Program Evaluation: Smoking Cessation - Term Paper Example

 Program Evaluation: Smoking Cessation Stakeholders and stakeholder management One of the groups of people involved in this program is medical practitioners. Their main role will be to offer professional support to the facilitators of the program. They will be engaged mainly through phone contact and personal meetings. The other group consists of smokers. This particular group of stakeholders is the center of the program. The form of obtaining data from them is through the various support groups. Interactive meetings with some of the individuals will also be important. Their role will be to provide useful information to be used in designing the smoking cessation program Evaluation model selection The program is extensively large since the target population is the entire populace of smokers in the US (Goel , 2008). This is however not a shortfall since the subject of smoking itself does not require a lot of study since the outcomes of a small comparison group will suffice. The subject being an addiction means that what will be displayed in one smoker will most likely be homogenous among all other smokers. Obtaining information would be considered rather easy. The records of those who have previously been enrolled in smoking cessation programs in health facilities will be found to be useful. Smokers would also voluntarily provide information. As mentioned before that the programs have been in place for some time, information from previous evaluations that were done on a smaller scale will be used as a baseline for this evaluation. Data collection methods The approaches of data collection that will be employed will include surveys, documents, observations and interviews. (Auxin, 2006) Surveys This approach of employing surveys will involve distribution of questionnaires to people who smoke or are affected by smoking. The main components of the questionnaires will be finding out how many people admit to being a smoker. Another question would be to find out those who have considered quitting and also to find out what is the biggest challenge that they face when trying to stop smoking. The respondents will be samples collected from different geographical locations to ensure that the sample population is representative of the whole population. It will also be important to have questionnaires designed differently to be filled out by health providers. These questionnaires will be primarily used to find out professional opinions that will be crucial in developing and implementing the smoking cessation program. (Auxin, 2006) Document Examination of archival documents will also be a vital source of information. These types of source will be used mostly where information like national smoking prevalence is required. Existing records will have to be the latest and most credible. An important source will be recorded by the Center for Disease Control. Other institutions that can provide reliable data and statistics are recorded from hospitals who have records relating to smoking. An example of information that will be derived from the CDC are statistics of the smoking prevalence in the United States of America. Percentages and figures will be recorded in these archives. (Tashakkori, 2003) Observations Observation will involve monitoring of the implementation of the plan. This will involve monitoring smokers who are undergoing the smoking cessation program. This provides data on the effectiveness of the particular program. (Auxin, 2006) Interviews The interviews provide a personal contact with the respondents. The information deduced from interviews will be important in bringing out what the respondents would like to be included in the smoking cessation program. Information recorded from interviews is not majorly figures but opinions. Interviews form a major part of collecting important data to be used in the program implementation. (Auxin, 2006) Strengths of the data collection sources Use of the data from the Center for Disease Control will ensure that the information is reliable. The CDC is a state organization that does research regarding diseases and the statistics it has on smoking cessation will be of high integrity. The advantage of using archival data from the center for Disease control is that it will provide a true reflection of the smoking prevalence in the United states. Interviews also provides one of the best sources of data because information is derived is useful in formulating a smoking cessation program. Interviews source information directly from the affected stakeholders and therefore will be highly relevant in developing the program. Observation as a source of data collection has one major strength in its ability to bring practical information. Observations have an outcome of accuracy and less errors. (Tashakkori, 2003). Weaknesses The primary weakness of using information from the archives of the Center for disease control is that it may not be true in the present or future. Archival documents have data from research previously conducted. Since the program evaluation plan aims to create a smoking cessation program that will be used in the present and future, the relevance of the data in terms of time puts in question. Data from records of health institutions may also have an overeliance on the medical opinions of health professional and may not be well suited in helping to develop a smoking cessation program. Surveys also have their shortfalls, for example, data from questionnaires depend heavily on the honesty of the respondents and therefore leaving a huge margin for error. It is also time consuming to get the questionnaires to as many respondents as possible. A lot of funds are required to distribute the questionnaires. The main shortcoming associated with the use of interviews to be used in the program evaluation is that a large number of personnel is required to carry out the one on one interviews. (Tashakkori, 2003) Threats to data collection Attrition is one of the threats that may face data collection in the program evaluation plan. This is where the evaluators end up losing part of the intended sample population. This may happen if physical contact between the interviewers and respondent smokers was not established due to lack of cooperation from the intended respondents. Redundancy of data collected from historical documents is also an imminent threat because the data that was useful in the past for formulating smoking cessation programs may not be relevant for present and future use. There may also be changes of statistics during the study. The figures of the target population which is the group of smokers may change therefore posing a threat to the reliability of the data collected (Longnecker, 2010). The most obvious threat to data collection is logistical uncertainties. This results from eventualities like limited funds and failure of the staff deployed to collect the information for the program evaluation plan. Data analysis Analysis of data will employ qualitative and quantitative approaches. The quantitative analysis will involve tabulating figures of respondents for example the number of those smokers who have expressed the wish to enroll in smoking cessation programs. Quantitative data analysis will also be used to deduce graphs to monitor the trends in smoking prevalence. This form of data analysis will focus on creating statistics that will be important in the implementation stage of the program. Qualitative analysis will be more concerned with the suggestions recorded since the surveys and professional advise provided by the medical practitioners. Qualitative data analysis will achieve results in the form of reports and narrations. Interpretation of the data will be done by all the stakeholders including medical health practitioners and representatives of support groups. (Longnecker, 2010) Elements of the evaluation report The important elements of the evaluation will include the timeline for implementation. The report will give a specific time within which the implementation of the smoking cessation program will begin. This is to ensure that the program does not lose its relevance. Another element to be incorporated in the evaluation report is the steps of the program. The specific activities to be performed will also be brought out. (Stommel, 2004) Utilization The program directors, will use the outcomes of the plan to develop a smoking cessation program. The findings will provide a platform for developing a program that will be effective in assisting smokers to quit. The state medical departments will use this program evaluation to curb the high prevalence of smoking in the US. The findings will aid the government in making steps towards achieving a smoke free nation. This program will also assist the program developers to implement a smoking cessation program that will be used homogeneously through all the states. The second form of utilization of the findings will be by the medical health practitioners. Medical institutions will find the findings useful in addressing smoking related complications reported in patients (Stommel, 2004). The health facilities will also use the information to implement the Nicotine Reduction Therapy in helping addicts to quit smoking. Support groups will also utilize the findings to assist their members enroll in smoking cessation programs that is best suited for them. all stakeholders will be encouraged to use the evaluation through media campaigns and leaflets distributed in health facilities and education facilities. Medical practitioners as stakeholders will be encouraged to employ the findings of the evaluation through the intervention of the State Medical Department. Dissemination of the program will be done with the assistance of the Center for Disease Control. Publication in medical institutions newsletters will also help in reaching the target population. Medical journals will also be an important tool in the dissemination of the findings of the program evaluation plan ( Stommel, 2004). References Axinn, W. G., & Pearce, L. D. (2006). Mixed method data collection strategies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Goel, R. K., & Nelson, M. A. (2008). Global efforts to combat smoking: An economic evaluation of smoking control policies. Aldershot, Hants, England: Ashgate Pub. Co. Tashakkori, A. (2003). Handbook of mixed methods in social & behavioral research. Thousand Oaks, Calif. [U.a.: Sage Publ. Ott, L., & Longnecker, M. (2010). An introduction to statistical methods and data analysis. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole Cengage Learning. Stommel, M., & Wills, C. (2004). Clinical research: Concepts and principles for advanced practice nurses. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Read More