5286.0: Wednesday, November 15, 2000 - Board 5

Abstract #8194

Establishing partnerships between non-profit organizations and universities for program evaluation: The Collaborative Evaluation Fellows Project

Jenny Lipana, MPH, CHES1, Michele L. Boutaugh, MPH, BSN1, Don Compton, PhD2, Rebecca Glover-Kudon, MSPH2, and Shannon Whetstone Mescher, MEd, CHES1. (1) Health Promotion, Arthritis Foundation, National Office, 1330 West Peachtree Street, Atlanta, GA 30309, 404-965-7554, jlipana@arthritis.org, (2) Department of Planning and Evaluation, American Cancer Society, National Home Office, 1599 Clifton Road, NE, Atlanta, GA 30329

This presentation describes the replication of the American Cancer Society's collaborative evaluation model to the Arthritis Foundation. Known as the Collaborative Evaluation Fellows Project (CEFP), partnerships are established between universities and non-profit organizations to build an organization's capacity for evaluation while providing low-cost, quality impact evaluations of community-based, health programs. Through the CEFP, graduate students in public health conduct evaluation studies for the nonprofit organization under the supervision of university faculty enabling organizations to build long-term, permanent institution to institution relationships with universities. Based on three conceptual frameworks (utilization-focused approach to evaluation, organizational learning for continual improvement, and collaboration), this model incorporates input from key stakeholders to inform the evaluation's design, implementation, and actions resulting from the evaluation's recommendations. This collaborative effort benefits the organization, the graduate student, and the larger community. Through this model, the organization and the community gain evaluation results at a relatively low cost and are able to train staff in program evaluation. In addition, the graduate student contributes to the community, to the nonprofit organization, to universities, and to their own education by performing supervised program evaluation studies. The Arthritis Foundation established a partnership with the Rollins School of Public Health of Emory University to evaluate the effectiveness of the PACEŽ (People with Arthritis Can Exercise) program and the Arthritis Foundation publication, "Your Personal Guide to Living Well with Fibromyalgia." The presentation discusses the evaluation model, successes and barriers to collaboration, recommendations for evaluation planning, project management, and utilization of findings.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the presentation, the participant will be able to: 1. Describe the 15-step process of the Collaborative Evaluation Fellows project. 2. Discuss successes and barriers to collaboration for program evaluation

Keywords: Partnerships, Evaluation

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: Arthritis Foundation; American Cancer Society
I have a significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
Relationship: Employment by Arthritis Foundation

The 128th Annual Meeting of APHA