Public Health Program Evaluation

You have been asked by your supervisor to oversee an in-depth evaluation of a current program or project in your organization. Part of the task is to prepare a written plan for the evaluation and, ultimately, guide the design, implementation, reporting, and use of the findings. The program/project can be an ongoing one at any stage or one that has been completed. Ideally, your paper should address implementing a school-based telemental health program in a rural, underserved community.
The evaluation plan needs to be 20 double-spaced pages, using the following criteria. You are welcome to add text beyond the requirements below to support your decisions or provide additional important context. In addition, diagrams, tables, and figures may be included to portray your thought processes (see Fitzpatrick et al., page 388, for example).
I have attached several documents that outline program evaluation for public health programs. Probably the most essential documents in the upload are:
CDC Introduction to Program Evaluation for Public Health Programs – A Self Study Guide,
NACCHO Measuring What Matters in Public Health
Monitoring & Evaluation Toolkit
Developing a performance management system for a Federal public health program: the Ryan White CARE ACT Titles I and II
The information in these documents should be used when you are writing this paper.
The texts listed below are very valuable if you can find a copy online. If you can, I strongly recommend that you also use these to conduct your program evaluation if you are not familiar with formal program evaluations. In addition, these texts provide information about:
Types of evaluations
Evaluation frameworks
Monitoring and performance measurement
Evaluation design
Data collection and analysis
Ethical and political considerations
The criteria to address in your plan are:
Background and context for the evaluation
Why is the evaluation being requested, or is needed? Who has requested the evaluation?
Who are the key users of the evaluation results?
Brief description of the program to be evaluated (official name, dates of the program, geographic focus, public health problem(s) to be addressed, population served. A single paragraph is sufficient here. A more detailed program description will be provided below).
Type and objectives of the evaluation
Detailed description and context of the program
A brief history of the program, how and why it was created. Include the original problem(s) the program was intended to address and if these have changed over the course of the program. Was there a predecessor program and/or an expected program follow-on? Include names of sponsoring organization (s), implementing organizations (s), and any key partner organizations. Include key dates, for example, program start and end dates.
Logic model or theory of change for the program
Program objectives, expected outcomes, and related indicators (including metrics/targets for indicators)
The geographic focus of the program and the population to be served (numbers, demographic profiles).
List and description of intervention components and activities and how these are organized and managed
Types of existing monitoring or surveillance systems used by the program.
Program achievements to date, especially compared to expected results.
Challenges encountered to date and how addressed (or not). The nature of challenges may be political, management, financial, program design, community concerns, organizational “turf,” and/or others.
Key stakeholders for the program
Governance of the program (community advisory committee or consortium of participating organizations, for example)
Any previous evaluations conducted as part of the program.
Resources: budget, staffing (number, leadership responsibility)
Funding source(s) for the program
Information sources for the program description (document review, interviews, personal knowledge, etc.)
Questions the evaluation will be designed to answer, and rationale for the questions.
Criteria/standards you will use to answer the questions (how will you know if you have answered the questions?)
Stakeholders in the evaluation and the roles they will play in the evaluation.
Type of evaluation (for example, formative, summative, etc.)
Design of evaluation (descriptive, causal, quasi-experimental) and rationale for selection
Sampling
Information sources
Strengths and limitations of your design