EVALUATING HEALTH BEHAVIORS
Assignment Overview
MEASURING HEALTH BEHAVIOR
According to Mokdad & Remington (2010), “health behaviors are a leading cause of illness and death in the United States” (p. 1). Reflecting on this statement, write a paper (2-3 pages) discussing the importance of being able to measure health behaviors and describing methods to assess health behaviors in a target population.
Assignment Expectations
The following items in particular will be assessed:
Discuss reasons for measuring health behaviors.
Identify at least two methods to assess/measure smoking behaviors among adolescents in your community.
In your opinion, do you agree or disagree that measurement of health behavior is useful for program planning. Defend your position by providing empirical evidence.
Module Overview
Why Conduct Evaluations?
Evaluations offer opportunity to improve the interventions and programs. Results of evaluation can provide new insights that were not predicted and provide information for communication to stakeholders. It can assess ongoing program activities; monitor and assess if the program is being conducted as planned; measure progress if the program is meeting its goals; and it can assess outcome and impact of the program. Lastly, evaluation can assist in future program planning and modifications.
Evaluating Clinical Interventions—measuring efficacy and effectiveness of clinical interventions requires a controlled condition. Randomized control trials (RCT) are needed to determine if a clinical intervention is effective. If an intervention is found to be effective in a controlled setting, it is likely that it will be effective in actual practice settings, although it does not guarantee that it will work.
Evaluating Community-Level Interventions—includes four domains 1) research design (i.e., the community a representative of the entire population); 2) validity and reliability of measures, evidence that the target behavior is actually being measured and consistency in measurements of that behavior; 3) appropriate data analysis is used; and 4) detailed and specifications of the intervention is replicable to a similar community.
The Committee on Health and Behavior (2001) have more information on evaluating interventions (pages 274-309).
Types of Evaluation
Formative Evaluation assesses the health promotion program’s quality, the way the program was run, and whether the intended audience was reached. In formative evaluation, you document all aspects of program planning and implementation. You can use information from a formative evaluation to adjust the program so it meets the needs of the audience.
Impact Evaluation measures the short term effects of the program and is concerned with whether the objectives were met. Impact evaluation measures changes in awareness, knowledge, attitudes, behavior, and skills.
Summative evaluation assesses whether the health promotion program has been effective in the long term and whether its overall goal has been met.
Developing evaluation questions is discussed in your required readings.
EVALUATING HEALTH BEHAVIORS
Required Readings
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2009). Developing process evaluation questions [Evaluation Briefs No. 4]. Retrieved July 1, 2012 from http://www.cdc.gov/HealthyYouth/evaluation/pdf/brief4.pdf
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2009). Evaluating your strategic plan [Evaluation Briefs No. 5]. Retrieved July 1, 2012 from http://www.cdc.gov/HealthyYouth/evaluation/pdf/ertnews_spring09.pdf
Committee on Health and Behavior: Research, Practice, and Policy, Board on Neuroscience and Behavioral Health (2001). Evaluating and disseminating intervention research. Health and behavior: The interplay between the biological, behavioral, and societal influences (pp. 274-309). Washington, DC: National Academy Press. Retrieved July 1, 2012 from http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=9838&page=274
Mokdad, A.H. & Remington, P.L. (2010 July). Measuring health behaviors in populations. Preventing Chronic Disease, 7(4), A75. Retrieved July 1, 2012 from http://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2010/jul/10_0010.htm
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