Evaluating Public and Community Health Programs Book

Figures and Tables vii

Preface xi

The Author xv

1 An Introduction to Public and Community Health Evaluation 1

The Links Among Community Assessment, Program Implementation, and Evaluation 3

Overview of Evaluation 5

Preassessment Evaluations 5

Community-Based Participatory Research 6

The Participatory Model for Evaluation 8

Cultural Considerations in Evaluation 13

2 The Community Assessment: An Overview 19

Theoretical Considerations 22

The Ecological Model 22

Data Collection 25

Process 25

Data Sources 33

Reviewing the Scientific Literature 35

The Report 36

Stakeholders' Participation in Community Assessments 39

3 Developing Initiatives: An Overview 41

The Organization's Mission 43

Planning the Initiative 44

Goals and Objectives 45

The Initiative Activities 52

Using Existing Evidence-Based Programs 54

The Program's Theory of Change 56

The Logic Model Depicting the Theory of Change 56

Criteria for Successful Initiatives 58

4 Planning for Evaluation: Purpose and Processes 61

The Timing of the Evaluation 62

The Purpose of Evaluation 63

Establishing the Contract for Evaluation 65

The Evaluation Team 65

Creating and Maintaining Effective Partnerships 67

Evaluation Standards 68

Managing the Evaluation Process 69

Factors That Influence the Evaluation Process 75

Involving Stakeholders 76

5 Designing the Evaluation: Describing the Program 79

The Context 81

Justifications for the Initiative 83

The Initiative's Goals, Objectives, and Activities 84

The Initiative's Theory of Change and Logic Model 84

6 Designing the Evaluation: Determining the Evaluation Questions and the Evaluation Design 87

Bases for Selecting the Evaluation Questions 89

Approaches to Selecting the Evaluation Questions 92

Types of Evaluations 93

Process Evaluation 94

Outcome Evaluation 97

7 Collecting the Data: Quantitative 107

Choosing a Data-Collection Approach 108

Using Surveys 110

Designing Survey Instruments 116

Pilot Testing 120

Triangulation 121

Institutional Review Boards 122

Stakeholder Involvement 123

8 Analyzing and Interpreting the Data: Quantitative 127

Analyzing and Reporting Quantitative Data 128

Reaching Conclusions 133

Stakeholder Involvement 134

Steps in Quantitative-Data Analysis and Interpretation 134

9 Collecting the Data: Qualitative 137

Qualitative Data 138

Ensuring Validity and Reliability 139

Interview-Format Approaches 140

Document and Record Review 146

Observational Approaches 147

Case Reviews 148

Digital Approaches 148

Geographic Information Systems 150

Training Data Collectors 150

Pilot Testing 151

Managing and Storing Qualitative Data 151

Stakeholder Involvement 151

10 Analyzing and Interpreting the Data: Qualitative 153

Analyzing Qualitative Data 154

Interpreting the Data and Reaching Conclusions 158

The Role of Stakeholders 161

11 Reporting Evaluation Findings 163

The Content of the Report 166

The Timing of the Report 171

The Audience for the Report 171

The Format of the Report 172

12 Case Study 177

The Community Assessment 177

The Intervention 182

Design the Evaluation 186

Collect the Data 195

Analyze and Interpret the Data 200

Report the Results 203

Glossary 205

References 211

Index 215