On Developing an Evaluation Plan - Report Example

Report on developing an evaluation plan Islanders Health Program Evaluation report. Introduction. According to the World Health Organization lifestyle diseases are a prime cause of death and disability in the world. In Australia eighty percent of the disease burden is as a result of lifestyle diseases. Further, two thirds of the health expenditure of this nation goes to treatment of these chronic diseases. The prevalence rate of the disease is high among the Torres Islander people. The launching of a health intervention program was in response to the needs of this people. The controlling of lifestyle diseases can be done by the use primary health care. The major causes of lifestyle diseases are poor nutrition, physical inactivity, tobacco use, alcohol consumption, overweight and obesity. These causes of chronic disease are lifestyle choices that individuals make in their daily life. Addressing of this cause offers a solution to the disease burden that result from chronic diseases. The Islander people are mostly overweight and obese. This problem can be solvable by increasing the physical activities, and eating of correct diet. Program Description. This program primary target is people aged between twenty five years and fifty years. A person in this age bracket is mostly parents. The parents have an influence on the behavior of their children. Therefore, as part of the target population change in their behavior pattern will impact on the lifestyle of their children. This widens the scope of the program without the need to employ more resource and labor. Targeting of the parents contributes to the long-term goals of reducing the prevalence of chronic diseases (Hawe, Degeling & Hall 1990). The program also targets people aged between forty five years to sixty years who are victims of the chronic diseases. This group of people makes asignificant part of this program. This is because they can be able to benefit from support given by the program. In addition, people suffering from consequences of poor lifestyle can motivate others to make right choices and avoid being sick. The program considers them as a secondary target group. The goal of this program is to have the Islanders change and start living a healthy lifestyle. The program will disseminate information how to achieve a healthy lifestyle. The objectives of the program arecollaborating with other partner in the community to address the chronic diseases, establish a referral system to support the sick and make the environment friendly for physical activities. One of the ways to achieve the objective is through community outreach activities such open forums and seminars. Awareness of the solution to the chronic disease burden will also be done using the television, radios and magazines. Further, the local health center will screen people for the chronic diseases (Hawe et al. 1990). There will be the creation of recreation centers open to all people. These strategies are aiming at meeting the objectives of this program. Summary of the evaluation plan. The purpose of this evaluation is to assess the success of the implementation of this project within the community. It will examine the achievement of the project objective. The evaluation will look at the factors that have contributed to the failure or success of the project. In addition, the project will seek to know the level of collaboration between the community members and other partners. The results from this evaluation will be critical for future resource allocation to similar projects. The evaluation team will consist of five people. The lead evaluator who will ensure that the evaluation goes as the set plan, the person in charge of analyzing of data, the person who will concern with the collection of data, the person coordinating the meeting for the evaluation team and the one who will follow the implementation of findings from the evaluation (Hawe et al. 1990). The team is a representation of all the stakeholders to the project that is under evaluation. The table below shows the persons that have an interest in this evaluation. The county director concern is in the outcome of the projectif the project has tangible result they will justify its funding. The program manager is monitoring the progress of the project. The interest is to be able to understand the shortcomings of the project and make changes. The clinical staff represents the health care fraternity. The program aims at reducing the prevalence of chronic diseases. This will reduce the burden of the healthcare providers’ and they will be able to devote their time to other demanding tasks. Further, the evaluation will inform on the adjustment required in the health centers, in line with the chronic diseases patients. The community representatives are there to advocate for the community needs. This category forms the principal stakeholders to the project and its evaluation. They seek to find the usefulness that the initiation of the Islander health program to the promotion of health in the area. The evaluation team decided to use various data sources to get the evaluation findings. The choice of the method to use in the evaluation depends on the resources that were available. The methods used are both qualitative and quantitative (Hawe et al. 1990). The first method of data collection will be observation. The team members who are part of the community will observe the members of the community and report any change in the daily routine that relates to healthy living. The other method that will collect data is the use of a questionnaire. The questionnaire will seek to capture the knowledge that the community members have as a result of this project. It will also measure the attitude of the community towards habits that promote health. The records on the attendance of local people to outreach forums of the project will also be useful in measurement of the project’s success. Further, the evaluation team will conduct interviews to gather the opinions of the people concerning the project. Project Evaluation Plan Objectives Strategies Process indicator Data collection Method Implications Data collection Method 1. To create awareness of the causes of chronic diseases and primary health care initiative that individuals can take. Advertising by the uses of radio and television programs. Amount of dissemination. Documentation The people should be able to know the chronic disease risk factor and remedies. Questionnaires to survey the level of people awareness of chronic diseases. Mobile display and distribution of written materials. Coverage of the mobile display and amount of written material given out. Increase in level of awareness. Interviews. 2. The level of community collaboration with the health care providers and other project stakeholders. Free screening sessions at health centers and in the mobile display clinics. The number of people that will attend the clinics. Records. The people in the area will know their status with regard to chronic diseases. The people will be personal counseling on how to live a healthy life. Interviews. Increase the number of recreational facilities in the area and make the environment conducive for physical activities. Participation of the community members in the community engagement that are physically demanding. . The record of the recreation centers and events involving physical activities. The members of the community will start adopting a healthy lifestyle and avoid being sedentary. Observation. 3. Building the capacity of individuals and empower them to take action concerning their health. Initiate walk to work and encourage people to cycle to work than use the vehicles. Participation of the community members in this program. Participation More people will start living an active life, and this reduces the prevalence of chronic diseases. Observation and use of questionnaires to capture the people’sattitude. Open forum that involve the community members. Level of attendance of the local people. Records. Feedback from the participants. Rationale for the evaluation plan. The evaluation used a mixed method. This was essential in the measurement impacts on individuals and the community. The evaluation examines the goal and objectives of the project. The evaluation looks at whether the community members are aware of their health in relation to chronic diseases. It sought to see the support people with the chronic diseases are getting as a result of the project collaborative efforts. The evaluation of the data will be qualitative and quantitative. The presentation of the quantitative data will be ina pie chart and percentages. This will clearly indicate the responses from the questionnaire. The team members and all the stakeholders did data interpretation. This is crucial since the finding need to be uniformly understood. The group will them agree the channels to use in the dissemination of the evaluation findings. The scope of the evaluation determines the choice of the methods of data collection and evaluation. The project concerns itself with the risk factors of the chronic diseases. It is critical to address this health problem because it contributes to the disease burden of the people in this area. Chronic diseases consume a lot of recourses in their treatment which takes a toll on finance of the Islanders. The use of primary health care to solve the problem is commendable. Phase one of the projects is at its completion. This becomes a suitable time to evaluate the project. This is because the findings of the project will determine the change that need to be done in the implementation of phase two of the project. The stakeholder will be able to take a lesson from phase one of the health programs. The carding out of the evaluation at this time also will help to justify the resources invested in the project. In addition, the project manager will be able to anticipate the level of success expected in the final phase of the project. The team had permission from local authority to carry out evaluation. In data collection process, the community members’ involvement was on voluntary bases. The information collecting and recording process was confidential to avoid infringing on the rights of the respondent. The local authority gave their consent for the evaluation team to operate. The model of this evaluation was participation. It interest is in finding if the local people are participating in the project (Hawe et al. 1990). This is vital in sustaining of the healthy habits that the project is educating the people. Conclusion. Promotion of health in a community is imperative for disease free generation. The project under evaluation has been a success. The aim of the evaluation is to contribute to the improvement of the project. Capacity building and empowering of the community were a success for this project. The members of the community are now able to create change in their lives, and that of the community. The table below shows a communication plan of the evaluations findings. Communication and dissemination of finding is vital for the evaluation process. This is because it enables the stakeholders to take the necessary action concerning the project. It helps the members of the community to know the achievements of the project within their community (Hawe et al. 1990). Bibliography. Hawe, P., Degeling, D., & Hall, J 1990, ‘Evaluating health promotion: a health workers guide’. Sydney, McLennan & Petty. 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