Abstract

EVALUATION OF HUMAN SERVICE PROGRAMS-edited by C. Clifford Attkisson, William A. Hargreaves, Mardi J. Horowitz, and James E. Sorenson; Academic Press, New York City, 1978, 492 pages, $24.50. Reviewed by Theodore W. Lorei, M.S.W. terests, in addition to those whose prime interest is evaluation. There is enough breadth for the generalist, and enough detail for the specialist. The book contains 17 chapters grouped into five sections: Introduction to the Field, Integrated Management Information Systems, Assessment of Community Service Needs, Measurement and Evaluation of Program Effectiveness, and Retrospect and Prospect. Part 1 (five chapters) sketches the history of Amencan health and welfare programs and discusses the emerging human-service concept. Human services” is not just a fancy name for health and welfare programs and maybe education and corrections too); it connotes the recognition that clients often do not have single problems such as alcoholism, blindness, or unemployment. They may have several problems and hence need easy access to a whole range of services-integrated “human services”-rather than the traditional categonical services. Of course, when the latter are properly linked, they become human services. The further development of such delivery systems requires a rational allocation of scarce resources, and program evaluation is