Tuesday, January 31, 2012

[EQ] Making evaluations matter: A practical guide for evaluators

Making evaluations matter: A practical guide for evaluators.


Kusters, C.S.L. et al. 2011

Centre for Development Innovation, Wageningen University & Research centre, The Netherlands

Available online PDF [120p.] at: http://bit.ly/zt3quw

 

“……Evaluations do matter, they can contribute to the general understanding of complex environments in which many of our development initiatives take place and help us to be innovative in the way we adapt our programmes to address the needs of intended primary users and to improve the welfare of primary stakeholders…..”

 

“……….The guide draws heavily on Michael Quinn Patton’s Utilization- Focused Evaluation approach (2008). The importance of good evaluative practice and the need to embed evaluations into existing learning processes within organisations are emphasised.

Chapter 1 presents four core principles underpinning evaluations that matter. These are:
- utilization -focused and influence- and consequence aware; focusing on stakes,
- stakeholder engagement and learning;
 situational responsiveness; and
- multiple evaluator and evaluation roles.

Chapter 2 gives an overview of suggested steps for designing and facilitating evaluations that matter, with a particular focus on utilization and being aware of the possible influences and consequences of evaluations.

It stresses the importance of including primary intended users and other key stakeholders in the evaluation so as to enhance understanding of the development intervention. The key steps of the evaluation process – establishing ability and readiness; focusing; implementing and evaluating the evaluation – are covered. In

Chapter 3, the role of stakeholders is highlighted in terms of their stakes, participation, consequences of choosing who to involve and who not to involve in the process.

The need to balance content and people processes is also discussed. Core concepts and ideas centred on making evaluations learning experiences are presented in Chapter 4. Barriers to learning and ways of enhancing learning among stakeholders are also explored.

Chapter 5 brings the possible influences of evaluation on change processes to the surface and explains how you can go about managing change.
Central to this is Kotter’s (2002) suggested steps to facilitate change. You will find in the Annexes an example of learning purposes, evaluation questions, uses and users of an evaluation for a food security programme, a table comparing traditional programme evaluation with developmental evaluation (Patton, 2011), as well as a list…”

 

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[EQ] Deadly Sins and Living Virtues of Public Health

Deadly Sins and Living Virtues  of Public Health

Harvey V. Fineberg*
Jennifer Cohen, Patricia Cuff, Rick Erdtmann, Patrick Kelley, Janice Mehler, Livia Navon, Laura Pillsbury, Stephanie Pincus, Sheri Sable, Patti Simon, Isabelle Von Kohorn, and Sarah Ziegenhorn

January 2012 *President and staff of the US IOM Institute of medicine


Available online at: http://bit.ly/wtFg1M

“………At a recent meeting for Institute of Medicine (IOM) staff, I delivered a version of my 2011 Frank A. Calderone Prize Lecture, which included reference to the seven deadly sins. As originally enunciated by Pope Gregory I in 590 A.D., the deadly sins are lust, sloth, gluttony, greed, wrath, envy, and pride. I used these as a foil to suggest there are also seven deadly sins of public health. Retaining three of the original sins (sloth, greed, and gluttony), I added four more: ignorance, complacency, timidity, and obstinacy.

Sloth blocks us from doing the daily activity that would help keep us healthy. Gluttony cajoles us to eat even if we are no longer hungry and has, along with sloth, produced an obesity epidemic. Greed drives companies to continue to market and profit from items that are bad for health, such as cigarettes.

To these I added three sins of omission—ignorance, sometimes willful, colors judgment and leads to poor health decisions by both individuals and policy makers; complacency is responsible for the acceptance as “normal” of health hazards that are, in fact, preventable or avoidable; and timidity prevents individuals from demanding health-enhancing changes to policy and practice and inhibits policy makers from doing the right thing.

For the seventh deadly sin, I suggested obstinacy—the refusal to accept evidence on best practices and the refusal to change practices or customs that are familiar. I then invited staff to propose additional candidates for a deadly sin of public health and submit them to Clyde Behney, deputy executive officer of the IOM. Clyde then compiled the results, and we thought it would be worthwhile to make them more widely available through a discussion paper…..” Harvey V. Fineberg

 

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[EQ] Living Well with Chronic Illness: A Call for Public Health Action

Living Well with Chronic Illness: A Call for Public Health Action

Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice (BPH)

US Institute of Medicine (IOM) January 31st, 2012

Available online at: http://bit.ly/xQAQqv



“…………..In the United States, chronic diseases currently account for 70 percent of all deaths, and close to 48 million Americans report a disability related to a chronic condition. Today, about one in four Americans have multiple diseases and the prevalence and burden of chronic disease in the elderly and racial/ethnic minorities are notably disproportionate. Chronic disease has now emerged as a major public health problem and it threatens not only population health, but our social and economic welfare…………..”


“……….
The report describes the economic consequences of chronic illnesses for individuals, their families, the health care system, and the nation; provides a concerted approach to understanding the dimensions of prevention as they relate to chronic disease control in the community; highlights the populations that experience chronic illnesses disproportionately; considers a wide spectrum of chronic diseases and their clinical stages, their patterns and anticipated course, and the common or cross-cutting burden and consequences of living with chronic illness; details how to improve surveillance systems to better assess and address chronic illnesses; describes the role of public health and community-based interventions for chronic disease management and control; considers the importance of federal policy in enhancing chronic disease control; and highlights the critical role of aligning public health, health care system, and non–health care community services as a system change to better control chronic illnesses.

The committee concludes that all chronic illnesses have the potential to reduce population health by limiting individual capacity to live well. Maintaining or enhancing quality of life for individuals living with chronic illnesses has not been given the attention it needs by health care funders, health systems, policy makers, and public health programs and agencies. There are domains of chronic disease management from a public health perspective for which there is not enough research or program evaluation. Much more needs to be done.

 

The committee does not recommend a specific set of diseases on which to focus for public health action. Instead, we describe nine exemplar diseases, health conditions, and impairments that have notable implications for the nation’s health and economy; impact quality of life and functional status; cut across many chronic illnesses; complicate and/or increase risks for multiple chronic conditions (MCCs); and impact the community, families, and caregivers of those with chronic illnesses. Each represents an important challenge to public health…………..”

 

Content

 

ABSTRACT

SUMMARY

INTRODUCTION

1 LIVING WELL WITH CHRONIC ILLNESS

2 CHRONIC ILLNESSES AND THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE WITH THEM

3 POLICY

4 COMMUNITY-BASED INTERVENTION

5 SURVEILLANCE AND ASSESSMENT

6 INTERFACE OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH SYSTEM, THE HEALTH CARE SYSTEM, AND THE NONHEALTHCARE SECTOR 199-224  

7 THE CALL FOR ACTION


APPENDIX A IMPROVING RECOGNITION AND QUALITY OF DEPRESSION CARE IN PATIENTS WITH COMMON CHRONIC MEDICAL ILLNESSES

APPENDIX B NEW MODELS OF COMPREHENSIVE HEALTH CARE FOR PEOPLE WITH CHRONIC CONDITIONS

 

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This message from the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO/WHO, is part of an effort to disseminate
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