Using the science of positive psychology in the formative evaluation of social justice interventions: A case example

The pursuit of culturally responsive approaches for designing and evaluating programs to promote social justice has become of the utmost importance to the evaluation community in the past decade. A strengths-focused evaluation approach has great promise for empowering individuals, groups, communities, and organizations, and identifying program strengths to build upon in addition to illuminating program deficits. However, there is a dearth of literature on using a strengths approach to evaluate interventions and programs to promote social justice. Drawing from the two disciplines of positive psychology and evaluation, this article illustrates a strengths-focused approach to formative evaluation using a case example of a halfway house for previously incarcerated women. The findings exemplify the positive psychological phenomena that emerge as a result of focusing the evaluation on program strengths. The case demonstrates that the application of a strengths-focused approach to evaluating social justice interventions can be empowering for institutions and the communities they serve. •We describe a strengths-focused approach to conducting evaluation at a non-profit organization.•We draw insights from evaluation science and positive psychology to identify key program strengths that can be built upon.•A strengths-focused approach can highlight processes that often go unnoticed yet amplify the positive effects of the program.