The document discusses strategies to improve the annual survey administered to participants of Senior Citizen Services (SCS) centers. In 2015, volunteers were trained to assist participants in completing surveys. However, two issues arose: a lack of bilingual volunteers made it difficult to assist non-English speakers, and poor communication from some SCS center directors reduced feedback needed for the process. Future improvements are needed for better communication and support for all participants.

1. Senior Citizen Services 2015 Annual Survey Improvement Strategies
Olaide M. Adedeji, BA; Hyo Jung Tak, PhD; Jennifer Severance, PhD
INTRODUCTION
CONCLUSION
DISCUSSION
Background
•Approximately 1000 participants partook in the 2014
annual survey, and surveys were disseminated in three
major languages: English, Spanish, and Vietnamese,
which are the main languages spoken at Senior Citizen
Services (SCS) Centers.
•There were no volunteers to assist the participants, who
are physically impaired or who needs assistance with the
survey being read out loud.
•The focus on volunteer recruitment and training was
employed to correct these lapses.
•The process will examine the best approach for the future
state of SCS Annual Survey administration with continuous
involvement and engagement of volunteers.
SCS 2015 Annual Survey Goal
•Expand volunteer
opportunities
for Families and
Corporate Groups
•Assist the physically
impaired program
participants to
complete survey
Student Goals
•Student goals for this practice experience and project
include:
• Gain program management experience in a
professional setting
• Acquiring in-depth knowledge of program evaluation
strategies and process
• Develop skills for training survey administrators on
effective survey administration
SCS Senior Center in Tarrant County
Tools Used/Method
•The Annual Survey Volunteer training approach was
designed to correct past challenges that SCS survey
completion had on participants with poor vision and
coordination, as well as language variation (Figure 1).
•Figure 1. Process Flow Map
Request For Volunteer Assistance
•All the deliverables expected of the volunteers during
the survey administration were communicated during
the training.
•The program director and transport coordinator
supervised the planning, implementation and evaluation
of this training process.
•Fig 2 shows the response in percentage from centers
directors, after sending out forms on request for
volunteers to the 27 SCS centers.
•The “No Response” column indicates poor
communication between the SCS centers and the
central office.
•Figure 2
•The main goal of incorporating volunteer training
approach in the annual survey administration process
was to correct past physical challenges that
participants in the past had faced due to their state of
health and age.
•However, two major barriers posed as a hindrance to
meeting this goal:
• Lack of bilingual interpreter availability among the
volunteers, which made it difficult to administer
questionnaires to the Vietnamese and Jewish
population served by SCS.
• Poor communication from center directors to the
participants on availability of volunteer assistance
for the survey completion.
•Finally, for future correction of poor communication
between the center director and the central office,
there is a need for thorough follow up on any email
sent out during the survey administration period, in
order to confirm deadlines, responsibility, and
expectations
Acknowledgements
Thank you to Senior Citizen Services of Greater Tarrant County
•The volunteer training showed a remarkable turn out
by volunteers.
•However, the lack of bilingual interpreter availability
among the volunteers negatively affected the desired
goal of this project and produced an unintended
consequence of slow timing in survey administration.
•Reduced transfer of necessary timely feedback from
44% of the center directors, recorded during this
process, led to a distortion in the Lean flow of this
process and caused “Muri” waste of burden on survey
participants who don’t speak English.
INTRODUCTION (Cont’d) METHODS (Cont’d)
METHODS
Tools Used/Method (cont’d)
•Student Role: My primary responsibility was assisting with the program manager to coordinate and train the volunteers, as well as prepare the training package.
RESULTS