming increasingly more common. We believe that the use of both approaches improves the efficiency and effectiveness of program implementation. CARE has worked with S.C. Department of Health and Human Services for over ten years to evaluate its Medicaid eligibility determination processes to identify areas for policy and process improvement. Currently, the team is providing quality improvement consulting to the Palmetto Coordinated Systems of Care, the MIECHV grant, a CDC- funded, Colorectal Cancer Screening Program in South Carolina, to increase colorectal cancer screenings across the state, and the S.C. Adolescent and Reproductive Health Leadership Institute, a Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina- funded initiative to increase access to quality reproductive health services for adolescents.

Research Associate, Core for Applied Research & Evaluation 
Office of Research
Email: monalisa@email.sc.edu 

Research Associate, Core for Applied Research & Evaluation 
Office of Research
Phone: 803-251-8466
Email: christ36@mailbox.sc.edu 

Research Associate, Core for Applied Research & Evaluation 
Office of Research
Phone: 803-251-6315
Email: moncriea@mailbox.sc.edu 

Clinical Assistant Professor, Core for Applied Research & Evaluation 
Office of Research
Phone: 803-777-1309
Email: kenison@email.sc.edu 

Research Associate, Core for Applied Research & Evaluation 
Office of Research
Phone: 803-984-5508
Email: leakel@email.sc.edu 

Research Assistant Professor, Core for Applied Research & Evaluation 
Office of Research
Phone: 803-777-1100
Email: macauda@mailbox.sc.edu 

Director, Core for Applied Research & Evaluation 
Office of Research
Phone: 803-251-2297
Email: gillamps@mailbox.sc.edu 

Business Manager, Core for Applied Research & Evaluation 
Office of Research
Phone: 803-251-2257
Email: plyler@mailbox.sc.edu 

Research Assistant Professor, Core for Applied Research & Evaluation 
Office of Research
Phone: 803-251-6303
Email: workmanl@mailbox.sc.edu 

Research Associate, Core for Applied Research & Evaluation 
Office of Research
Phone: 803-251-2298
Email: murday@mailbox.sc.edu 

Research Associate, Core for Applied Research & Evaluation 
Office of Research
Phone: 803-251-2225
Email: zubizarr@mailbox.sc.edu 

Research Associate, Core for Applied Research & Evaluation 
Office of Research
Email: jtnance@email.sc.edu 

Administrative Assistant, Core for Applied Research & Evaluation 
Office of Research
Phone: 803-210-7870
Email: smithsm5@mailbox.sc.edu