Assessing state vocational rehabilitation performance in serving individuals with disability

All social agencies that deliver services to individuals with disability need to periodically examine whether their goals and services are addressing the needs of their clients and consumers. This paper reviews the use of multi-attribute utility (MAU) analysis as a methodology for evaluating the goals and services of a midwestern state vocational rehabilitation (VR) agency in the USA. The MAU methodology is used in this state agency example to: (a) identify and clarify the VR agency's goals and services; (b) engage stakeholders in the determination of measurable attributes of these goals; and (c) illustrate the value of using MAU evaluation results for programme improvement and future evaluation comparisons. The article is intended to support agency administrative staff in designing comprehensive evaluations of programme goals and services, and in strategic planning and programme improvement efforts.