Program evaluation in the public health field is a systematic investigation into the quality, value, or importance of a public health program. Evaluation methods
provide the framework for public health practitioners to determine if a program is operating as expected or needs improvement, and to determine if the
program has an impact on the short- and long-term health outcomes targeted. As a public health practitioner, you may be called upon to design a program
evaluation and/or to review existing program evaluations to understand the strengths and weaknesses of a selected program.
For the final assessment in this course, you will have a chance to participate in the program evaluation process by creating a mock program evaluation plan. Your
mock program evaluation plan will correspond to most of the CDC framework steps, including identifying stakeholders, describing the program that will be
evaluated, selecting the evaluation design, suggesting credible evidence, and summarizing how these potential findings will be communicated. You will select an
existing public health program from this CDC list for your evaluation. Ideally, the program you select to evaluate should be on a health topic in which you have an
interest and see yourself using in the future, or one that has been used in a population on which you plan to focus. The program you choose should be targeted
to a community that has a demonstrated public health need related to the intervention topic.
This assessment addresses the following course outcomes: Develop evidence-based goals for evaluating public health programs that are designed to reach public health audiences Analyze specific communities through different social and behavioral lenses for informing program evaluations of public health programs Determine evaluation design components appropriate for evaluating the effectiveness of public health programs Develop valid and reliable measurement strategies to be used in evaluating public health programs in specific communities
The project is divided into two milestones, which will be submitted at various points throughout the course to scaffold learning and ensure quality final
submissions. These milestones will be submitted in Modules Two and Four. The final mock program evaluation plan will be submitted in Module Seven.
Prompt
Conduct research on the program you selected and create a plan for evaluating the success of the program. You should use at least four relevant sources to
support your evaluation plan. Your evaluation plan must address the following critical elements:
I. Program Evaluation Background: In this section, you will distill the background research you conducted on the public health issue that was targeted by the
program you selected.
A. Provide an overview of the issue targeted by the selected program, including the affected community, using current published literature. Be sure to
support your response with any relevant programs, evaluations, campaigns, and/or studies that have addressed your selected issue.
B. Discuss what you are hoping to accomplish or determine by conducting an evaluation of the selected program and what audience(s) this evaluation
would be most relevant for.
C. Develop goals for conducting your evaluation. Justify the appropriateness and relevance of your goals using current published literature.
D. Analyze social theories, behavior models, health disparities, and social determinants of health for how they impact program evaluations for affected
communities.
- Explain the social theories or health behavior models that apply to the selected program and affected community. Be sure to support your
explanation with specific examples from credible sources. - Describe how health disparities in the selected community will impact the conduct of this program evaluation.
- Describe how social determinants of health within your selected community will impact the conduct of the program evaluation.
II.Program Evaluation Design: In this section, you will define and defend how you have focused your evaluation process, including what questions you intend
to answer in your investigation.
A. Explain the type of evaluation you will use when evaluating the selected program, and justify why this type of evaluation will help you meet the
goals you have identified.
B. Discuss the types of evaluation questions that can be addressed using your selected evaluation design.
C. Defend how the evaluation type you have selected will ensure use of the findings and provide lessons learned that will continue to improve
programs targeting this issue.
III. Program Evaluation Methods: In this section, you will explain how you plan to collect the data you need to complete your evaluation of your chosen
public health program.
A. Develop a measurement strategy for your program evaluation that defines the general methods and specific tools you will use to collect data.
Consider: Will you use focus groups and/or surveys? What kinds of measurement tools are most appropriate for this evaluation?
B. Justify your measurement strategy in terms of validity. Be sure to address both the internal and external validity.
C. Justify your measurement strategy using the concepts of reliability. Be sure to address both the internal consistency and stability of your
measurement strategy.
IV. Conclusion: Develop goals for communicating your findings to a variety of potential audiences. Consider: If you are communicating with a scientific
audience, what information from your findings would you include? If you were meeting with community stakeholders, what would you prepare, and how
would you communicate the information? Justify the appropriateness of your goals using current published literature.
Milestones