Purpose and method for the evaluation of interpersonal process in health and social care

This article is concerned with the evaluation of the process of interaction between professionals and clients in health and social care. The literature is reviewed to identify examples of this kind of process evaluation and the reported studies are analysed with regard to the purposes of the evaluations and the methods employed. A novel categorisation of purpose is proposed which identifies five main purposes: confirmatory when the process is being checked to assess compliance with stated plans and intentions; causal when the intention is to link aspects of the process with outcomes; experimental when the process is being manipulated to compare outcomes for experimental and control groups; stakeholder perspectives when the process is being evaluated from the standpoint of stakeholders; formative/summative feedback when the process is being described to provide feedback to providers; and finally, exploratory when an under-researched or poorly understood process is being investigated to identify its main features. Methods for evaluating interpersonal process are described and the implications of this kind of evaluation are discussed.