Rather, over the life of a program, any number of evaluations may be appropriate, depending on the situation. Good evaluation requires a combination of skills that are rarely found in one person. The preferred approach is to choose an evaluation team that includes internal program staff, external stakeholders, and possibly consultants or contractors with evaluation expertise.
An initial step in the formation of a team is to decide who will be responsible for planning and implementing evaluation activities. One program staff person should be selected as the lead evaluator to coordinate program efforts. This person should be responsible for evaluation activities, including planning and budgeting for evaluation, developing program objectives, addressing data collection needs, reporting findings, and working with consultants.
The lead evaluator is ultimately responsible for engaging stakeholders, consultants, and other collaborators who bring the skills and interests needed to plan and conduct the evaluation. Although this staff person should have the skills necessary to competently coordinate evaluation activities, he or she can choose to look elsewhere for technical expertise to design and implement specific tasks. However, developing in-house evaluation expertise and capacity is a beneficial goal for most public health organizations.
The lead evaluator should be willing and able to draw out and reconcile differences in values and standards among stakeholders and to work with knowledgeable stakeholder representatives in designing and conducting the evaluation. Seek additional evaluation expertise in programs within the health department, through external partners e.
You can also use outside consultants as volunteers, advisory panel members, or contractors. External consultants can provide high levels of evaluation expertise from an objective point of view. Important factors to consider when selecting consultants are their level of professional training, experience, and ability to meet your needs. Be sure to check all references carefully before you enter into a contract with any consultant.
To generate discussion around evaluation planning and implementation, several states have formed evaluation advisory panels. Advisory panels typically generate input from local, regional, or national experts otherwise difficult to access. Such an advisory panel will lend credibility to your efforts and prove useful in cultivating widespread support for evaluation activities.
Evaluation team members should clearly define their respective roles. Informal consensus may be enough; others prefer a written agreement that describes who will conduct the evaluation and assigns specific roles and responsibilities to individual team members. Either way, the team must clarify and reach consensus on the:. This manual is organized by the six steps of the CDC Framework.
Each chapter will introduce the key questions to be answered in that step, approaches to answering those questions, and how the four evaluation standards might influence your approach. The main points are illustrated with one or more public health examples that are composites inspired by actual work being done by CDC and states and localities. Together, they build a house over a multi-week period. At the end of the construction period, the home is sold to the family using a no-interest loan.
Lead poisoning is the most widespread environmental hazard facing young children, especially in older inner-city areas.
Even at low levels, elevated blood lead levels EBLL have been associated with reduced intelligence, medical problems, and developmental problems. The main sources of lead poisoning in children are paint and dust in older homes with lead-based paint. Public health programs address the problem through a combination of primary and secondary prevention efforts.
A typical secondary prevention program at the local level does outreach and screening of high-risk children, identifying those with EBLL, assessing their environments for sources of lead, and case managing both their medical treatment and environmental corrections. However, these programs must rely on others to accomplish the actual medical treatment and the reduction of lead in the home environment. A common initiative of state immunization programs is comprehensive provider education programs to train and motivate private providers to provide more immunizations.
A typical program includes a newsletter distributed three times per year to update private providers on new developments and changes in policy, and provide a brief education on various immunization topics; immunization trainings held around the state conducted by teams of state program staff and physician educators on general immunization topics and the immunization registry; a Provider Tool Kit on how to increase immunization rates in their practice; training of nursing staff in local health departments who then conduct immunization presentations in individual private provider clinics; and presentations on immunization topics by physician peer educators at physician grand rounds and state conferences.
Minimalist theory of evaluation: The least theory that practice requires. American Journal of Evaluation ; Utilization-focused evaluation: The new century text. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, Study of participatory research in health promotion: Review and recommendations for the development of participatory research in health promotion in Canada. Ottawa, Canada : Royal Society of Canada , Health promotion evaluation: Recommendations to policy-makers: Report of the WHO European working group on health promotion evaluation.
Public health in America. Fall January 1, Ten organizational practices of public health: A historical perspective. Research and Evaluation Clearinghouses. Research Topics. Project Index. Administrative Data for Research and Improvement. Child Care. Head Start. Home Visiting. Human Trafficking. Interoperability and Data Sharing. Methods and Tools. Youth Services.
Publication Date: January 15, Research Questions Why should I evaluate my program? ACYF also has conducted program evaluations of these local and national service delivery efforts with one important goal in mind: to ensure that children and families receive appropriate services that prevent adverse outcomes for children and promote family independence and quality of life.
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