Public Health Program Evaluation - Essay Example

It will bring into focus the specific and detailed activities being conducted under the counseling program and provide an indication if such activities are generating positive or beneficial outcomes to the participants in terms of their ability to handle emotional, sexual and educational problems because of enhanced knowledge, perceptions or attitudes and skills. To accomplish an Outcomes-Based Evaluation, McNamara lists the following general steps: 1. Identify the major outcomes that are to be examined or verified for the program under evaluation. 2. Prioritize the outcomes and select the top priority outcomes that will be examined by the evaluation.

Considerations for this prioritization are the limits of time and resources for conducting the evaluation. 3. For each outcome, determine the measures or indicators that will be observed which suggest that an outcome is being achieved by a participant. 4. Specify a target or goal for the participants. 5. Identify the information needed to show the indicators or measure the outcomes. 6. Determine how information can be efficiently and realistically gathered. 7. Analyze and report the findings.

Outcomes are benefits or changes for individuals participating in the program. "They are what participants know, think, or can do; or how they behave; or what their condition is, that is different following the program (United Way). In the area of educational problems, a measurable outcome would be grades of the participants and incidence of absenteeism. This information can be gathered from school data before the program was started and after the one year period of counseling, then compared with data for the group which underwent treatment by psychologists and social workers.

"Desired outcomes include positive changes in behavioral and emotional functioning, family relationships, academic achievement, or community functioning" (Nabors et al p. 206-209).Identify the stakeholders, and discuss their respective interests According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the key stakeholders of a public health program evaluation are 1. Those involved in program operations, in this case the Director and staff of the community health center, the funding agency if existent, the local community members who conduct the counseling sessions, and the psychologists and social workers treating the control group.

Obviously, the primary interest of the community health center is to find out how effective the counseling the program is in achieving the desired outcomes of emotional, sexual and educational problem solving, and how this compares with the treatment program. The local community members, the psychologists and social workers would be interested in the efficacy of the activities being conducted and whether these should be institutionalized. The funding agency would want to know if funding efforts should be continued and/or expanded. 2. Those served or affected by the program, the teens and adults who are participants in the program, their parents, families, friends and school personnel who deal with the participants.

The participants who are central to the effort will be the primary source of information for the evaluation. Their families, friends and school personnel who are affected by the participants problems and who provide support to the participants within and outside the program would