Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #117545

Eleni Tolma, MPH PhD, Department of Health Pormotion Sciences, Univeristy of Oklahoma, P.O.Box 26901, Oklahoma City, OK 73190, (405) 271-2017, eleni-tolma@ouhsc.edu, Michael W. Brand, PhD, Department of Health Promotion Sciences, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, P. O. Box 26901, Oklahoma City, OK 73104, Tracey Douglas, MA, Community Counselinh Center ( North Care), 720 N.Dewey, Oklhoma city, OK 73102, and Dave S. Kerby, PhD, Health Promotion Sciences, University of Oklahoma, PO Box 26901, Oklahoma City, OK 73190.

The Adolescent Family Life (AFL) project of Central Oklahoma is a school-based intervention focusing on case management promoting healthy outcomes for teen mothers and their children. Empowerment Evaluation (EE), a community-driven approach, is being employed in conjunction with traditional methodology. This is the first time that EE is being employed in such a setting. The purpose of this study is to describe the steps of empowerment evaluation and its outcomes. An evaluation advisory team representing all entities of the program including teen mothers was created. With the evaluator as the facilitator, the team met periodically to establish the following: a) mission of the program; b) taking stock (i.e. identifying major program components and collectively rate them); c) planning for the future; d) developing strategies; and e) assessing of goal achievement. Ten major components were identified, most of which were highly rated. Among the 14 goals set by the team approximately 80% of them were accomplished within a year. The dialogue among the team members revealed problems related to organizational structure such as inadequate management and miscommunication issues. Some not as obvious results include enhancement of community participation in the evaluation process, strengthening of collaboration among the various entities, building community capacity through training, and promoting community self-reliance. EE provides a deeper understanding of the organizational structure and relationships among various entities and ultimately enhances the quality of the program. EE is a useful complementary approach to traditional evaluation approach and can be applied to teen-parenting service programs.

Learning Objectives:

• The participants will be able to define the steps of empowerment evaluation.
• The participants will be able to recognize the benefits of empowerment evaluation when applied at teen parenting service programs.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.