Social Services

Aging Populations

The steady rise of our graying population has escalated our nation’s quest to address the health care needs of older Americans and their caregivers. Westat’s rigorous studies help measure trends in late-life functioning and individual aging pathways to guide efforts to reduce disability, maximize functioning, and enhance the quality of life for older Americans. We are performing research to find new ways to improve care for seniors with dementia and expand supportive services for family caregivers. We’re exploring data about the aging process as it relates to race, socioeconomic status, and health outcomes. And Westat’s behavioral and social science researchers with our state-of-the art tools and techniques are studying ways to strengthen and clarify health communications for our older populations to improve health literacy.

Criminal Justice

The issues facing our criminal justice system stretch across a wide landscape of unanswered questions—questions about how to more accurately count America’s missing children, improve outcomes for at-risk youth, protect inmates from sexual victimization, and make our college campuses safer. Westat’s experts are examining each of these issues. Our evaluation of a statewide youth opportunity program will determine its cost-benefit, outcomes, and success in safeguarding at-risk youth from criminal justice system involvement. Westat’s uncovering of the full scope of services available and provided to victims of crime is helping funders and policymakers better understand just what providers of these services need to support victims. And our surveys of sexual assaults and misconduct on 33 college campuses streamlined the data needed to develop effective preventive policies and programs.

Family Support

Westat evaluates the effectiveness of programs that set out to meet the needs of at-risk families. Our research helps inform policies that offer choices and encouragement to parent advocates seeking to navigate a complex system to support their child’s well-being.

Homelessness and Housing

Homelessness is a growing problem in America with more than half a million people without housing and more than a million youths experiencing homelessness at least 1 night over the course of a year. Leaders looking for original strategies to prevent housing insecurity and homelessness or seeking help in implementing effective housing programs or wanting to provide services for special-needs populations have tapped Westat for its adaptive, innovative research strengths, reliable study methods, and state-of-the art company-designed tools. Using mixed methods for systemic investigations, we’ve assessed countywide reforms of homeless service systems, examined programs offering housing and supportive services for rural victims of domestic violence, and examined ways to unlock intelligence regarding preventing and ending youth homelessness.

Youth With Multisystem Involvement

Many youth with behavioral health challenges seek help from multiple agencies of care. This multisystem approach can cause gaps in evaluation and treatment for at-risk youth. Through research and evaluation, Westat is supporting our clients’ goals to bridge these gaps and improve policy, systems development, and service delivery.