Assignment:
Disseminating Evaluation Results
While watching news reports or reading articles, you often hear about "breakthrough research" and how it might affect you and your family. Unfortunately, research study results often are taken out of context, reported without thought of consequences, and/or misunderstood by non-researchers. In the same regard, results from the evaluation of public health programs also can be taken out of context and misunderstood. The process of reporting, or disseminating, your evaluation findings should be done carefully and thoughtfully in order to communicate findings to the public and program stakeholders. In this Discussion, you examine the importance of carefully disseminating evaluation findings.
Consider the scenario:
Scenario
Recently, a new program evaluator was hired to determine the effectiveness of a 5-year abstinence-only (state-funded) sex education program that has been widely used in school districts throughout the state. During the program evaluation efforts, the evaluator noticed that the program did not have a significant impact on health behavior among the adolescents who participated in the program. To make matters worse, teen pregnancy rates in the state jumped 10% over the 5-year period. In the state, abstinence-only sex education is the only type of program being used. After careful analysis of the data, the evaluator was requested to report the results to stakeholders, which include representatives from the state and the program developers, as well as to parents and local media, during a previously scheduled town-hall meeting.
To prepare for Discussion:
• Review the CDC's Framework for Program Evaluation. Reflect on the steps and standards related to disseminating evaluation data.
• Reflect on the importance of appropriate dissemination of evaluation results as it pertains to each scenario.
• Select one of the scenarios presented and conduct research to find out more information about the incident described.
• Consider implications of the evaluation dissemination strategies used in your selected scenario. Think about how you would disseminate the results to stakeholders. Reflect on how you would address stakeholders who might dispute your results.