Introduction
Program evaluation is the gathering of all information of an ongoing program and measuring that information against the set targets and milestones for that particular program (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Office of the Director, Office of Strategy and Innovation, 2011). Every program carried out as a form of intervention geared towards solving a particular human issue always requires constant evaluation to ensure that all milestones are on track as planned in the initial program implementation plan. Assessing the performance of a health or human service program like nursing or hospitality towards projected outcomes can be a daunting task. Thus, the application of a prior developed evaluation tool comes in handy in analyzing the progress and performance of the program.
Program Evaluation Guide for Substance Abuse Programs
Different program models are in use today when it comes to carrying out substance abuse intervention programs, but overall, similar outcomes are expected. Therefore, evaluation of the effectiveness of such program models requires frequent evaluations to measure their performance. A well-done evaluation program addresses the various concerns of all persons involved in the program (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Office of the Director, Office of Strategy and Innovation, 2011). The design of this program evaluation guide aims to help individuals involved in undertaking intervention programs for substance abuse to analyze the progress and keep their programs on track.
This guide introduces four parts of the process of program evaluation. The parts are program identification, identification of evaluation parameters and possible barriers, implementation of the evaluation process and lastly generation of feedback to the stakeholders. Feedback is a very important part of the evaluation process since it guides the direction of the way forward (Boehme, Kymmell, Smith, & Steinholtz, 2006). To carry out the evaluation program, the evaluation team will need to identify the specific program they want to evaluate then develop the criteria for the basis of their evaluation, which will surmount in the development of the evaluation tool. Thirdly, the team will implement the process and finally analyze the feedback and generate a report with clear recommendations.
Primarily, the first step is to single out the program or the department for which evaluation is intended followed by the identification of all the stakeholders involved in that particular program. After this, the next step is to assemble the evaluation team. The evaluation team will then work together to develop the evaluator. The evaluator spells out all the criteria that the evaluation will capture (Fraser Health Authority, 2009). At the point of formulating the evaluation team, those involved may also choose whether to involve an external consultant or not. After the evaluator is decided upon, it will be necessary to agree on the mode of collecting information. For example, the team can decide to use quantitative approaches such as the use of questionnaires or qualitative approach such as the use of interviews. Luckily, the questionnaire approach can also capture qualitative feedback. After its collection, the evaluation feedback undergoes an analysis and the results presented in a report. Lastly, the committee communicates the feedback discussions to all persons of interest so that a way forward is drawn (Boehme et al., 2006). The evaluation team then shares the report with all the stakeholders and thus can guide the stakeholders on the appropriate steps to take to correct any anomalies if they do exist and draw best practice.
References
Boehme, D. C., Kymmell, W., Smith, P., & Steinholtz, R. N. (2006). Implementing a Global Ethics Policy. ACC Europe's 2006 Annual Conference. Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC).
Fraser Health Authority. (2009). A Guide to Planning and Conducting Program Evaluation 2009. Fraser Health Authority.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Office of the Director, Office of Strategy and Innovation. (2011). Introduction to program evaluation for public health programs: A self-study guide. Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
