The conceptual tools prevailing in scientific literature can carry an unexamined ballast of implicit references to current sociopolitical debates that dominate their times. Professional autonomy is not only freedom for action but also freedom for thought. The paper aims to increase external validity by enhancing the awareness of uncontrollable variables and their very real impact on results. The method is a critical review of use of the concepts of vulnerability, participation and autonomy generally related to the public health discourse. It raises practical uncertainties regarding the overestimated prerequisite of 'advanced' and 'evidence-based' practices when governing directives destined to be realized in social contexts fraught with unpredictability. This paper argues for the development of those skills necessary to analyse the influence of society-dependent concepts on our daily practices and the impact institutions have on the construction of our values, ideologies and practices.
Parâmetros e paradigmas em meta-avaliação: uma revisão exploratória e reflexiva Parameters and paradigms for meta-evaluation: an exploratory and reflective review Resumo A avaliação da avaliação não é um simples jogo de palavras ou uma indagação sobre quem avalia a avaliação. Muito mais do que isso, tratase de avaliar os diversos componentes de um processo avaliativo e os próprios avaliadores. No presente artigo, pretendemos abordar algumas possibilidades da meta-avaliação no campo da avaliação de programas e serviços: fomentar a interação entre a produção teórica e prática no campo; auxiliar no balizamento de métodos e estratégias em uma área marcada por interesses políticos e pela profusão de possibilidades metodológicas; e fomento do rigor ético e científico das práticas avaliativas. Concluiremos esta resenha exploratória da literatura discutindo algumas questões históricas e políticas envolvendo a avaliação e a meta-avaliação de programas e serviços, apresentando crí-ticas às pretensões universalistas e igualitárias presentes em alguns posicionamentos. Palavras-chave Meta-avaliação, Avaliação de programas e serviços, Epistemologia Abstract The evaluation of an evaluation is not a mere play on words or simply an investigation into the person who evaluates the evaluation. It is far more than that. It is about how to evaluate the diverse components of the evaluation process and the evaluators per se. In this paper, we discuss some promising possibilities for meta-evaluation in the field of evaluation of programs and services. These include fostering interaction between theoretical and practical production in fieldwork and supporting the definition of methods and strategies in a sector imbued with political interests and a profusion of methodological possibilities, and promoting ethical and scientific rigor in the evaluation practices. We conclude this exploratory and reflective review by raising some historical and political questions related to evaluation and metaevaluation of programs and services and by criticizing the universalist and egalitarian pretensions contained in some evaluation approaches.
Este artigo relata a sistematização de uma experiência de pesquisa avaliativa e participativa de um projeto de prevenção de DST/HIV/AIDS implantado nas zonas de prostituição de um município do interior do estado do Amazonas. Essa perspectiva de avaliação qualitativa enfatizou aspectos não considerados durante a implantação do projeto inicial, referentes à construção dos significados coletivos diretamente ligados à implantação da chamada educação pelos pares. O relato enfatiza a experiência comunitária dos pares-multiplicadores do projeto e sua apropriação da avaliação de suas ações preventivas e sociais. Os resultados e a discussão são apresentados numa dupla perspectiva: 1 da seqüência dos questionamentos temáticos que emergiram no percurso da pesquisa-ação participativa no campo; e 2 das práticas de investigação avaliativa desenvolvidas num dado contexto sociocultural e sociopolítico.
| INTRODUCTIONCritical and feminist academics in nursing frequently teach emancipation through the development of critical consciousness-raising to students and clinical nurses. By evaluating the emancipatory ideas underlying the Freirean pedagogy, this paper aims to discuss the ideological roots underlying social consciousness-raising, liberation and empowerment. For community health nursing, looking at the sources and limitations of good ideas is extremely relevant for practice. For nursing researchers, it is also an interesting analysis of the vision of an author for several reasons.Such an analysis allows to reach an understanding of an author's vision [emancipatory ideas] by looking at the ideology that influenced his thinking. Also, this type of analysis takes into consideration the constraints from the context that could influence social consciousnessraising, liberation and empowerment when one would like to apply them into practice. The results of this analysis should inspire us as there are controversies surrounding the use of critical consciousnessraising and non-directivity. More specifically, those are rhetorical ideal that could be creating a conflict between the agent of mediation and the communities in a situation of inequalities.What is of concern is that the liberation and critical consciousnessraising process are based on the belief that it is virtuous and good for the unconscious ones to raise their understanding of the situation, under any circumstances. The specific aim of introducing those ideas into a preexisting mindset is to produce a change, whatever the cost or the consequences of the change. However, it seems that harm could result from a well-intentioned application of an ideal. I would like to suggest that the application of a good idea should require a deeper understanding of the ideal, debates and discussions about what it will produce, not on the strict plan of the ideal in itself but rather on the consequences of introducing new ideas into an existing sociopolitical reality that has its own historicity.Here, historicity means a reading of the Latin-American historical process of the popular education and liberation practices in Northeast Brazil.Thus, I am suggesting that it is necessary to begin with a good understanding of the ideal and to consider the practical conditions required to attain the practical political goal proposed by the ideal. Freire's work is a good example of a perspective that requires such an approach, and I suggest that it cannot be given a universalistic scope without reviewing his social roots and his historical trajectory. This appears to be necessary to reach a better understand of the total social meaning of any consciousness-raising or liberating intervention based on Freire's work.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.