219696 Challenges and Opportunities when Evaluating a Broad-based National Public Health Initiative: The CDC-INFO Follow-Up Survey

Wednesday, November 10, 2010 : 9:10 AM - 9:30 AM

Elizabeth Harris, PhD , Evaluation, Management & Training Associates, Inc., Encino, CA
Amy Burnett, MPH , National Center for Health Marketing, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA
        
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Contact Center (CDC-INFO) presents intriguing evaluation opportunities due to the broad range of topical information dissemination, In particular, the presentation will focus on the role of the follow-up survey in evaluating the impact on knowledge, attitude and behavior. At the close of a brief satisfaction survey, participants are offered an opportunity to partake in a follow up survey. Callers who consent to participate are asked to enter a telephone number where they can be reached in 15 days for the follow up survey. The evaluation contractor attempts to contact potential respondents with 15 – 30 days post-contact with CDC-INFO. The follow up period is necessary in order to provide callers with the opportunity to act on information and/or referrals provided by CDC-INFO. The challenges of designing an evaluation to document the impact of a service covering over 80 topics under CDC's domain will be discussed, as well as the manner in which the follow-up survey was designed in order to address these challenges. Follow-up survey impact data from Fiscal Year 2009 will be shared, and implications for Fiscal Year 2010 discussed.

Learning Areas:
Conduct evaluation related to programs, research, and other areas of practice

Learning Objectives:
Differentiate program objectives appropriate for measurement on a follow up survey compared to survey immediately after service receipt Clearly define the difference between knowledge, attitude and behaviorial objectives

Keywords: Evaluation, Data Collection

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: Dr. Elizabeth Harris is the Vice-President of EMT Associates, Inc. EMT has been a leader in development and support of performance monitoring and decision support systems for prevention, health promotion and related social services programs. Early in our corporate experience we promoted “management-focused evaluation” as a tool for improving performance. Our work in this area has included federal, state and local levels. At the federal level we are currently the prime external contractor for performance monitoring and evaluation of CDC-INFO, the new consolidated contact center in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Other projects in this arena include the evaluation of the First 5 LA Parent Help Line information and referral service in Los Angeles County. Dr. Elizabeth Harris is the Project Manager for the external evaluations of CDC-INFO and the First 5 LA Parent Help Line. As the Project Manager, Dr. Harris oversees all aspects of the evaluation, including the development of performance metrics, specifications for measurement, data collection, and the timely provision of formative feedback designed to improve the quality of services. Dr. Harris has a doctoral degree in Educational Psychology and over 20 years experience conducting programmatic evaluation.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 5049.0: Models for Effective Program Evaluation