141st APHA Annual Meeting

In This section

288880
Understanding diffuse program implementation through a unified performance monitoring system

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Dan Canfield, MPH , Institute for Health Research and Policy, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL
Amber Uskali, MPH , Institute for Health Research and Policy, Chicago, IL
Karen E. Peters, DrPH , Institute for Health Research and Policy, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL
William Baldyga, MA, DrPH , School of Heatlh and Human Services, National University, San Diego, CA
Introduction: Assessing the effectiveness of locally based public health initiatives that use evidence based strategies for the implementation of health promotion and disease prevention interventions requires a system for monitoring progress. The Illinois Department of Public Health's ‘We Choose Health' (WCH) initiative, funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - Community Transformation Grant has contracted with the University of Illinois - Chicago (UIC) to develop and manage a performance monitoring system to track progress among its twenty-one community grantees. Methods: The performance monitoring methodology was influenced by many factors: Low cost, short development period, ability to capture accurate information, and limited interaction with grantees. The system was created to strike a balance between the needs of grantees and the state health department. Communities document their progress towards major milestones on a quarterly basis utilizing the performance monitoring system. Results: The WCH performance monitoring system allows project staff to identify technical assistance that would benefit grantees, identify ‘red flags' related to insufficient progress among grantees, and identify common themes across grantees. Furthermore, a detailed description of the population being reached at the grantee level can be reported. Over 76% of counties have reported significant progress towards community-wide changes that has positively affected the health of 752,086 residents in Illinois. Discussion: Performance monitoring is a process that can facilitate and standardize the collection of process evaluation information across numerous topical areas within a state based initiative as well as across communities throughout the country.

Learning Areas:
Administer health education strategies, interventions and programs
Administration, management, leadership
Conduct evaluation related to programs, research, and other areas of practice
Public health or related research

Learning Objectives:
Explain the benefits of a standardized performance monitoring system. Identify a process to implement performance monitoring.

Keywords: Performance Measurement, Evaluation

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have been hired to be the performance monitoring lead to complete performance measurement activities with We Choose Health grantees and the We Choose Health project manager. Among my interests has been the development of comprehensive and participatory performance monitoring for We Choose Health.
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.