Potential Benefits for Family Support
Concept mapping can assist family support developers and evaluators in articulating a framework of central program concepts. Using concept mapping to guide theory-driven evaluations can help strengthen the conceptual and empirical base of family support. Concept mapping can also help support sound implementation of family support programs. At regular intervals, concept maps could be compared with original program design to monitor the degree to which programs shift or adapt to their environments. Key differences between staff and participant orientations have important implications for program design and evaluation; regular review of concept maps can enable stakeholders to identify disparate views before they lead to implementation problems.