The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #65736

Sarit A. Golub, MPH¹, Jennifer A. Logan, MS², Louise Rice, MPH, RN¹, Abigail R. Averbach, MS², Barry Callis², and Judith Bradford, PhD³. (1) Department of Research and Evaluation, Fenway Community Health, 7 Haviland Street, Boston, MA 02115, (2) HIV/AIDS Bureau, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, 350 Washington Street, 3rd Floor, Boston, MA 02108-4619, 617-624-5367, Jennifer.Logan@state.ma.us, (3) The Fenway Institute, Fenway Community Health, 7 Haviland St., Boston, MA 02115

Community-based prevention and education programs are in need of intensive technical assistance in order to engage in meaningful process and outcomes monitoring. This pilot project combined the CDC's emphasis on logic models and evidence-based practice with provider-focused training in program development to improve the quality of community-based prevention programs. The Technical Assistance and Capacity Building (TAC) Project is a targeted evaluation and training initiative with three major components: 1) evaluation readiness assessment conducted during interactive individual program site visits, 2) cross-program training on the use of logic models to inform program development; and 3) participatory development of an appropriate process and outcome monitoring system. The TAC Project Model proved to be a viable methodology for supporting the integration of evaluation tools and evidence-based practice into ongoing program development, while making these processes relevant to community-based providers. Findings from the project included the identification of core challenges experienced by providers, including difficulties: a) articulating the relationship between community-level public health goals and the client-level outcomes; b) identifying intervention components with proven effectiveness in promoting behavior change; and c) addressing barriers to prevention work, when these barriers exist at the individual-, agency-, and systemic-levels. Challenges were analyzed as they relate to the replication and sustainability of this methodology, as were the strategies developed to address them. This methodology may also provide a framework that allows city and state agencies to support program development activities in the context of shaping program components to meet policy objectives and/or fulfilling policy mandates around outcomes evaluation.

Learning Objectives:

• At the conclusion of the session, the participant (learner) in this session will be able to:
• 3. Describe the TAC Project methodology, including each of its three programmatic components.
  7. Articulate three core challenges to community-providers in implementing the methodology.
  11. Discuss strategies for addressing these challenges, and identify issues inherent in replicating the methodology within their particular domain.

Keywords: Evaluation, Practice-Based Research

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.