Evaluating the Identity of Program Recipients Using an Identity Exploration Instrument

Abstract

This article argues that the self and identity of program recipients should be an important variable in program evaluations. In a smoking cessation program, for example, the aim should be to achieve a change in the way recipients view themselves and their identity as smokers or nonsmokers. The article identifies a gap in published studies that consider self and identity as an outcome or process measure in program evaluation. The potential of such an approach to give added depth to program evaluation is considered. Three studies in this area are identified and summarized: the identity of parents after child death; the professional identity of students after a program of interprofessional education; and the characteristics of male identity in Germany. To identify possible approaches, conceptualizations of self and identity and methods of exploring and measuring it are considered, culminating in the identification and description of a synthetic theory of identity, Identity Structure Analysis (ISA), and its associated measuring tool, Ipseus. The choice of this method as part of a program evaluation is justified. The use of ISA/Ipseus in three program evaluations—decision-making in community safety; student constructions of theory and practice in nurse education; and demands and tensions in nursing lecturing—is described. The strengths and weaknesses of this approach are considered.