The Process Indicators of Evaluation - Essay Example

Program Evaluation and Reporting On African Australians Community Student Name Course Code Tutor Name Institution Introduction Proper evaluation should be conducted on a program to identify outcomes that might have not been expected, account for the resources that have been used, improve practice by fine tuning the process of the program and determine if the program is efficacious by collecting appropriate evidence (O'Connor-Fleming, Parker, Higgins & Gould, 2006). This paper will focus on the essential aspects of evaluation including identifying the process indicators of evaluation, indicators for impact and evaluation of the program outcomes. The methods of evaluation will also be defined as well as the reporting and dissemination of the evaluation findings to all stakeholders. Evaluation Forms and Approaches It is important to carry out an effective evaluation for the program to make sure that it is beneficial to the target audience. For this program, monitoring evaluation form will be used. Monitoring evaluation is conducted throughout the life of a program while it is ongoing and established (Owen, 2006). This will help keep the program on track while providing its refinement basis to ensure that it is effective it achieving its goal of ensuring fair healthcare to the disadvantaged African Australian community. Monitoring evaluation is useful is assessing whether the program is reaching the African Australians who are at a disadvantage in accessing healthcare. The evaluation will be utilization focused to facilitate the application of the findings and experiences of the evaluation in the real world by real people. The African Australians will be involved in decision making in the steps of Utilization Focused Evaluation. The intended users who have ownership in the evaluation will be more likely to use the findings of the evaluation (Patton, 2008). Evaluation Methods The methods used in this evaluation include assessing the key documents of the program to determine the extent of implementation of the activities of the program. Data collection and qualitative data such as focus groups will also be used to measure the reach of the program. Reach will be measured by calculating the percentage of African Australians affected by the program to all eligible African Australians. The intervention group is compared with a control group that is not part of the intervention. The African Australians will constitute the intervention group while the regional or state average will be used as the control group because it will be more appropriate. (State of Victoria, Department of Health, Prevention and Population Health Branch, 2010). Conducting the Evaluation Questionnaires and measurements of the health status will be used to measure impacts at the individual level. The integration of African Australian refugees into the general Australian community will involve changes in policy. The public policy changes can be assessed by policy audits and capacity building of the community. The increase in the number of African Australians accessing healthcare facilities is the most potent indicator for this program. Health status reports, feedback from the home visits and health promotion events, and social integration will also be used as regular indicators (State of Victoria, Department of Health, Prevention and Population Health Branch, 2010). Involving the Stakeholders Identifying all stakeholders will be necessary in order to establish their roles, how they can use the evaluation findings and how the evaluation findings affect them. The interests of the stakeholders will also be useful in formulating the questions of the evaluation (Owen, 2006). In this program, the stakeholders include the staff and management of health services, groups of the local community, the African Australian community, the funding body and the policy makers (Central Sydney Area Health Service and NSW Health, 1994). The stakeholders will also be involved in the articulation of the short-term and the types of outputs that will be helpful in achieving the outputs that they had specified (Weiss, 1998). Engaging the stakeholders is important in providing the appropriate framework for evaluation and ensuring credibility and establishing the goals and objectives of the program (O'Connor-Fleming et al., 2006). The Required Resources Human resources will be required to form the staff needed in the evaluation process. It will be important to choose staff with the necessary skills. The skills can be topped up by job rotation, structured programs of training, employing project workers and structured supervision. Consultants will be hired in cases where the skills of the staff become limited. Financial resources will be obtained from the funding bodies. The amount of money required in the evaluation will be determined to ensure that its use is well accounted for. Community support will be expected to be obtained from the African Australians and other members of the community in support of the goal of the program (Central Sydney Area Health Service and NSW Health, 1994). Ethical Issues The staff conducting the evaluation will be required to develop the set of skills and knowledge that will enable them use professional attitude and team evaluative attitude. The team will be expected to practice theoretical foundations of evaluation that are different from other forms of enquiry. They will also be required to respect the culture of the African Australians, the context and other stakeholders (Australasian Evaluation Society Inc., 2013a). The evaluators will be informed fully on the expectations of the evaluation. Any risks of the procedure will be reduced by the team and the participants where possible. Some participants may not want their privacy to be disclosed and the evaluation will therefore maintain anonymity to respect their entitlements, dignity and rights. Information that may be helpful to the participants will be made available to them for reciprocity (Australasian Evaluation Society Inc., 2013b). Reporting and Dissemination The results of the evaluation will be documented in a journal article and a published report. The goal of promoting equity to healthcare to all Australians by improving the access of healthcare to African Australians will be made clear in the reports. The reports will formally delineate the outcomes and processes of the program to ensure that it will be useful in making future decisions (O'Connor-Fleming et al., 2006). The journal will be made available online for the professionals such as the funders, agencies, staff and scholars to access easily. The published report will be written in a format that will be easy to read by the general public including African Australians and the media. Conclusion Monitoring evaluation will be conducted while the program is underway to keep in on track. Key documents of the program will be analyzed and reach will be calculated using data collection and qualitative data such as focus groups. Questionnaires and health status checkups will be used for evaluation at the individual level. Changes in policy will be evaluated by policy audits and capacity building. Other indicators will include feedback from the home visits and health promotion events, and social events. The stakeholders will be engaged to provide the appropriate framework for evaluation and ensure credibility and the establishment of the goals and objectives of the program. The resources required for the program will include skilled human resources, financial resources from the funding bodies and community support. The evaluating staff will develop the set of skills and knowledge that will enable them use professional attitude and team evaluative attitude to ensure that ethical conduct in maintained. The findings and outcomes of the evaluation will be made available to professionals through a journal article and a published report will be made for the general public including the African Australians. References Australasian Evaluation Society Inc. (2013a). Evaluators’ professional learning competency framework. Retrieved from Australasian Evaluation Society Inc. (2013b). Guidelines for the ethical conduct of evaluations. Retrieved from Central Sydney Area Health Service and NSW Health. (1994). Program management guidelines for health promotion. Retrieved from O'Connor-Fleming, M. L., Parker, E., Higgins, H., & Gould, T. (2006). A framework for evaluating health promotion programs. Health Promotion Journal of Australia, 17(1), 61–66. Owen, J. M. (2006). Program evaluation: Forms and approaches (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Allen & Unwin. Patton, M. Q. (2008) Utilisation-focussed evaluation. (4thed.) Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. State of Victoria, Department of Health, Prevention and Population Health Branch. (2010). Evaluation framework for health promotion and disease prevention programs. Retrieved from Weiss, C. H. (1998). Evaluation (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Read More