HA560 Unit 9 Discussion

In two diferent paragraph give your personal opinion to Jacqueise Yates and Christopher Moran

Jacqueise Yates 

Evaluation Methods

Impact- assesses program effectiveness in achieving the goal

 Outcome/effectiveness evaluation measures program effects in the target population by assessing the progress in the outcomes or outcome objectives that the program is to achieve.

Evaluation is an essential part of any form of programming or implementation plan. Evaluating your program allows you to critically access your methods to ensure that all resources are being used toward meeting objectives and goals (Meera, 2020). There are several forms of evaluation that can be used to determine the success of the program. 2 that I would like to discuss is impact and outcome evaluation methods. Impact evaluation focuses on collecting information to determine how effective your program has been at achieving the goals that were set forth. This is generally done during pre-determined time frames of the program (Center for Disease Control, 2020).  The information collected can be used to help create or modify policies as well as secure funding. Outcome/effectiveness evaluation occurs after the program has been implemented on at least one participant (Center for Disease Control, 2020). It provides information on how the program has affected the targeted audience. This information can let you know if the programming is affecting the targeted audience as it was intentioned.  There are several reasons you could and should use evaluation in programming. Evaluation can help you collect information about deliverables to provide to future or current partners to secure funding. Evaluations are also a good way of measuring impact. By evaluating programming, you can determine how effective your methods were as well as address areas for improvement. Documentation from evaluation leaves a footprint for your program so if someone wants to recreate it or even use it as a guide they can review what was done and customize.

References

Center for Disease Control. (2020). Types of Evaluation. Cdc.Org. https://www.cdc.gov/std/Program/pupestd/Types%20of%20Evaluation.pdf

Meera. (2020). Evaluation: What is it and why do it? Meera.Snre.Umich.Edu. https://meera.snre.umich.edu/evaluation-what-it-and-why-do-it

Christopher Moran

            There are a variety of methods that can be utilized to figure out the outcome of a community health assessment. Within these methods it will clearly illustrate whether the expected results were achieved or if there was an issue with the implementation. These methods range in the areas of when to use them, what to use them for, and why you should use them (CDC). Two that are comparable are the impact evaluation, and the outcome evaluation.

            Impact evaluations are like outcome evaluations in they, focus on objective standard that illustrate how the interventions performed. This information can further give clear understanding on lessons learned and accountability. Furthermore, with the information obtained it will show which areas are working and which ones will need an intervention or to be removed to increase the outcome. These types of evaluations are not intended for all outcome measurements (White, 2012). In this aspect it differs from the outcome evaluations, that can be used in any assessment.

            Outcome evaluations will measure how the prior hypothesis to the assessment compares to the before and after implementation. It has the capability to give early feedback on the assessment and like the impact evaluation illustrate areas that can be improved upon with areas that are doing well. Unlike the impact evaluations, this method can be used in multiple platforms and is less restrictive (Bell).

Do you feel that the other methods of assessment are better or equal to outcome evaluations and impact evaluations?

-Moran, C

References

CDC. (n.d.). Types of Evaluations. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/std/Program/pupestd/Types%20of%20Evaluation.pdf

White, H. (2012). Theory-based impact evaluation: Principles and practice. https://doi.org/10.23846/wp0003

Bell, J. (n.d.). What’s the difference? Understanding process and outcome evaluation. James Bell Associates. https://www.jbassoc.com/resource/whats-difference-understanding-process-outcome-evaluation/