Critique of health contemporary health program evaluation
Order Instructions:
Course: Health Promotion
Subject Name: Planning and evaluation 2
Level: Undergraduate year 2
Reference: Harvard (10 references)
Assignment Topic: critically analyse a contemporary health program evaluation, considering a range of social, economic and cultural contexts.
Format: Critical Appraisal
Length: 1000 WORDS
(3 PARTS: INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND, THE EVALUATION, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS)
This task requires you to REVIEW AND CRITIQUE THE FOLLOWING PUBLISHED EVALUATION: (PROVIDED)
DAVIS, B, McGrath, N, Knight, S, Davis, S, Norval, M, Freelander, G & Hudson, L 2004. Aminina Nud Mulumuluna (‘You gotta look after yourself’): Evaluation of the use of traditional art in health
promotion for aboriginal people in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, Australian Psychologist, 39(2), pp. 107-113.
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00050060410001701816#.VA0lSfmSySo
This task is designed to encourage you to explore an evaluation that has been completed and has been published in an academic journal. In the CRITIQUE of THIS EVALUATION, you WILL IDENTIFY AND BRIEFLY DISCUSS THE FOLLOWING:
1) PROVIDE AN INTRODUCTION AND SOME BACKGROUND TO THE PROGRAM THAT WAS EVALUATED
- What are the aims and/or objectives of the program?
- Are they clear?
- How could they have been made clearer? eg. Are they SMART?
- Within this discussion, you need to make some judgement (with supporting EVIDENCE) as to whether these are appropriate.
- What is the rationale for conducting the program?
You might also choose to mention something about the target group, the methods that were used or other relevant aspects. (NEED EVIDENCES)
2. WHY DO WE NEED TO EVALUATE THE PROGRAM??
- Why is it important to know whether this program is effective or not?
- In this section, you will talk about the evaluation of the program.?
- Consider this: why do we need to evaluate programs in general?
- Why does this program need to be evaluated?
- Are there gaps in the literature?
- Run in a different region or country?
- Has it been modified?
- Is it brand new?
- Perhaps the program has been run before with, for example, a different population group, or is this the first time?
- If it, or something similar, has been run previously, was it evaluated?
(TO GET HIGH SCORES):
1) Clear and comprehensive introduction to the program is presented (including aims).
2) Clearly stated RATIONALE or justification for the program is presented, the health issue is identified and the need for the program is supported by evidence.
3) A clear understanding of the program of study is demonstrated.
THE EVALUATION
- What is the evaluation trying to do?
- What are the aims of the evaluation – are they clear?
- How could they have been made clearer?
- What type of evaluation is this study? eg. process or impact? OR is it both? – ensure that you PROVIDE ADEQUATE DEFINITIONS TO BACK UP your response here…
- Rigorous, quantitative measurement of an intervention requires accurate measurement of any change and a high degree of confidence that the change was due to the program and not other
factors (hint: (PROVIDED) Windsor et al (2004) article would be beneficial here). - What is the study design for the evaluation of this program?
Once you have identified the design and methods used in the evaluation, you should make some comment on the strength of the?evaluation. (NEED EVIDENCES)
In doing so, you will provide answers to the following:
- Is there a more rigorous study design that could have been used?
- Why wasn’t it used for this specific study?
- What are the advantages and disadvantages of such a study design. (NEED EVIDENCES)
- You should briefly discuss any possible sources of measurement error or bias in the study, as well as any possible threats to internal and external validity. (NEED EVIDENCES)
- Were the methods used for data collection in the evaluation appropriate? (NEED EVIDENCES)
(TO GET HIGH SCORES):
1) AIM(S) of the EVALUATION are clearly presented.
2) The TYPE of EVALUATION is clearly presented
3) An understanding of the STRENGTHS AND LIMITATIONS of this EVALUATION is clearly demonstrated and evidenced.
4) The EVALUATION METHODS are clearly described; the CRITIQUE is comprehensive and strongly supported by evidence.
5) The FINDINGS of the EVALUATION are clearly described and are related, with support from THE LITERATURE, TO THE BROADER CONTEXT OF THE HEALTH ISSUE
CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS
- What were the findings of the evaluation?
- Did the evaluation show that the intervention was a success? (NEED EVIDENCES)
- Have the authors acknowledged the limitations of the evaluation?
- Are threats to validity of concern in this evaluation? (NEED EVIDENCES)
- Can you make any recommendations to strengthen the evaluation? (NEED EVIDENCES)
(TO GET HIGH SCORES):
1) Clear identification and succinct evidence-based discussion of all LIMITATIONS of the EVALUATION.
2) Comprehensive discussion of how THE FINDINGS OF THE EVALUATION might be used to improve the PROGRAM.
3) Appropriate & evidence-based RECOMMENDATIONS for improvement to EVOLUTION design are included.
SAMPLE ANSWER
Critique of health contemporary health program evaluation
Introduction
Background of the program
The following discussion engages in critical analysis of the evaluation of the use of traditional art in health promotion for aboriginal’s people in the Kimberly region of Western Australia. The aim of the project was on evaluation of preventive health resource developed for aboriginal people in the west Kimberly region. The project was been undertaken by the Jean Hailes foundation For the Women and Aboriginals and non-Aboriginal health workers, educators and artistes from Looma, Pandunus Park, Mowanjum and derby (Allegrante & Sleet 2004, p 157-171).
The aim of the project was to determine whether traditional art and language in health promotion can provide for cultural identity and imparting modern health knowledge, that is, to determine whether integration of modern health knowledge and traditional one can contribute to contemporary view of the Aboriginal health ( Raingruber 2014, p 156-167).The aims of the project was not clear. This is because initiatives and hypothesis from the project were not widely disseminated and used in other regions and communities. They mainly encompassed on Aboriginals only rather than having incorporated other regions to have effective data. The objectives could have been made SMART if they could have not engaged other regions to act as control group to their project (Fallon, Begun & Riley 2013, p 143-178). For the program to be Specific, it is to be formulated to one community so that it can yield a good sample size to study with. For the program to be realistic, it has to produce diverse findings that can be deductively hypothesis to test its predictions. The issue of the time was not addressed in the program, as there was wastage of time in getting sample from Kimberly and South West Victoria. The other regions for example, could have some background of scenarios where incorporation of traditional art in health promotion was effective. These places could have been referenced from United States or other parts of Australia. The target group for the program was Aboriginal women. The program surveyed Aboriginal women using a comprehensive women’s health questionnaire in order to fully understand their reproductive and general health needs. The surveys were conducted to women from both the Kimberly and South West Victoria. The rationale behind this program was to identify reproductive health status and general; lifestyle factors associated with diabetes and cardiovascular.
Evaluation
`The program needs to be evaluated to detect areas that were not addressed. Another reason for evaluating the program is to provide alternative methods that could have been used by the program to produce effective results. The program needs to be evaluated to determine whether initiatives to the indigenous languages have a positive impact on the health promotion of the Aboriginal people of the Western Kimberly. Therefore, the program is a type of impact-oriented project (Raingruber 2014, p 156-167). The evaluation has to be undertaken to bridge the gap between the literatures. The gap between the literatures is the missing data on how far has the impacts from the program entrenched to the Aboriginals’ society. The program used questionnaires only to conduct its study. The study could have brought reasonable results if it had included such methods such as RCTs and Case studies.
The positive thing about RCTS is that the population studied is likely to give more personal data unlikely to questionnaires where most of the people lie. Case studies on the other hand are objective in the research eliminating the elements of emotions and feeling in the study. The antagonistic of case study is that, although people will corporate, samples will be in constant fear and anxiety in the study. For the evaluation to be effective, observation should be devised to be used (Tsey & Every2000, p 140-148). This comprises of observing the impacts of combination of modern and traditional methods in health promotion for Aboriginal people in Western Kimberly. Observation may take the form of overt and overt where the participants in health settings are studied. This type of evaluation had recently been employed in South Western Kimberly to determine the impact of improving communication between health workers and Aboriginal patients in health care setting in Australia.
Strength and weaknesses of this evaluation
There were varied strengths emanating from the evaluation of the strength was that Aboriginal women above 18 years corroborated in the study to provide reliable results. Many Aboriginals were able to change their diet and lifestyle to reinforce the need for preventive health strategies among these women. Another positive about the evaluation is that, the findings from the questionnaires suggested a high prevalence of PCOS in this population (Hoghugi & Long2004, p 120-123).The weakness of the evaluation was that, due to small sample size, the data lacked the elements of quantification. Another limitation from the evaluation was that the program was highly electrified with Western paradigms (Cara & Macrae 2005, p 134-137). This denied the evaluation to borrow from Aboriginals system of health. Another limitation from the evaluation is that the program kept jumping from one method to another that lead to inconsistent data (Cara & Macrae 2005, p 134-137).
Findings of the evaluation
The finding from the evaluation is that fifty percent of the women participated in the study. A half of the remaining women were from the Western Kimberly and the other half from South Victoria region. Most of Aboriginal women from the rural area cooperated as compared to their counterparts from urban centers. The overall findings are that women were highly characterized by high risk of cardiovascular disease (Tsey, Whiteside, Haswell-Elkins, Bainbridge, Cadet-James & Wilson 2010, p 169-179). Patients with diabetes and Cardiovascular disease need holistic and comprehensive involvement in the research to ensure that their plights are encompassed under one roof (Tsey, Whiteside, Haswell-Elkins, Bainbridge, Cadet-James & Wilson 2010, p 169-179). .
Conclusion
The analysis concludes that there exists literature gap between the evaluations of contemporary health program. It has been concluded that, the results could have been amplified if the study concentrated on the Aboriginal people of the Western Kimberly Only than encompassing on the other from South west Victoria. Not all participants cooperated in the study and therefore, led to small size of data (Raingruber 2014, p 156-167). Therefore, intervention with observations and RCTs will improve the evaluation of the program, as people with the disease will act in their capacity to perfect he preventive intervention to improve their contemporary life.
Recommendations
It is recommended that any attempt to evaluate contemporary health program evaluation should range from economic, social and cultural perceptive. It also recommended that the attempt should include not only questionnaires in its evaluation, but it should employ observations, RCTS and cohort studies (Turner, Richards& Sanders 2007, p 430-455). The evaluation has devised that case/cohort studies are important in addressing challenges experienced by the Aboriginals of South western Kimberly in Australia ( Raingruber 2014, p156-167)..
Reference
CARA, E., & MACRAE, A. (2005). Psychosocial occupational therapy: a clinical practice. Clifton Park, NY, Thomson Delmar Learning. pp134-137.
FALLON, L. F., BEGUN, J. W., & RILEY, W. J. (2013). Managing health organizations for quality and performance. Burlington, Mass, Jones & Bartlett Learning.pp143-178.
FERTMAN, C. I., & ALLENSWORTH, D. D. (2010). Health promotion programs from theory to practice. San Francisco, CA, Jossey-Bass. Retrieved fromhttp://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=317009
HOGHUGHI, M.& LONG, N. (2004). Handbook of parenting: theory and research for practice, London: SAGE Publications Ltd.pp120-123.
RAINGRUBER, B. (2014). Contemporary health promotion in nursing practice. Burlington, Mass, Jones & Bartlett Learning.pp156-167.
STEWART-BROWN, S.& MCMILLAN, AS.(2001). Home and community based parenting support programmers and interventions: report of Work-package 2 of the Data Prev project. Coventry: Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick. Retrieved from:<http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/3239/>.
TSEY, K.& EVERY, A.(2000). Evaluating Aboriginal empowerment programs: the case of Family Wellbeing, Australian and New Zealand,Journal of Public Health.pp140-148.
TSEY, K., WHITESIDE, M., HASWELL-ELKINS, M., BAINBRIDGE, R., CADET-JAMES, Y.& WILSON, A.(2010). Empowerment and Indigenous Australian health: a synthesis of findings from Family Wellbeing formative research. Health and Social Care in the Community 18(2):169–79.
TURNER, K., RICHARDS, M.& SANDERS MR 2007. Randomized clinical trial of a group parent education programmer for Australian Indigenous families. Journal of Pediatrics and Child Health. pp430-455.
ALLEGRANTE, J. P., & SLEET, D. (2004). Derry-berry’s Educating for Health a Foundation for Contemporary Health Education Practice. Hoboken, John Wiley & Sons. pp157-171.
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