The Charitable Choice provision and the Bush Administration's National Faith-Based Initiative have broadened the scope of social services delivered through faith-based organizations. There are expectations that these faith-based social service providers will be more effective - but how should that effectiveness be measured? Faith-Based Social Services: Measures, Assessments, and Effectiveness explains the nature and quality of religion-based social service delivery while serving as a point of reference for future research and work. This unique source tackles the important, complex issue of measuring the effectiveness of faith-based social services in comparison to secular services while providing analysis of the latest available studies.

Stephanie C. Boddie, Ram A. Cnaan

• Section I: Conceptual Analysis
• Introduction (Ram A. Cnaan and Stephanie C. Boddie)
• Chapter 1. Setting the Context: Assessing the Effectiveness of Faith-Based Social Services (Ram A. Cnaan and Stephanie C. Boddie)
• Chapter 2. Finding Congregations: Developing Conceptual Clarity in the Study of Faith-Based Social Services (Charlene C. McGrew and Ram A. Cnaan)
• Chapter 3. Detecting and Decomposing the Faith Factor in Social-Service Provision and Absorption (George M. von Furstenberg)
• Chapter 4. Faith-Based Programs and the Role of Empirical Research (Bruce A. Thyer)
• Chapter 5. Social Service Research and Religion: Thoughts About How to Measure Intervention-Based Impact (David A. Zanis and Ram A. Cnaan)
• Chapter 6. Testing Faith: Improving the Evidence Base on Faith-Based Human Services (Robert L. Fischer and Judson D. Stelter)
• Section II: Emerging Empirical Findings
• Introduction (Stephanie C. Boddie and Ram A. Cnaan)
• Chapter 7. How Do They Fit? Assessing the Role of Faith-Based Organizations in Social Service Provision (Elizabeth A. Graddy)
• Chapter 8. Investigating the Implementation of Charitable Choice (Wolfgang Bielefeld)
• Chapter 9. The Effectiveness of Faith-Based Welfare-to-Work Programs: A Story of Specialization (Stephen V. Monsma)
• Chapter 10. A Faith-Based Alternative Youth Education Program: Evaluating a Participatory Research Approach (Jill Witmer Sinha)
• Chapter 11. Evaluating the Effectiveness of Faith-Based Welfare Agencies: Methodological Challenges and Possibilities (Susan E. Grettenberger, John P. Bartkowski, and Steven R. Smith)
• Chapter 12. Assessing the Effectiveness of Faith-Based Programs: A Local Network Perspective (David Campbell and Eric Glunt)
• Chapter 13. Belief Systems in Faith-Based Human Service Program (F. Ellen Netting, Mary Katherine O'Connor, and Gaynor Yancey)
• Concluding Remarks: Common Findings and Challenges (Stephanie C. Boddie and Ram A. Cnaan)
• Index
• Reference Notes Included