Evaluating community development for health: a survey of evaluation activity across the Lothians

Smart, Helen

doi:10.1177/001789699905800406

Cited by 6 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 2 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The increasing emphasis on evidence-based practice in public health (Coombes and Thorogood 2004) and greater accountability in the use of resources within the health sector worldwide add to pressure to demonstrate effectiveness (Nutbeam 1999). Funders have tended to favour evaluation research that focuses on measuring effectiveness in strictly quantitative terms, owing to their own need for accountability and to demonstrate 'value for money' (Smart 1999). Injuries lend themselves well to outcome evaluations relatively early in the programme history since they can be thought of as short 'incubation period' diseases (Thompson and Sacks 2001).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Uncovering evidence on community-based injury prevention: A review of programme effectiveness and factors influencing effectiveness

Nilsen

Yorkston

2007

International Journal of Injury Control and Safety Promotion

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study examines systematic reviews of community-based injury prevention programmes to obtain an overview of the evidence base on the effectiveness of these programmes and to analyse how effectiveness is measured and the extent to which factors contributing to achieving programme effectiveness are examined in these reviews. Thirteen systematic reviews were found, encompassing a total of 121 programmes. The results reinforced the well-documented point that the evidence regarding the effectiveness of community-based injury prevention programmes is inconsistent. Some of the programmes targeting specific injury categories, e.g. specific injury types and/or age groups, were successful, whilst more broadly targeted programmes demonstrated less convincing results. Effectiveness was predominantly measured as injury rate reductions. Only one of the reviews identified contextual factors that could have impacted on programme effectiveness. To advance the field, researchers and systematic reviews need to include evidence on factors that may explain how the effects were achieved.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Uncovering evidence on community-based injury prevention: A review of programme effectiveness and factors influencing effectiveness

Nilsen

Yorkston

2007

International Journal of Injury Control and Safety Promotion

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Perhaps the most appropriate indicator of a relevant health promotion evaluation method is that good evaluation reflects the values of the activities that are to be measured (MacDonald 1998, Smart 1999). Rolls (1999) argues that health promotion activities need to be evaluated in their own terms and not underpinned by different criteria and values than those on which they are based.…”

Section: The Dilemma Of Which Methods For Which Taskmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating health promotion: a model for nursing practice

Whitehead

2003

Journal of Advanced Nursing

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Evaluation is an essential activity for any health promotion programme. Failure to include it in practice ensures that attempts to conduct health promotion are usually rendered ineffective and unsuccessful. Evaluation models are valuable tools that nurses can incorporate routinely into existing frameworks of practice, alongside other models of health education/health promotion, such as planning models. The development of this model is intended to enable nurses to review their current practice and offer a further framework for those who wish to extend their current health promotion repertoire.

show abstract

“…Injury incidence is usually considered the most important outcome indicator in injury prevention programmes (Benson 1995, Menckel 1999. Unquestionably, for many, reducing injury frequency is 'hard evidence' of effectiveness and the growing need to prove value-for-money has meant that funders favour evaluation research that measures effectiveness in quantitative terms (Smart 1999). However, the rather narrow definition of injury prevention success as injury incidence reduction is not uncontested .…”

Section: Assessed Elementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of community-based injury prevention programmes: methodological issues and challenges

Nilsen¹

2005

International Journal of Injury Control and Safety Promotion

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The evaluation of comprehensive community-based injury prevention programmes is complex and poses many methodological challenges. There is little consensus in contemporary literature about the most appropriate methods of evaluating these programmes. This study employed a systematic literature review to examine evaluations of 16 community-based injury prevention programmes with regard to key methodological issues and challenges. Three aspects of the evaluated programmes were analysed: assessed elements (context, structure, process, impact, and outcome); study design; and methodological issues addressed. The results showed that context, structure and process assessments were the most neglected aspects of the evaluation studies. The programmes were typically described with minimal discussion of how the context may have influenced the effectiveness. The process (activities) was described rather than evaluated against appropriate standards of comparisons. Impact evaluations adhered more closely to documented guidelines, but half of the evaluations did not include impact variables. Outcome evaluations focused on injury incidence. Most evaluations employed some qualitative methods, but the vast majority of methods used were quantitative. This study indicated that the quasi-experimental study design has become an accepted norm for the evaluation of community-based injury prevention programmes. Most of the evaluations contained explicit details of the methodology used and of the choices related to the methodology. While threats to internal validity were identified in most studies, problems related to external validity and construct validity were largely overlooked by the evaluators.

show abstract

Evaluating community development for health: a survey of evaluation activity across the Lothians

Cited by 6 publications

References 2 publications

Uncovering evidence on community-based injury prevention: A review of programme effectiveness and factors influencing effectiveness

Uncovering evidence on community-based injury prevention: A review of programme effectiveness and factors influencing effectiveness

Evaluating health promotion: a model for nursing practice

Evaluation of community-based injury prevention programmes: methodological issues and challenges

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About