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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Pamela Schwartz, MPH¹, Clarissa Hsu, PhD², Dave Pearson, PhD², and Bill Beery, MPH². (1) Center for Community Health and Evaluation, Kaiser Permanente, One Kaiser Plaza, Oakland, CA 94612, (510) 271-5630, Pamela.M.Schwartz@kp.org, (2) Center for Community Health and Evaluation, Group Health Community Foundation, 1730 Minor Avenue, Suite 1500, Seattle, WA 98101

When used properly, participatory evaluation is a tool that can empower people with knowledge and skills. As such, evaluation plays an important role in community-based approaches to public health. However, implementing participatory evaluation approaches presents unique challenges in meeting the needs of diverse stakeholders. This presentation describes the processes and challenges of designing and implementing a community-based participatory evaluation for the Partnership for the Public's Health (PPH) Initiative. PPH was a complex, multi-site initiative designed to promote community-based public health by partnering 14 health departments with 39 diverse community groups across the state of California. The Center for Community Health and Evaluation (CCHE) was contracted to capture the processes and outcomes of the PPH Initiative. CCHE used a mix of qualitative and quantitative instruments, including case studies, surveys, and key informant interviews. CCHE also designed an innovative approach for assessing progress toward site-specific and initiative level goals. The presentation will highlight the following evaluation issues: 1) the use of a multi-layered evaluation that allows communities to participate in the design and implementation of local evaluation efforts in order to build internal evaluation capacity, 2) the innovative techniques employed to capture rich community level data, 3) the balance achieved between local and initiative-wide evaluation activities, and 4) the challenges of developing common indicators of progress. The emphasis will be on providing practical methods and tools that can be adapted to other community-based projects.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of this presentation the participants will be able to

• Describe 2-3 evaluation methods used and how they were adapted for a participatory approach across multiple sites.
• Identify 2-4 factors that need to be addressed in evaluating open-ended, multi-site initiatives.
• Describe the challenges and lessons learned in designing and implementing a participatory evaluation across multiple sites.
• Articulate 2-4 ways in which these lessons learned can be used to improve other program evaluations.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation